Colorado State University Athletics
Photo by: Cris Tiller
Rams Add Three to Football Support Staff
3/12/2021 11:40:00 AM | Football
The three support staff positions are in the areas of personnel and player development.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Colorado State head football coach Steve Addazio has added three support staff members in personnel and player development roles, the program announced on Friday.
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On the personnel side, longtime assistant coach Frank Leonard joins the staff as Director of Recruiting while Andrew Liacopoulos begins his tenure with the program as Director of Player Personnel. In these roles, both Leonard and Liacopoulos assist the staff in the identification, evaluation, and recruitment of future Rams.
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On the player development side, Ricky Santo returns to the program as Director of RAM Life Programs, an initiative which began under Addazio to oversee programming for the off-field benefit of Colorado State football student-athletes. RAM Life, an acronym which stands for Real And Meaningful, is a program centered around personal and professional development of Ram student-athletes.
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Santo spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons in private industry in Northern Colorado but enjoyed a six-year run with the program in a variety of coaching capacities from 2013-18. From 2013-15, Santo was an offensive graduate assistant and spent the 2016-18 seasons as an offensive quality control assistant. He earned his master's degree in Adult Education from Colorado State in 2015.
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Leonard joins the staff as the Director of Recruiting after 36 years as an assistant coach including seven seasons at Boston College with Addazio, the final four as assistant head coach. From 2013-19, Leonard coached the tight ends for the Eagles and developed a position group room that routinely produced results. In 2018, tight end Tommy Sweeney was named All-Atlantic Coast Conference – the first for BC since 2008 – and was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills.
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Liacopoulos spent the last six years at Boston College in the recruiting and operations departments including the final two as a staff specialist in both areas. A 2014 graduate of Penn State, Liacopoulos worked with the football program as a recruiting and scouting intern. Prior to his final semester, he also spent time working with the New England Patriots in the same spaces.
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Colorado State Football is in the midst of spring practices which are slated to conclude on April 1. The Rams recently announced their 2021 schedule which begins on Sept. 4 at home against South Dakota State.
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