Bethune-Cookman University named Ft. Lauderdale, Florida native Brian Jenkins its tenth Head Football Coach on December 21, 2009, setting the stage for both one of the most memorable seasons in Wildcat history as well as a bright future for the storied program.

The 2010 Wildcats won their first ten games, claimed a share of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA FCS playoffs for the first time since 2003. In addition, the Wildcats were named HBCU National Champs for the first time ever.

Jenkins himself was named MEAC Coach of The Year, Sheridan Broadcasting Network Black College Coach of The Year and the American Football Coaches Region 2 Coach Of The Year. His team was among the national leaders for scoring offense, total yardage and turnover margin.

A former assistant coach at Rutgers, Jenkins, 40, heads a Wildcat football program steeped in HBCU tradition of 85 seasons of collegiate football.

"It is an honor to be coaching at such a prestigious university as Bethune-Cookman University," Jenkins said.

Jenkins was wide receivers coach on Greg Schiano's Scarlet Knights' team that was the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl champions with a 45-24 win over the University of Central Florida in late December the weekend before he was selected at B-CU.

Prior to Rutgers, Jenkins served as running backs coach and special team's coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette for seven seasons (2002-2008). During the 2005-2007 seasons, the Cajuns rushed for 8,080 yards and 77 touchdowns.

In 2005, Louisiana-Lafayette rushed for a school-record 2,797 yards and 34 touchdowns. The Cajuns followed with 2,264 yards and 20 scores in 2006. In 2008, the Cajuns broke the school record again, running for 3,019 yards to become the first team in Sun Belt Conference history to rush for over 3,000 yards in a season.

Four-time All-Sun Belt running back Tyrell Fenroy was the biggest piece to the Cajuns ground game, amassing over 4,500 career rushing yards via four 1,000-yard seasons under Jenkins' tutelage. He was the 16th player in NCAA history to have three 1,000-yard seasons as a junior and was the 7th player in NCAA history to post four 1,000-yard seasons.

In 2005, Fenroy became the first running back in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season - doing so as a true freshman. A more impressive statistic is that the Cajuns running backs didn't fumble the football - losing only one fumble the entire 2007 season.

As the special team's coordinator, Jenkins helped the Cajuns in nearly all facets. In 2007, the Cajuns kickoff coverage defense ranked 20th in the nation, while the punt return defense had the identical ranking in 2004. In 2005, the Cajuns punt return unit ranked 27th nationally.

Jenkins joined UL from the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe. While in Germany, Jenkins' special teams set several league and team records.

Prior to his stint in NFL Europe, Jenkins was the running backs coach at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Before joining BGSU, Jenkins spent five seasons with Eastern Illinois University. From 1995-98, he served as running backs coach and was named the receivers coach in 1999. While at EIU, the Panther offense was one of the top rushing offenses in the nation, with a 1,000-yard rusher each season. Jenkins was the first running backs coach in school history to have three rushers rush for over 100 yards each in the same game.

In 1994, he was the receivers coach at Western Kentucky University. While at WKU, Jenkins coached Joey Stockton, who is WKU's all-time leader in receptions and all-purpose yards.

Jenkins played college football as both a wide receiver and running back at the University of Cincinnati. He was the Bearcat record holder for kickoff return yards in a season and in a career before those records were surpassed in 2009. He graduated in 1993 with an associate's degree in education and bachelor's degree in social work. After college, Jenkins spent six months running his own social work business.

The past 15 years in coaching has been preparing the hard-charging Jenkins for this opportunity with the Wildcats. The adjustments to being the top man have been many.

"It's an adjustment, I'm not gonna say it's not," Jenkins says. You have to be even more careful now, because everything falls on you. When you're the guy who has to call the shots, you have to be detailed in thought, but you also have to trust your decisions. As a head coach, you don't know everything. That's the misconception that everybody makes, that a head coach knows everything, and you don't know everything. No matter what approaches you, you have to stay in the moment and work your way through it. You stay focused on the task and the goal at hand."

Jenkins and his wife Octavia have a daughter, Briana, and a son, Brian Jr.

In the "Jenkins File"

AGE: 40 - Born March 4, 1971

HOMETOWN: Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Dillard High School)

FAMILY: Wife, Octavia; daughter, Briana; son, Brian Jr.

COLLEGE: Graduated from University of Cincinnati in 1993 with Bachelor's Degree in Social Work.

COLLEGE PLAYING CAREER : Played wide receiver and running back for the Bearcats of Cincinnati and was the all-time leader in kickoff return yards for a season and career until the records were surpassed in 2009.

COACHING EXPERIENCE

2010: Bethune-Cookman University, Head Football Coach

2009: Rutgers, Wide Receivers

2002-08: Louisiana-Lafayette, Running Backs/Special Teams

2001: Frankfurt Galaxy, Running Backs/Special Teams

2000: Bowling Green, Running Backs

1999: Eastern Illinois, Wide Receivers

1995-98: Eastern Illinois, Running Backs

1994: Western Kentucky, Wide Receivers

POST-SEASON EXPERIENCE

2009 St. Petersburg Bowl, W, 45-24

2010 NCAA FCS Playoff, L 20-45