EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lafayette has added three assistant football coaches to fill recently vacated positions on its coaching staff, head coach Frank Tavani has announced.

Joe Dougherty (Dickinson ’99) begins his second tour of duty on College Hill, replacing John Troxell ’94 as running backs coach. Troxell, a member of the coaching staff at his alma mater for five seasons and a member of three Patriot League championship teams as a player and coach, accepted the head coaching position at Franklin & Marshall, a Division III school in Lancaster, Pa., on March 22. Dougherty was wide receivers coach for the Leopards in 2003 before fulfilling the same responsibilities and coordinating the special teams at Fordham the last two seasons.

Al Holcomb (West Virginia ’93) inherits the defensive line coach position from Antoine Smith, who left Lafayette after two years on the staff to fill the same position at Youngstown State. Holcomb comes to Lafayette from Kutztown University, where he was defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach the last two seasons, and had served as acting head coach since January before the Bears hired Raymond Monica as their head coach on March 15.

J.P. McFeeley (Allegheny ’03) will join the staff as a defensive assistant following the departure of Chris Partridge ’02, who left last month to become the defensive line coach at The Citadel. McFeeley spent 2005 as assistant linebackers coach at Fordham.

Dougherty was on the staff at Rowan for two years before his first stint at Lafayette, serving as quarterbacks coach (2002) and linebackers coach (2001) and the recruiting coordinator both seasons. Rowan was a Division III national semi-finalist in his first season, and finished 2002 ranked second in the country. Dougherty was offensive coordinator at Bishop Hafey High School in Hazleton, Pa. in 1999 and 2000 following graduation from Dickinson with a bachelor of science degree in Biology and a minor in Psychology. He was a four-year letterwiner at wide receiver and wingback for the Red Devils.

Holcomb brings a wealth of experience at all three levels of college football into his first season at Lafayette. He began his coaching career at Morgantown High School in the fall of 1994 after graduating from West Virginia University with a bachelor of science degree in Sports Management. Holcomb continued his education in Morgantown while serving as a volunteer administrative assistant with the Mountaineers, and received a master of science in Athletic Coaching Education from WVU in 1996.

Holcomb was the graduate assistant coach in charge of linebackers at Temple for two seasons (1996 and 1997) before moving to Colby College, a Division III institution in Waterville, Maine, where he was linebackers coach, assistant track coach and a physical education instructor. He made the transition to Division II football in 1998 and spent six seasons as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at Bloomsburg, which won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference four straight years (2000-03) and made two appearances in the NCAA playoffs.