Phil McGeoghan | Saint Louis Battlehawks

Phil McGeoghan is in his first season as the Wide Receivers Coach for the Saint Louis Battlehawks of the UFL.

Prior to the Battlehawks, he was named wide receivers coach at Colorado University on January 18, 2022; and head coach Karl Dorrell promoted him to assistant head coach on June 24, 2022. CU head coach Karl Dorrell had a previous relationship with McGeoghan; as an assistant under Mike Shanahan with the Denver Broncos from 2000-2002, he coached him for two seasons as he was a receiver and special teams performer.

 

Prior to CU, he was the receivers coach for three seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers. In his three seasons coaching receivers for the Chargers, his top threat, Keenan Allen, was a two-time Pro Bowl selection and set numerous franchise records; Allen and Mike Williams both recorded 1,000-yards seasons in 2019.  He was responsible for third down game planning and team presentation (the Chargers were sixth in third downs in 2019, converting at 44.3 percent), and other duties included coverage analysis and analyzing opponent personnel in the secondary.  The ’18 Chargers went 12-4 and advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs.

 

He spent the 2017 season as the receivers coach for the Buffalo Bills, helping the team finish 9-7 and earn their first playoff berth in 18 years (only the team’s third winning season in that entire span as well). 

 

He had returned to the FBS ranks in college for the 2016 season, where he tutored the receivers at East Carolina University.  His top performer was Zay Jones, who earned first-team All-America honors after leading the NCAA in receptions (158) and receiving yards (1,746), also leading in per game averages for those categories (13.2 and 145.5, respectively).  It set the nation’s record for receptions and the American Athletic Conference mark for yards.  A finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, he was a second round pick (37th player overall) by Buffalo in the 2017 NFL Draft (and whom McGeoghan would coach as a rookie in the league).

 

McGeoghan’s first NFL position came with the Miami Dolphins under head coach Joe Philbin for the 2012-15 seasons, finishing in the top third in the league in passing yards three of those four years.  His top players were 1,000-yard receivers Jarvis Landry and Brian Hartline; Landry set the franchise record with 110 receptions in 2015 when he was selected to the Pro Bowl, a year after he set the Dolphin record for receptions by a rookie (84).  Hartline had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2012 and 2013, just the second player in franchise history to accomplish the feat.  His receiving corps in 2013 was the No. 1 NFL unit in ball security, with no fumbles in 227 receptions.

 

His first collegiate job on the FBS level came at the University of South Florida, where he coached the Bulls’ receivers for three seasons (2009-11) and had his first real experience in recruiting, where he covered both Florida and Georgia.  He coached the three leading receivers at the time in USF history, Andre Davis (who is still first), Dontavia Bogan and Carlton Mitchell, all of whom eventually played in the NFL.

 

A four-year letterman at wide receiver in college, first as a freshman at Boston University in 1997 and then three times for the University of Maine.  He finished his career following the 2000 season, he was fifth on the school’s all-time list for receptions (161) as well as receiving yards (2,343), scoring 13 touchdowns.  He was the recipient of the Black Bears’ Jack Butterfield Outstanding Offensive Player award as a junior and the Woody Carville Senior Achievement Award.  As a member of Maine’s track and field team, he set the record in the high jump for the American East Conference, the state of Maine and New England with a leap of 7-foot-1/4 inch.  He was inducted into Maine’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018.

 

He signed with the New York Jets as a free agent ahead of the 2001 season, but had not yet finished his degree; after he was done playing professional football in which he spent with the Jets, Broncos, New Orleans Saints and the Oakland Raiders as well as in Europe with the Berlin Thunder, he returned to Maine as the school’s wide receivers and tight ends coach in 2007.  He then completed his requirements for his bachelor’s degree in Marketing, which he was awarded in 2008.  After graduating, he served as the offensive coordinator at the Naval Academy Preparatory School that fall before moving on to USF.

 

A native of Agawam, Mass., he graduated from Agawam High School, where he lettered in football and was an All-American in track and field; he finished third in the nation in the high jump as a junior and senior (6-foot-11 best as a prep).  He is married to the former Tori Schmitz and couple has two children, son Knox and daughter Morgan.