CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University's football team was greeted by a trio of new assistant coaches when it reported to camp last weekend.
APSU head coach Kirby Cannon has added three familiar faces: Alex Smith, a former linebacker/defensive end at Central Michigan who will take over administrative/operations duties; Ryan Ettinger, who spent one season as a student assistant working with Cannon at Central Michigan, and Bobby Brockley, a retiring Chief Warrant Officer in the Army who spent much of early 2014 around the APSU football offices absorbing football knowledge before  serving as a defensive assistant with Nashville Venom of the Professional Indoor Football League.
Smith, who served as a defensive intern at Central Michigan last season, played 44 games, starting eight, in five seasons at Central Michigan—he played his first season (2009) for Butch Jones and the last four (2010-13) for Don Enos.
As a senior in 2013, he appeared in 11 contests, being credited with 12 tackles (two for loss). His career ended with 5.5 tackles for loss, including a trio of quarterback sacks.
The Lake Osweso, Oregon native was granted a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA in 2013 after suffering a season-ending injury in Week 4 of 2012. Smith started the season's first three games that season at defensive end before incurring a torn ACL in against Northern Illinois, Sept. 29.
Smith graduated from Central Michigan last spring with a bachelor's degree in physical education.
"Alex will help us from an organizational standpoint," Cannon said. "He will be able to contribute a lot. He was an outstanding player at Central who also had some injury issues that limited him to a point.
"He has a great personality and great energy level that we will attempt to utilize in as many way we can."
Ettinger will assist Cannon and new secondary coach Leron Eaddy working with the APSU secondary. Specifically, he will work the Govs safeties in the 4-2-5 scheme.
He spent two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant at Central Michigan. Previously, he served one year as a student assistant (2009) and an intern (2010-11) for the Chippewas.
The Mendon, Mich. native worked with the linebackers in 2009 and was part of the team's MAC Championship and GMAC Bowl victory. In 2010-11, he helped with the defense, specifically linebackers and the defensive line. He served as assistant recruiting coordinator in his capacity a year ago.
Ettinger came to Central Michigan under then-coach Butch Jones as a preferred walk-on. However, prior to joining CMU he underwent a third knee surgery that left him medically unable to compete. That is when he turned to coaching.
Ettinger graduated from Central Michigan in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in business administration and received his master's in administration last spring.
"A lot of being effective as a head coach is being able to communicate and have a relationship with your coaches," Cannon said. "I have great deal of respect for what Ryan contributed to our program at Central Michigan. He worked directly with me for a year as assistant DB coach. He is a young man who was an outstanding player in high school who lost his opportunity at the college level because of injury.
"He always wanted to be a coach and has that ability. He has great knowledge of the game."
He was a running back/safety during his prep days at Mendon High School. He was a two-time all-league selection in football as well as baseball.
Brockley has reentered the coaching profession after being away from it for some 17 years, serving as a Green Beret. He will assist Jason Palermo with a young offensive.
Brockley officially retires from the Army at the rank Chief Warrant Officer Two (CW2) this month, after being on leave since the spring. He most recently was a U.S. Army Green Beret assigned to 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), at Ft. Campbell. His military service includes six deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He received numerous service and combat awards, including five bronze star medals.
Prior to that he served as a U.S. Army Infantryman (1997-2000), serving in Hawaii and Korea, before becoming a special forces student at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, in 2000-01.
Last season, Brockley initially contacted Cannon about getting back involved in coaching—he served as honorary captain for one home contest last season—and worked with the APSU staff during spring football.
He joined the expansion Nashville Venom of the Professional Indoor Football League as defensive line coach, helping guide the team to the PIFL title, with two of his defensive ends being named all-stars.
His previous coaching background took him to Loudonville, New York at Siena College, a 1-AA (FCS) football program now defunct, in 1996-97.
Prior to getting into the coaching profession, Brockley played defensive end and fullback at Worcester (Massachusetts) State University, a Division III program.
"I think they all bring some special qualities," Cannon said. "But coach Brockley is a unique story in itself. A lot of our guys are familiar with him from last year when he served as a honorary captain. He symbolizes a lot of what we want to be in our program. He gave several years of service to our country and he is going to bring a lot of character to our program. What I have seen he is going to be a very good coach.
"We want to help him realize his goals in the coaching world. He is taking that first step with us."
 -AP-
