with Associated Press reports

MIAMI - Former Illinois State football coach Todd Berry was named quarterbacks coach at the University of Miami Friday.

Berry is the first hiring by Hurricanes' coach Larry Coker since four longtime assistants were fired earlier this month.

The 45-year-old Berry had a 24-24 record at ISU from 1996 to 1999. He led the Redbirds to their first Division I-AA playoff berth in 1998 and to the I-AA national semifinals and a Gateway Conference championship in 1999.

"I'm excited about the opportunity," Berry said Friday from his soon-to-be former home in Monroe, La. "Coach Coker and I have a long standing relationship. This gives me a good platform to get my career going and work at a great university for a great guy."

Coker was an assistant coach at Tulsa and Berry's position coach when Berry played for the Golden Hurricane in the early 1980s.

"I went down (to Miami) this summer at their request and spent some time with them and felt like at some point in time there might be a possibility for me to go down there," Berry said. "You get to a point in the profession where places are attractive, but people are more attractive.

"The people thing is very important to me. I want to work with someone who has the same type of values I have and wants to treat young people right. I know from first-hand experience that is going to happen there."

Coker welcomes the addition of Berry to his staff.

"Todd Berry is an outstanding football coach. Without question he will help our offense move forward," Coker said. "Todd has turned down opportunities to coach in the NFL, so we're pleased to have him as part of our offensive staff. He is a great teacher of fundamentals, and he has a strong belief in an attacking, explosive style of offense."

Berry left ISU for the head coaching position at Army after the 1999 season. He was fired at Army in October of 2003 after going 5-35 in parts of four seasons.

Berry spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Louisiana-Monroe. He also served as offensive coordinator at East Carolina from 1992 to '95.

The Hurricanes were 9-3 this past season, which ended with a 40-3 loss to LSU in the Peach Bowl. Three days after that defeat - Miami's worst bowl loss ever - Coker fired offensive line coach Art Kehoe, offensive coordinator Dan Werner and running backs coach Don Soldinger, plus linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves.

Coker hasn't decided who will serve as offensive coordinator or if there will be any major schematic changes.

Berry has already spoken to Miami quarterbacks Kyle Wright and Kirby Freeman.

"I'm excited about working with both of them," said Berry. "I think they're excited about what the future holds for them. We're going to try to be a little more aggressive on offense."

Miami has gone 53-9 in five seasons under Coker, but six of those losses have come in the past two seasons. And the Hurricanes haven't won the Atlantic Coast Conference title in either of their first two years as a member of that league.

Berry's offense at Louisiana-Monroe this past season featured quarterback Steven Jyles, who was the Sun Belt Conference's player of the year. Berry's offense yielded only nine sacks while throwing the ball 405 times during the 2005 season.

Louisiana-Monroe coach Charlie Weatherbie wishes Berry well in his new position.

"Todd Berry is as good a football coach as I have been around. He is very smart when it comes to football Xs and Os," Weatherbie said. "He is very good with people and is an intelligent football coach. Todd is the total package. He has been instrumental in bringing our program a long way over the past two seasons."