SAN DIEGO – San Diego State head football coach Sean Lewis has announced the hiring of Lanear Sampson as the team's new wide receivers coach. Sampson will be in his eighth year of coaching at the collegiate level.
Sampson comes to The Mesa from Austin Peay State University where he was the pass game coordinator wide receivers coach for two seasons. He was also elevated to co-offensive coordinator ahead of the 2023 season.
In his lone season as the Austin Peay co-offensive coordinator, the No. 10 ranked Governors posted a 9-3 record and perfect 6-0 mark in ASUN before suffering a loss in the first round of the FCS playoff. Statistically, his offense ranked fourth in team passing efficiency (162.17), ninth in scoring offense (34.1 points per game), 11th in FCS in completion percentage (66.7%), 12th in red zone offense (89.7%), 13th in passing offense (274.1 yards per game), and 15th in total offense (426.8 yards per game).
Austin Peay's quarterback, Mike DiLiello, would go on to be named the ASUN offensive player of the year and finished eighth in the voting for the 2023 Walter Payton Award. The play caller led a group of eight offensive players to earn all-United Athletic Conference honors, including a first team selection for wide receiver Trey Goodman and second team selection for wideout Tre Shackelford.
In his first season at Austin Peay, Sampson helped wide receiver Drae McCray post just the fourth 1,000-yard receiving season in program history with 76 receptions for 1,021 yards. McCray finished the 2022 season with 14 more catches and 253 more yards than any other receiver in the ASUN Conference. Overall, his receiving core had five players with multiple touchdowns all ranking in the top ten of the ASUN.
Prior to Austin Peay, Sampson spent the 2021 season as an offensive analyst on Dino Baber's staff at Syracuse assisting the Orange to the 16th best rushing offense (213.5 ypg) in FBS.
Sampson spent the 2020 season as an offensive quality control coach for Josh Heupel at the University of Central Florida. While there, the Knights had one of the best offenses in the nation ranking second in total offense (568.1 ypg), fourth in passing offense (357.4 ypg), seventh in first downs (283), and eighth in scoring offense (42.2 ppg).
Before UCF Sampson had one-year stints as the wide receivers coach at McNeese State in 2019 and Missouri State in 2018 after making his first stop on Babers' staff at Syracuse as a graduate assistant in 2016-17.
At McNeese State, Sampson's receiver group was led by second team All-Southland Conference selection, Cyron Sutton. Sutton hauled in 10 touchdowns that year and set the single-season record with 67 catches and recorded the second most yards in program history with 950. He also caught a touchdown in seven straight games, another McNeese State record.
As a player, Sampson was signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2013. He also spent time with the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers before he signed with the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League in 2015.
Before going pro, he was a key piece of the senior class that turned around Baylor's football program. Sampson helped the Bears reach three consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history, including back-to-back wins against wins against Washington in the 2011 Alamo Bowl and UCLA in the 2012 Holiday Bowl.
Sampson finished his career fifth on Baylor's all-time receptions list (165) and 10th in career receiving yardage (1,905). He caught a pass in 43 straight games from 2010-12 and earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors as a senior. Sampson had 52 receptions for 646 yards and six touchdowns in his final campaign to earn a spot in the 2013 Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Game. He was also a two-time Academic All-Big 12 selection during his time in Waco.
A Mesquite, Texas native, Sampson earned a bachelor's degree in speech communication from Baylor in 2012 before earning his master's degree in instructional design, development, and evaluation from Syracuse in 2018.