Charlie Partridge Hometown: Plantation, Fla. Position: Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers Birthdate: 12/07/1973 Alma Mater: Drake, '95

Entering his fifth season at Pitt, CHARLIE PARTRIDGE has impressed many with his work as a coach and recruiter on behalf of the Panthers.

Partridge enters his second season as Pitt's special teams coordinator. After working with the defensive line the last four seasons, he will change his positional focus to the linebackers in 2007.

From a special teams standpoint, Pitt led the Big East in net punting (37.54 avg.) and kickoff returns (24.14 yards per return) last season. Punter Adam Graessle was selected All-Big East and also was invited to February's NFL Combine. Lowell Robinson, a senior on this year's team, was one of the nation's top kick returners in 2006, averaging a robust 27.9 yards per return to rank first in the Big East and ninth nationally.

Partridge was elevated to special teams coordinator following the 2005 season, when under his watch Pitt had four returns for touchdowns in the kicking game, including two kickoffs, a punt and a blocked field goal. The last time the Panthers returned both a kickoff and punt for a TD in the same season was 1977.

One of Partridge's former protégés, defensive end Joe Clermond, is coming off the finest season of his career. Clermond earned All-Big East after leading the conference with 16.5 tackles for losses last year and enters 2007 as one of the country's top defensive ends.

A native of Plantation, Fla., Partridge's primary recruiting focus has been in his home state. Those ties have paid off as the Panthers have landed 21 players from the talent-rich Sunshine State the last four years.

Prior to Pitt, Partridge served four seasons (1998-2001) at Iowa State in administrative and coaching roles. He was a defensive graduate assistant in 1998-99, working with the outside linebackers. Following the 1999 season he earned a full-time appointment as the program's director of football operations. Partridge and Paul Rhoads worked together at ISU during the 1998 and 1999 seasons before Rhoads departed for Pittsburgh.

In 2002 Partridge was hired by Eastern Illinois University as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. The Panthers advanced to the NCAA I-AA playoffs that year and shared the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) championship with an 8-4 record. Two of the Panthers' losses came to I-A schools Hawaii and Kansas State.

An outstanding player himself, Partridge was an NSCA All-America defensive lineman for Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. A team captain and three-year starter for the Bulldogs, Partridge's collegiate coaching career began at his alma mater, as he was a Drake graduate assistant during the 1996 and 1997 seasons. In this capacity, he coached the running backs -- producing a pair of 1,000-yard rushers each season -- and worked as a strength and conditioning coach.

Partridge earned his bachelor's degree from Drake in secondary education in 1995 and master's degree in education from Iowa State in 2002.

Personal Information

Born: 12/7/73

Hometown: Plantation, Fla.

Alma Mater: Drake, `95

Family: Partridge's wife's name is Julie. They have a daughter, Alexa Ryan, who was born August 5, 2006.

Coaching Experience

College:

Drake, 1996-97, graduate assistant.

Iowa State, 1998-99, graduate assistant; 2000-01, director of football operations.

Eastern Illinois, 2002, defensive line & recruiting coordinator.

Pittsburgh, 2003-05, defensive ends; 2005, special teams; 2006-present, special teams coordinator; 2006, defensive line; 2007, linebackers.