Assistant Head Coach For Defense, Defensive Line

Hank Hughes is in his eighth season on the Husky coaching staff and his fourth as assistant head coach for defense after spending the previous three as the defensive coordinator. A 28-year veteran of the coaching profession, Hughes joined the program in Feb. 2001 as the defensive line coach and has coached that position group throughout his tenure at UConn.

Under Hughes, UConn led the BIG EAST in total defense in each of its first two seasons in the league. The Huskies finished seventh in the nation in 2006, averaging 297.1 yards per game in total defense while also ranking fourth in passing defense and seventh in passing efficiency defense. The Huskies used their stout defense to gain the 2007 BIG EAST Championship with the team ranking in the top 17 nationally in passing defense, passing efficiency defense and scoring defense.

In 2002, the Huskies’ first Division I-A season, Hughes found great success in his opening season as UConn’s defensive coordinator. In the Huskies’ first season of eligibility for the national I-A leaders, UConn ranked fifth in the nation in passing defense (160.4 yards per game), 18th in passing efficiency defense (102.44 rating) and 19th in total defense (316.1 yards per game). The Huskies ranked 23rd nationally by forcing 32 turnovers, the team’s most since the 1992 season.

UConn continued this defensive success in 2004 as the team led the BIG EAST in both total and passing defense en route to the program’s first ever bowl berth, a 39-10 victory over Toledo in the Motor City Bowl. The leader of Hughes’ defense, Alfred Fincher, became the first Husky drafted in 11 years while Tyler King and Justin Perkins both signed NFL contracts after the season as well.

The 2006 season saw defensive tackle Rhema Fuller become the first Husky to ever be a finalist for the Draddy Trophy.

Before coming to UConn, Hughes was the defensive line coach at the University of Memphis from 1998-2000. The Tigers finished the 2000 season as the No. 1 rated defense in Division I-A against the run (72.7 rushing yards allowed per game), fifth in the nation in total defense (275.3 yards per game) and 14th in scoring defense (18.1 points allowed per game).

Hughes is familiar with New England, having served at four different schools in the region. In his most recent New England stop prior to UConn, Hughes worked at Harvard (1994-97) where he was the assistant head coach, defensive line coach and special teams coordinator. He was defensive line coach at Cincinnati in 1993 and was an assistant coach for the Montreal Machine of the World League of American Football in 1991 and 1992, serving as linebacker coach in 1991 and adding defensive coordinator duties in 1992. Hughes was the linebacker coach and recruiting coordinator at James Madison from 1985-90, served as linebackers and defensive line coach at Lafayette from 1982-84 and also coached the defensive line at Northeastern (1981), Springfield College (1980) and Albany (1979).