FAYETTEVILLE - The Arkansas Razorbacks officially announced the hiring of Ronnie Fouch as wide receivers coach on Monday afternoon.
Fouch has been Missouri State's co-offensive coordinator and he is filling the role left by Arkansas wide receiver coach Kenny Guiton, who took the same role at Wisconsin.
New Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino is familiar with Fouch, as the two previously worked together at both Louisville and Missouri State.
Fouch joined the Missouri State staff in 2020 as the team’s running backs coach and was promoted to Co-Offensive Coordinator in 2023 with the transition under new head coach Ryan Beard.
Fouch has helped engineer the resurgence of the Bears running game and has also been instrumental as the team’s recruiting coordinator and special teams coordinator during his tenure at MoState.
In season three in Springfield in 2022, it was MVFC All-Newcomer Team selection Jacardia Wright who emerged to lead the MSU ground game. Wright carried 156 times for 711 yards and 9 touchdowns and averaged 71.1 yards per game. Fouch’s special teams unit also garnered league-wide attention with All-American punter Grant Burkett headlining four All-MVFC picks that also included kicker Jose Pizano, snapper Caden Bolz and returner Montrae Braswell.
In 2021, the Bears racked up 153.7 yards per game on the ground with 23 rushing touchdowns. Kevon Latulas (625 yards) and Tobias Little (599) shouldered the load to the tune of 5.4 yards per carry on an NCAA FCS Playoff team.
Led by MVFC All-Newcomer Team and All-MVFC honorable mention selection Celdon Manning, the Bears running game was vastly improved under Fouch in his first season in 2020-21. The unit averaged 111.6 yards per game overall (126.0 yards in league games) and accounted for 12 ground touchdowns. Jeremiah Wilson averaged 4.9 yards per carry to lead the unit, while Manning compiled 269 total yards and 4 TDs as a true freshman. The Bears were MVFC co-champions and made the NCAA FCS Playoffs for the first time in more than 30 years during Fouch’s first season.
Fouch spent the 2019 season as tight ends coach at Florida Tech University in Melbourne, Fla. He was part of a Panther offensive mastery that engineered just under 400 yards per game of total offense.
He served as the quarterbacks coach for the Salt Lake Stallions from 2018-19, mentoring Josh Woodrum to a league-best 65-percent completion percentage in the Alliance of American Football.
From 2015-18, he served as the offensive quality control coach at Louisville, assisting with the special teams and quarterbacks personnel for the Cardinals. He recruited 10 states and helped mentor a number of standout players, including first-round NFL Draft pick Lamar Jackson.
Before joining the Cardinals’ staff, Fouch worked as a football recruiting specialist at Georgia State University from 2013-15. He handled recruiting and player personnel after serving as the graduate assistant for the Panthers and his former coach Trent Miles. He coached two NFL wide receivers at GSU and was also instrumental in the club’s national recruiting strategy.
Fouch played college football at Washington and then transferred to Indiana State where he was one of the Valley’s top quarterbacks during his tenure. He started 22 games in Terre Haute, completing 322-of-544 passes for 4,316 yards and 38 touchdowns. The Sycamores were 6-5 in both of his seasons as the starter, including engineering an overtime victory against MoState in 2010. In 2011, ISU was ranked in the FCS Top 25 most of the year.
He earned an invitation to the Chicago Bear’s mini-camp after earning his degree in Criminology from Indiana State in 2012.S
Some information in the article provided by Missouri State Communications.
