STORRS, Conn. – Kermit Buggs, who served as a member of the Penn State football staff from 2003-2011 and was the defensive coordinator at Lock Haven University in 2012, has been named as assistant coach at the University of Connecticut and will have position responsibility with the running backs and special teams.
Buggs was an assistant coach at Penn State from 2007-11 and worked with the safeties and then the entire secondary late in the 2011 season.
Buggs was instrumental in the development of three-year starting safeties Drew Astorino and Nick Sukay, who earned 2011 first-team All-Big Ten honors. In 2008, Buggs helped Anthony Scirrotto earn first-team All-Big Ten accolades.
Buggs became an assistant coach at Penn State in December 2007 and coached the safeties in a 2007 Valero Alamo Bowl win over Texas A&M.
He was part of two Big Ten championship teams in 2005 and ’08 and Penn State was the Legends Division Co-Champion in 2011. He has been part of seven bowl teams, including the 2006 Orange Bowl and 2009 Rose Bowl.
He served as Coordinator of Player Personnel and Development during the 2006 and '07 seasons and from 2003-05, he was a graduate assistant coach with the Nittany Lions.
Buggs previously was a successful high school coach, leading Surry County (Va.) High School to a 34-14 record from 1999-2002. His 1999 squad was 14-0 and won the Division I state championship and Buggs was named the state's Division I Coach-of-the-Year.
A product of Hampton, Va., Buggs is a 1995 graduate of Norfolk State University, where he played football. He was the University's 1992-93 recipient of the Vince Lombardi Award for Leadership and Academic Achievement.
Buggs has a master's degree in educational administration from Penn State.
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