An assistant coach at Army from 2000 through 2004, Tucker Waugh is in his seventh year of his second stint at West Point. He spent the previous two years guiding wide receivers at Stanford University.
Under head coach Rich Ellerson, Waugh directed the Black Knights' A-backs and C-backs from 2009-12. In 2013, he added the role of wide receivers coach to his duties.
Under Waugh's tutelage, Army's running backs helped the Black Knights lead the nation in rushing for the first time since 1999 (346.5 yds./game) and produce an Academy record 4,158 yards. The A-Back and C-Back postions combined to run for 2,165 yards, accounting for 52 percent of the team's record-breaking total. C-Back Raymond Maples rushed for 1,066 yards, the ninth highest season total in West Point history.
In 2010, Waugh's charges helped the Black Knights to their first bowl appearance since 1996 and the program's first postseason win in 25 years. Army ranked eighth in the nation in rushing offense, and its 3,271 yards were the 10th most in Academy history.
In 2008, his first season coaching running backs in Army's triple-option system, Waugh guided fullback Collin Mooney to a record-breaking campaign. Mooney's 1,339 rushing yards broke the Academy's single-season record that had stood since 1990. Mooney entered the season with just 22 career rushing yards.
After coaching wide receivers for nine years at Illinois State University, Army and Stanford, Waugh shifted his efforts on the Black Knights' running backs in 2007 and 2008. He focused on Army's A-backs and C-backs in 2009.
A member of Bobby Ross' original Army coaching staff, Waugh departed the Academy to work with head coach Walt Harris at Stanford in January 2005, continuing to build a reputation as a bright, energetic, intelligent, young coach. During his final year at Stanford, he worked with Richard Sherman, who was named to The Sporting News Pac-10 Conference All-Freshman team.
In 2008, Waugh was recognized as one of the up-and-coming assistants in the nation. He was chosen to attend the 2008 NCAA Expert Coaches Forum in Dallas, Texas. The Forum is designed to improve and reinforce various aspects of securing, managing and excelling in head football coaching positions at the intercollegiate level. In 2009, Rivals.com named Waugh one of its top 10 recruiters among all non-Bowl Championship Series schools.
When Waugh first arrived at Army, he inherited a group of receivers that had caught a total of 14 career passes. Over the next three years, his Black Knight wideouts registered 322 receptions. During that time, he oversaw the development of Aaron Alexander, who graduated in 2005 and ranks second on Army's career charts for both receptions and receiving yards. Waugh mentored Alexander to an Academy-record 64 catches in 2003. His 861 receiving yards that season rank third on the Army ledger.
Prior to arriving at West Point, Waugh coached for five seasons at Illinois State (1995-99). He worked with the Redbirds' outside linebackers in 1995, running backs in 1996 and wide receivers his final three years. He mentored an All-Gateway Conference selection during each of his three seasons as receivers coach, with Marquis Mosely earning recognition in 1997 and Ricky Garrett copping laurels in both 1998 and 1999.
Waugh helped to establish the Redbirds' passing attack as one of the most prolific in the nation. Illinois State advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs in 1998 and reached the Division I-AA national semifinals in 1999.
A 1993 graduate of DePauw University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English Composition and Physical Education, Waugh began his coaching career at Otterbein College in 1993 overseeing the Cardinals' quarterbacks. He returned to his alma mater in 1994 as a wide receivers coach. He also completed a coaching fellowship with the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League.
Waugh lettered at quarterback while playing at DePauw from 1990 to 1992 and was named the school's "Outstanding Physical Education Major."
Waugh resides at West Point with his wife, Jen, and sons, Jackson and Nicholas.
