Chino Fontenette enters his first season as the wide receivers coach for Mercer University in 2013.

 

Fontenette comes to Mercer with a wealth of coaching experience at a number of quality football programs. Most recently, he worked at perennial Southeastern Conference power Tennessee for two years as an offensive graduate assistant.

 

Prior to his time with the Volunteers, Fontenette spent two years as a running backs coach at Louisiana Tech University. During his time with the Bulldogs, Fontenette helped coach the school’s all-time leading rusher in Daniel Porter (3,352 yards) and contributed to LA Tech’s 2008 Independence Bowl win, the program’s first bowl victory in more than 30 years. He also helped mold the 2008 Bulldogs ground game into the second-best unit in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

 

Fontenette got his start in coaching collegiate football working for two years as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater, Tulane University. Fontenette played running back, receiver and quarterback, while also serving as a special teams’ ace and even as the team’s holder during his four-year tenure (1999-2003) with the Green Wave. He played in a total of 25 games during his final two seasons and helped Tulane to its 2002 Hawaii Bowl victory.

 

He graduated from Tulane with a double major in media arts and marketing in 2003. He also spent 2004-05 working as an ESPN production assistant, including assignments on the NFL Draft, Sunday Night Football, the Pro Bowl and the NBA Draft. He returned to coaching as a graduate assistant for Tulane under head coach Chris Scelfo in 2005.