PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) – Former Washington Redskins linebacker Monte Coleman was introduced as the new football coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday, the same day Mo Forte was fired.
Coleman played for the Redskins from 1979-94, winning three Super Bowls. The Pine Bluff native, who played college football at Central Arkansas, had been the Golden Lions’ defensive coordinator the last two seasons.
“This ranks among the Super Bowls,” the 50-year-old Coleman said after his hiring was announced. “Some of the games that I’ve played, the Super Bowls that we were able to play in with the Redskins, this has to rank among those.”
Athletic director Skip Perkins said the school and Coleman were working out the details of a five-year contract.
“Continuity was important to me, and we could have gone outside and looked for this person or that person, but why look that far if you’ve got somebody in your back yard?” said Perkins, who took over as UAPB’s athletic director this year. “He was right here.”
Forte was 21-22 in four seasons at UAPB, and the Golden Lions beat Texas Southern 20-10 Saturday to finish 4-7. Pine Bluff, which plays in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA), finished the year with three straight wins.
Forte led the Golden Lions to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game in 2006. He coached a good part of that season from the press box because of a heart ailment.
Forte did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Coleman said he spoke with Perkins on Sunday about the possibility of becoming head coach, but during the season he was focused on coaching.
“We were trying to win football games, being naive to all the rumors that were going around, hoping that they wouldn’t be true, as far as coach Forte,” Coleman said. “Unfortunately it was, and I take a lot of pride in accepting this position at this time.”
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