SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University head football coach Shawn Lutz has announced three additions to his coaching staff for the upcoming 2021 Rock football season with Joe Marella, Anthony Cicione II and Nick Fiacable all joining the staff.
 
Marella will coach the wide receivers and replaces former Slippery Rock quarterback Jared Buck, who coached the receivers in 2019 before departing during the offseason. Cicione will coach the defensive backs and replaces former NFL player Darrin Walls, who departed this summer to accept a position on the staff at the University of Albany. Fiacable will serve as the offensive graduate assistant and will work with the running backs and tight ends.
 
"These three guys are all great additions to our already exceptional staff," said Lutz. "They have hit the ground running and really blended in with our staff and our players already. They all bring a high level of football experience with them having worked with Division I football programs before joining us. We're definitely ready to get rolling this weekend when the team reports."
 
Marella is a 2018 graduate of Benedictine University, where he played both quarterback and tight end while serving as a team captain. He went on to earn his master's degree in sport management from Ohio Dominican University in 2020, where he also served as a graduate assistant with the football program, coaching tight ends, running backs and special teams.   
 
Prior to joining the staff at Ohio Dominican, Marella also spent time assisting the staff at Benedictine and also did stints on the strength and conditioning staffs at both the University of Cincinnati and the University of Central Florida.
 
Cicione is a 2018 graduate of John Carroll University, where he played defensive back and earned All-Conference honors. He went on to earn his master's degree in sport science and coaching from the University of Akron in 2021. While working on his master's degree, Cicione served as the defensive graduate assistant with the Akron football program, where he worked with the defensive backs for two years and helped recruit in 13 different states.
 
Prior to working at Akron, Cicione spent one year each as a quality control coach at Eastern Kentucky University and as a safeties and linebackers coach at Case Western Reserve University.
 
Fiacable is a 2020 graduate of Indiana University, where he earned a degree in sport marketing and management while also working with the Hoosiers' football program. He began his time on the staff at Indiana as a recruiting intern and worked his way up to an offensive student assistant in 2019 and then to an assistant offensive quality control position in 2020.
 
During his time at Indiana, Fiacable also spent one season as a running backs coach at Wabash College.

The trio of newcomers join a veteran staff that is headlined by Lutz, who enters his 26th year at The Rock and his sixth in charge of the program. The 2019 Division II National Coach of the Year owns a 39-11 record in four seasons and has led The Rock to at least the NCAA quarterfinals in each of the last two seasons.
 
Slippery Rock is scheduled to report for preseason camp this Sunday, Aug. 8. The 2021 season is set to kickoff Thursday, Sept. 2 on the road at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
 


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