Butch Jones continues to fill out his initial Arkansas State coaching staff.
Less than a week after accepting the Red Wolves' top post, after spending the past three seasons as an analyst at Alabama, Jones has mostly recently added an Ivy League position coach and made a bold move to steal away a player personnel director from the Southeastern Conference.
Jones hired away Derrick Lett from Yale to be Arkansas State's wide receivers coach, after Lett had spent the previous four seasons as the Bulldogs' running backs coach. Lett also garnered the title of assistant head coach at Yale for the 2019 season. Lett also had served as Yale's recruiting coordinator.
Ivy League teams did not compete this fall.
Lett previously worked for Jones at the University of Tennessee.
In a pivotal move, especially with his hiring so close to the December early signing period and needing to replenish the Red Wolves' roster, Jones snapped up Matt Wilson to be Arkansas State's player personnel director. Wilson had served as the Bulldogs' director of football personnel, arriving in Starkville, Mississippi, on Joe Moorhead's State staff and lasting into the transition to Mike Leach.
A former assistant personnel director at the University of Tennessee, Wilson also boasts a deep résumé with previous stops with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals as well as UConn and Indiana.
Jones praised Wilson's immediate impact Wednesday in Jones' introductory and signing day press conference. Arkansas State signed 10 players, including Yale transfer running back Alan Lamar.
Arkansas State formally announced the additions of Lett and Wilson on Thursday.