Charles Bankins, a former assistant coach at the University of Maryland, will join Vanderbilt Head Coach James Franklin on the Commodore staff for 2011. Bankins will coordinate Vanderbilt special teams and coach the tight end position during the coming season.
Bankins served as special teams coordinator and tight ends coach for the Terrapins in 2009-10, helping Maryland to a comfortable victory over East Carolina in the 2010 Military Bowl to cap one of the NCAA's most remarkable year-to-year turnarounds. The Terps also finished the season ranked among the Top 25 by both the Associated Press and coaches.
A graduate of James Madison (Va.) University, Bankins has experience coaching offense and special teams at the collegiate and National Football League levels.
Bankins' demonstrated his special teams expertise in 2010 mentoring punt returner Tony Logan to first team All-ACC honors. Logan had two punt returns for touchdowns and averaged 18.8 yards per return, ranking first in the ACC and No. 3 in the NCAA. His 563 yards in punt returns is the second highest single-season total in ACC and Maryland history.
In 2009, another Bankins' standout at Maryland, Torrey Smith, set the ACC single-season kickoff return yards mark for the second straight season en route to second team all-conference honors. Smith returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and posted 2,192 all-purpose yards, a single-season team record and the second-highest total in ACC history. Smith concluded his career as the all-time Terrapin leader with 2,983 kickoff return yards and 5,264 all-purpose yards.
In 2009, Bankins also groomed Nick Ferrara, who earned freshman All-America honors as a place-kicker and served as the No. 1 punter for five games. Ferrara converted 18 of 25 field goals during the 2009 campaign.
Prior to working with Franklin at Maryland, Bankins also had quite a bit of success as an assistant at the University of Richmond, which captured the 2008 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) title. During Bankins' two-year stint as Richmond's running backs coach, the Spiders had one of the most prolific rushing attacks in the country.
In 2008, the Spiders had the 24th-ranked offense in the nation, led by Josh Vaughan who rushed for 1,884 yards. In 2007, the Richmond rushing attack ranked second in the Colonial Athletic Conference and No. 12 nationally (234.6 yards per game). Tim Hightower, a fifth-round choice of the Arizona Cardinals in the 2008 NFL Draft, headlined the ground game with 20 touchdowns and 1,924 rushing yards (sixth in the NCAA). Those marks remain two of 12 Richmond school records held by Hightower, who is one of eight players coached by Bankins to reach the NFL.
Bankins also oversaw Richmond's special teams in 2008 when the Spiders ranked 27th nationally in punt returns and 22nd in kickoff coverage. Individually, Derek Hatcher ranked 25th in punt returns (10.8 yards per return). In 2007, Richmond standout Justin Rogers was named the conference's Special Teams Player of the Year after leading the league with a 30.4-yard kickoff return average.
A native of Leonardtown, Md., Bankins had two stints at Hampton University (2000-04; 2006) and spent the 2005 season with the St. Louis Rams.
He served as Hampton's running backs coach and recruiting coordinator in his first tour of duty before returning as the offensive coordinator for the 2006 season. With Bankins mentoring the backfield, Hampton saw all-time leading rusher Montrell Coley win the 2000 Division I-AA scoring title (172 points) and lead the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with 1,582 yards on the ground.
In the 2003 Super Bowl, Bankins protégé Darian Barnes started at fullback for the World Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In 2004, Hampton's Alonzo Coleman and Ardell Daniels became the only pair of Division I-AA running backs to each rush for more than 1,000 yards. The duo then repeated that performance a year later. Though in line to become the next offensive coordinator, Bankins left Hampton after the 2004 season to serve as an assistant special teams coach with the Rams.
While on Mike Martz's staff, Bankins helped the Rams' special teams corps improve from the NFL's worst unit to No. 17 by season's end. Bankins got his first taste of the NFL in 2002, spending the summer as a minority-coaching intern for the Green Bay Packers. He also served as a special teams intern with the Jacksonville Jaguars during the summer of 2004.
In addition, Bankins was named to the 2004 NCAA Expert Coaching Academy.
Bankins played running back for James Madison, where he earned a bachelor's degree in speech communication in 1994. He later earned a graduate degree from Eastern Kentucky where he coached wide receivers in 1997 and served as a graduate assistant/academic advisor in 1996.
He got his coaching start at his alma mater, Leonardtown High School, in 1995 when he served as the special teams coordinator and offensive backfield coach.
Bankins and his wife, Katrina, are the parents of a daughter, Ashley, and son, William.
The Bankins File Personal Date of Birth: Aug. 4, 1972 Hometown: Leonardtown, Md. Alma Mater: James Madison, 1994 Education: Bachelors, James Madison, 1995; Masters, Eastern Kentucky, 1997 Family: wife, Katrina; daughter, Ashley; son, William
Bankins' Coaching Career 2009-10 - University of Maryland (special teams coordinator/tight ends) 2007-08 - Richmond (special teams coordinator/running backs) Teams Coordinator/Running Backs 2006 - Hampton (offensive coordinator/QBs/running backs) 2005 - St. Louis (assistant special teams coach) 2000-04 - Hampton (running backs/recruiting coordinator) 1999 - Indiana (Pa.) University (wide receivers/tight ends) 1998 - James Madison (wide receivers/tight ends 1996-97 - Eastern Kentucky (graduate assistant in '96, wide receivers in '97)
