BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Campbell head football coach Dale Steele has added Donnell Washington and Chris Chestnut to his coaching staff for the 2010-11 season.

Washington will serve as the defensive assistant at Campbell after spending the last two years working as the defensive coordinator at Gainesville High School. In particular Washington worked with the safeties, while assisting the head coach with the punt and kickoff teams while at Gainesville. During game days, Washington instructed the defense on the weekly game plan and strategies.

Prior to working at Gainesville High School, Washington worked at Jones High School in Orlando, Fla. from 2005-2008. While at Jones he worked his way up from assistant secondary coach (2005) to defensive backs (2006) to defensive coordinator (2008) through his three year tenure. Washington also worked as the boys' weightlifting team coach in 2007 and the assistant boys' weight lifting coach (2006). In those roles, he created and aided in the creation of the work out plans and individual assessments for each of the 30 team members.

Washington played college football at Central Florida from 1994-97 for then defensive coordinator/linebackers coach and current Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Brian Vangorder. Washington went from the role of a walk-on as a freshman to three-year starter and team captain as a senior. He was selected for the 1996 NCAA Division I-A All-Independent Team.

The Gainesville native earned his bachelor of science degree in engineering technology with a concentration in mechanical design in 1998 and his teaching certification for mathematics from Santa Fe College in 2009.

He is enrolled in graduate school at Campbell and resides in Clayton with his wife, the former Michelle E. Jones. Washington is replacing former Campbell coach Chris Ballance.

"We think that Coach Washington will come in and do a good job for us," Steele explained. "Having played at Central Florida and coach high school football in Florida for the last few years he has the experience and the background to help us as we continue to grow this program. He will be working on the defensive side of the football and help our kids become the type of the defensive team that we envision we can be."

Chestnut, who will fill the role of coaching the running backs, comes to Campbell after most recently working at Ellsworth Community College (Iowa) for the last year. While at Ellsworth, Chestnut worked as the wide receivers coach for the 2009 Region IX Midwest Conference Champions and the 2009 Graphic Edge Bowl Champions. The offense he was part of ranked first in the nation and average 496 yards a game. His responsibilities included working with a receiver, Quintin Robinson, who was a first team NJCAA All-American and an all-conference selection in his season of being coached by Chestnut.

Chestnut began his coaching career at Northern Durham High School from 2004-08. He spent five years working in a various coaching position including passing game coordinator (2006-07), special teams coordinator (2006-08) and strength and conditioning coach (2004-08). Chestnut also worked with the track program, who won four straight conference titles while he was coaching.

The Durham, N.C. native began his collegiate playing career for College of the Canyons in Valencia, Calif. Chestnut led the team in receiving in each of his two years and was named First Team Western State Conference as a sophomore. He then transferred to Western Michigan University (WMU) where he started all 11 games as a junior and led the team in receiving yards a game (14.6). He was a two-year letterwinner at WMU and served as a team captain as a senior. He ended his career with the Broncos with 30 catches for 412 yards.

Chestnut then played professionally in the Arena Football League from 2004-2006. He was in camp with the New York Dragon in 2004 and spent two years playing for the Las Vegas Gladiators (2004-05) and a year for the Georgia Wildcats (2006)

Chestnut received his bachelor of science degree in student integrated curriculum from Western Michigan in 2008 and is the father of Jaylon Chestnut. Chestnut replaces former Campbell coach Jody Stouffer.

"Chris is a local product that grew up and played in Durham at Northern Durham High School," Steele stated. "He is someone that I have known about for a long time. He was a very good player in high school that went on to have a successful college playing career in junior college in California and then for a really good football team at Western Michigan. We feel like he adds a great deal of local knowledge to help us in recruiting, but he also has valuable coaching experience at both the collegiate and high school levels. He will work with the running backs and make a valuable contribution to our growth as an offense."

Washington and Chestnut join Art Link, Oscar Olejniczak, Greg Williams, Landon Mariani, Nick Cavallo and Andre Fontenette on the Campbell coaching staff.

"I am pleased with the current makeup of our staff," Steele said. "The four coaches that we have returning in Greg Williams, Landon Mariani, Art Link and Oscar Olejniczak have done an excellent job and are the foundation of our staff. We then added two new coaches in the spring in Nick Cavallo and Andre Fontenette, who have done a really good job and have fit right in with the program and players. The addition of Donnell and Chris will give us an experience group of coaches that have outstanding character and will do a good job of continuing the growth of our program. It is going to be an exciting year for this group of coaches and our players."

The alignment for the football staff goes as follows for the 2010-11 season:

Campbell Coaching Staff