Fontel Mines

Fontel Mines is in his first season as tight ends coach at Old Dominion.

Mines comes to ODU after spending the previous two seasons as the tight ends and inside receivers coach at East Carolina. Mines coached ECU's top receiver, Tyler Snead, each of the last two seasons, and helped Snead earn all-conference honors in 2020. In 2019, Snead broke the ECU freshman record for receptions and touchdowns in a season, while his 19 catches at SMU were the most in an FBS game that season. As the recruiting coordinator for the Pirates corralled the fourth ranked recruiting class in the American Athletic Conference in 2020. Mines ranked No. 6 among all AAC coaches in 247Sports coach recruiting rankings in 2020 and 2021.
 
Prior to joining ECU, Mines spent a pair of seasons at James Madison. At JMU, Mines coached the 2017 CAA Player of the year (John Miller) and helped the Dukes to the FCS Championship Game in 2017, and the second round of the playoffs in 2018. Mines was named the recruiting coordinator for the Dukes in 2018.
 
Mines began his Division I coaching tenure with a five-year stint at Richmond, helping the spiders to three-straight FCS playoff appearances. He coached the wide receivers for four seasons and the tight ends for one with UR. During his time with the Spiders, he coached three-time All-CAA receiver, and the school's all-time leading receiver, Brian Brown. Mines also mentored two-time first-team All-CAA wide receiver, Ben Edwards, and two-time first team All-CAA receiver, Reggie Diggs. All three players played in the NFL. In total, Mines coached five wide receivers to All-CAA honors at Richmond.

A native of Richmond, Mines began his college coaching tenure at Chowan, developing the tight ends and wide receivers. He coached CIAA Player of the Year Robert Holland, who set the NCAA Division II career receptions record. The record has since been broken but he is currently second with 325 receptions.
 
A four-year letter winner at wide receiver at Virginia, Mines caught 68 passes in his career for 737 yards and five touchdowns. At UVA, he played on two bowl championship teams, the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl, and the 2005 Music City Bowl. He spent three seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears.

Mines and his wife, Joyner, have a son, Lexan.