RINDGE, N.H. (November 2, 2020) – As a unique and unprecedented fall semester continues on, the Franklin Pierce University Department of Athletics is pleased to announce the addition of several members of the coaching and support staffs for the 2020-21 year. These coaches and staff have been hard at work on the Rindge campus as Raven Nation prepares in hopes of a return to intercollegiate athletics competition in the spring semester.

Staff hires made this summer and into the fall include:

Tori Bouchard -- Assistant Athletic Trainer
Marykate Cullinane ’19 -- Head rowing coach
Andre Evans -- Assistant football coach (special teams coordinator/defensive backs)
Sam Horning -- Athletic Academic Coordinator
Marissa Shaw -- Head field hockey coach
Bryan Tarantin -- Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
Kyle Washington -- Assistant football coach (offensive coordinator/offensive backs)
Jay Wyatt -- Assistant football coach (defensive line)

“I am excited to formally announce the hiring of this young, talented and diverse group of individuals who are already hard at work on behalf of our student-athletes,” said Rachel Burleson, Director of Athletics. “It has been a challenging summer and fall on many fronts, but the passion these additions bring to their jobs will help ensure a bright future for Raven Nation as we work towards getting our teams back on the field.”

Bouchard will serve as the primary Athletic Trainer for Franklin Pierce's football, men's basketball and women's lacrosse programs, and will also assist with AT duties for the men's/women's cross country and track & field program. She comes to Rindge after spending the previous two years as a graduate assistant at the Division I level with Bowling Green State University, in Bowling Green, Ohio. Bouchard is a 2017 graduate of Springfield College and earned her master’s degree from Bowling Green in 2020.

Cullinane takes over the reins of the rowing program after serving as an assistant coach in 2019-20 and putting together a successful four-year stint as a student-athlete for the program prior to that. As an undergraduate, she served as a team captain beginning in the spring of 2016 and earned both Most Valuable Player and Most Improved Player accolades from the squad over the course of her career. Cullinane is a 2019 graduate of Franklin Pierce.

Evans previously spent time as a defensive coordinator with a pair of high school programs in his native Ohio. For the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he served as defensive coordinator and defensive secondary coach at his alma mater, Glenville High School in Cleveland. From the 2014 season through the 2017 season, Evans was the defensive coordinator at Charles F. Brush High school in Lyndhurst. He is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, where he played the final two years of his collegiate career.

Horning has spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the men’s basketball team, a role which he will continue in as well. With the addition of the Athletic Academic Coordinator title, he will work out of the Center for Academic Excellence. Horning will serve as a liaison between the CAE and the Department of Athletics, helping to track and manage the academic progress of the institution's student-athletes. He is a 2014 graduate of Nichols College and earned his master’s degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2018.

Shaw takes her first collegiate head coaching job and joined the Ravens after a pair of assistant coaching stints. Most recently, she served as an assistant coach at fellow Northeast-10 Conference member Stonehill in 2019, when she helped guide the Skyhawks to an appearance in the NE10 Championship. Prior, Shaw spent three seasons (2016-18) as a graduate assistant coach at the Division III level with Springfield College. She holds a 2016 bachelor’s degree from University of Maine, where she was a four-year letterwinner, and a 2018 master’s degree from Springfield.

Tarantin comes to Rindge after spending much of the previous two years working with fellow Division II institutions in Florida. For the first half of 2020, he was an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at Lynn University, in Boca Raton, Fla., and for the entirety of 2019, he served in a similar role on a volunteer basis at University of Tampa. Tarantin earned both his bachelor’s (2016) and master’s (2020) degrees from Tampa.

Rindge will be the third collegiate coaching stop for Washington, who has previously worked at both the Division I FCS and Division II levels. During the 2019 season, he served as the offensive quality control and quarterbacks coach at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La. Prior to that, Washington spent the 2016 and 2017 campaigns as a graduate assistant coach working with the running backs at his alma mater, Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. His name is all over the record books as a three-time All-Conference selection at Angelo State, where he was a two-time graduate, as he earned his bachelor’s degree in 2014 and followed with a master’s degree in 2016.

Wyatt takes his first collegiate coaching position in Rindge, after playing on the defensive line for three different schools during his undergraduate career. He capped his playing days at the Division II level with Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio, following stints with Grossmont College in El Cajon, Calif., and fellow Division II member Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, Calif. Wyatt is a 2020 graduate of Notre Dame College.