NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion Football Head Coach Ricky Rahne announced additions to his offensive coaching staff on Thursday, adding Michael Smith as wide receivers coach, Phil Serchia to coach the offensive line and Wendy Laurent to coach the tight ends. Assistant coach Kody Cook has been promoted to offensive coordinator and will take over coaching the quarterbacks.
Cook, a former quarterback and wide receiver at Kansas State, moves to quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator after coaching the wide receivers the previous two seasons. He helped Tre Brown and Isiah Paige earn All-Sun Belt Conference honors the last two seasons, while Old Dominion was one of nine schools this season to have three players with more than 600 yards receiving.
Laurent spent the 2025 season at Ohio State as the assistant tight ends coach, helping the Buckeyes to a 12-1 record and advancing to the CFP Semifinals.
“I’m extremely excited to add Wendy to our offensive staff,” Rahne said. “He is one of the brightest young coaches in our profession and yet still has a wealth of experience. I look forward to him taking our tight end play to the next level.”
Prior to joining the Buckeyes, Laurent spent three seasons coaching tight ends at Dartmouth College. Prior to that, he was a graduate assistant coach for two seasons – 2020 and 2021 – at his alma mater, Penn State. He also has worked at the University of Buffalo, where he was an offensive line graduate assistant coach in 2019.
Laurent played in 34 games as a Nittany Lion between 2012-16, including starting eight games at center.
Serchia spent the 2025 season as an offensive line assistant at Tennessee, while spending the previous two seasons as an offensive assistant in the NFL with the LA Chargers.
“Phil brings a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge from virtually every level of football,” Rahne said. “From junior college to the NFL, Phil has established himself as a premier teacher and recruiter. Our offensive line has established a culture and reputation of physicality and togetherness and I’m confident that Coach Serchia will bring another element that will help us reach our ultimate goals.”
He spent three seasons as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Hutchinson Community College, helping lead the team to a JUCO National Championship.
Prior to his time with the Blue Dragons, Serchia was the offensive line coach at Texas A&M Kingsville from 2015-19.
Serchia’s first full-time position was at Adams State (Colorado) as the special teams coordinator, running backs and tight ends coach from 2013-14.
He got into the coaching ranks at his alma mater, Colorado State, spending four seasons with the Rams as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line and tight ends.
Smith, a veteran college coach with 27 years of experience, comes to ODU after a pair of seasons coaching wide receivers at McNeese State.
“I’ve known Michael a long time and during thattime he has established himself as an excellent coach and an elite recruiter,” Rahne said. “He has continually mentored productive units and I’m excited to build on the wide receiver success that we had last year.”
As a player, Smith had 179 receptions for 2,457 yards at Kansas State, ranking fifth and fourth in school history. Smith was named a third-team All-American in 1991, honorable mention All-American in 1989 and a two-time All-Big Eight selection (1989 and 1991). He played for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1992.
Prior to coaching at McNeese, Smith spent time at South Alabama and coached receivers at Kentucky from 2018-19.
Smith coached at Arkansas for five seasons from 2013-17, leading the receivers and helped lead the Razorbacks to three bowl games.
He spent the 2007-08 seasons at Arizona and prior to that spent the 2006 campaign at Rice.
Smith got his coaching start at his alma mater, serving in multiple capacities as a member of K-State’s staff for 16 years. He started in the profession as a student assistant for the Wildcats in 1993 and was a graduate assistant during the 1995 and ‘96 campaigns as the program posted a combined 28-7-1 record.