Eagles adjust coaching staff

The Philadelphia Eagles named Sean McDermott secondary coach, Bill Shuey linebackers coach, Otis Smith assistant secondary coach, Mike Caldwell defensive quality control coach and Mark Whipple an offensive assistant coach Monday.

Heading into his 10th season as a member of the Eagles coaching staff, the 33-year-old McDermott spent the 2007 season as the team’s linebackers coach. Under his watch, the 2007 linebacking group flourished as two youngsters – Omar Gaither and Chris Gocong – progressed into full-time starters for the first time in their career. Gaither led the team with 170 tackles and 14 quarterback hurries, while recording 14 knockdowns in the pass game. Gocong totaled 92 tackles, including seven behind the line of scrimmage, while posting one sack. In addition, veteran LB Takeo Spikes tallied 139 tackles in his first season in Philadelphia.

From 2004-06, McDermott served as the Eagles secondary/safeties coach. In 2004, he saw both of his starting safeties (Brian Dawkins and Michael Lewis) earn Pro Bowl berths for the first time in team history. Under McDermott’s watch, Dawkins went on to earn two more Pro Bowl berths following the 2005 and 2006 season. In addition, McDermott has been credited in the development of Eagles S Quintin Mikell.

From 2002-03, McDermott served as the team’s defensive assistant/quality control coach. A safety at William and Mary from 1994-97, he began his coaching career at his alma mater in 1998 before joining the Eagles as a scouting assistant later that year. McDermott is a 1993 graduate of LaSalle High School in Philadelphia.

Shuey, 33, worked as the club’s defensive quality control coach in 2007, after spending the previous four seasons as the team’s offensive assistant/quality control coach. He was promoted to that post in 2003 after a two-year stint as the assistant to the head coach. A native of Bethlehem, PA, Shuey earned a B.A. in sports management from Slippery Rock and a M.S. in education from West Virginia.

Smith, 42, spent the entire 2007 season as an intern coach with the Eagles, working with the team’s secondary. In 2006, Smith served in a similar role with the New England Patriots. Smith entered the coaching ranks after enjoying a 13-year NFL career as a cornerback with the Eagles (1991-94), New York Jets (1995, 1997-99), Patriots (1996, 2000-02), and Detroit Lions (2003). In 180 regular season games (108 starts), Smith registered 29 career interceptions for 645 yards and 7 touchdowns. Smith earned a Super Bowl championship ring with the Patriots in 2001. A native of New Orleans, LA, Smith entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with the Eagles in 1990 from Missouri.

Caldwell, 36, served as an intern coach during the Eagles 2007 training camp, working with the team’s linebackers. He enjoyed an 11-year NFL career as a linebacker with Cleveland (1993-95), Baltimore (1996), Arizona (1997), Philadelphia (1998-2001), Chicago (2002), and Carolina (2003). He played in 159 career regular season games and posted 14.5 sacks and eight interceptions, while proving to be a top special teams performer. A native of Oak Ridge, TN, Caldwell played collegiately at Middle Tennessee State before becoming a third round draft pick of the Browns in 1993.

A veteran of 26 seasons as a coach on both the collegiate and professional levels, Whipple spent his last three (2004-06) as the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach. In that capacity he was instrumental in the development of 2004 first-round draft pick Ben Roethlisberger, who became the Steelers starter as a rookie after an injury to Tommy Maddox. That season, he became the first quarterback in league history to finish a regular season undefeated with a 13-0 record in games he started. With Whipple¹s guidance, Roethlisberger became the youngest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl the following year, as the the Steelers defeated the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.

Whipple spent 16 seasons as a head coach at the collegiate level (New Haven, 1988-93; Brown, 1994-97; Massachusetts 1998-2003), where he compiled an overall record of 121-59 (.672). His most recent college stop came at Massachusetts where he posted five winning seasons, two conference championships and led the team to a Division I-AA national championship in 1998. That year, Whipple earned the American Football Coaches Association¹s Division I-AA National Coach of the Year Award.

The Tarrytown, NY, native's coaching career began in 1980 as an assistant at St. Lawrence University. Whipple made four more stops over the next seven years (Union College, 1981-82; Brown, 1983; Arizona Wranglers of the USFL, 1984; New Hampshire, 1986-87) before landing his first head coaching appointment. A 1979 graduate of Brown, he was the Bears starting quarterback from 1977-78, leading the team to a 13-5 record as a starter. He was inducted into the Brown Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.