Rice University Head Football Coach David Bailiff announced three additions to his coaching staff for the 2007 season on Wednesday as he continues to fill out the roster of coaches who will lead the Owls next season.

New Rice Coach David Bailiff adds 3 assistants to his staff

At the same time, Yancy McKnight, who was the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the Owls in 2006 announced he has had a change of heart and decided to return to the Owls. McKnight had originally decided to join Todd Graham at Tulsa, but changed his mind and informed the members of the Owls football team earlier today after they were assembled to meet their "new" strength coach.

"We have unfilnished business to take care of," McKight said. "We were two points from playing in the C-USA Championship last year. I thought long and hard about the situation and it became clear that the right place for me was to here at Rice."

Bailiff announced that Chuck Driesbach has been named Assistant Head Coach and Co-Defensive Coordinator while Darin Eliot will handle the defensive line and Jason Washington will coach the Owls' cornerbacks.

"We are excited to be able to bring in such a quality group of men who are a good fit for Rice," Bailiff said.

A veteran of 28 years in college coaching, including 15 seasons as a defensive coordinator, Driesbach comes to Rice after two seasons of coaching defensive backs at Michigan State. Prior to his stint with the Spartans, Driesbach was the defensive coordinator at Ole Miss from 2002-04 under David Cutcliffe, leading a defense that was one of the best in the country in 2003. He also fashioned nationally ranked defensive units at TCU and Western Michigan in his career. For his work in 2000 at Western Michigan, he was nominated for the Frank Broyles Award, which is presented to the top assistant coach in the country.

Eliot rejoins Bailiff's staff after spending the 2006 season as the linebacker coach at Tulsa where he saw two of his players (Nick Bunting and Nelson Coleman) earn all conference honors. While with Bailiff at Texas State, he helped fashion a defense that dominated that Southland and was nationally ranked in 2005.

Washington was a two-sport start in football and baseball at Texas State before joining the coaching staff in 2003. He coached the Bobcat cornerbacks the past three seasons for Bailiff and he produced the Southland's leader in interceptions this past year (Walter Musgrove).