BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech Football head coach Brent Pry announced Tuesday that Jeron Gouveia-Winslow and Lino Lupinetti will continue in their roles as assistant directors of player personnel. Pry also confirmed the additions of Camie Cole Nations, Jalyn Ballein and Glenwood Ferebee to the Hokies' recruiting staff. The Hokies' personnel department is led by senior director of player personnel Michael Villagrana, who arrived in Blacksburg in December 2021 after Pry's hiring.
Gouveia-Winslow played at Tech from 2008-12 and started at whip linebacker his final three seasons under head coach Frank Beamer and defensive coordinator Bud Foster. In 40 career games he posted 80 total tackles, three INTs, three forced fumbles and two passes defensed. He returned an interception for a 24-yard TD in Tech's 44-33 win over Florida State in the 2010 ACC Championship Game and captained the defense and special teams as a senior in 2012.
He began his coaching career in 2014 at Stone Bridge HS where he was the defensive backs coach, before heading to the University of Hawaii where he was a defensive line intern the following year, and he coached alongside his father, Kurt Gouveia, who earned a pair of Super Bowl rings as a linebacker with Washington. Before returning to Tech in 2020, Gouveia-Winslow was a member of the coaching staff at Brevard College, serving as assistant head coach/special teams coordinator/safeties coach. He helped guide the Tornados to an 8-2 record in 2019, while three of his safeties were named team captains that season. Gouveia-Winslow and his wife, Amanda, are the parents of daughters Finley and Logan.
Lupinetti continues in his role with the Hokies in Tech's personnel department. He is part of a team that plans and executes all prospect visits to campus, including official, unofficial, camps and game day visits. He also assists coaches with the player evaluation process and the management of Tech's recruiting board. He joined the Hokies after serving as a student assistant in the Pitt football recruiting office from 2016-19 where he worked with current director of football creative media Zach Lantz, who will also continue in that capacity.
Cole Nations comes to Blacksburg and will serve as Tech's director of recruiting. She joins the Hokies after serving as director of player personnel for Marshall where she worked with Villagrana. The pair helped Marshall assemble its 2022 recruiting class, the highest-rated group in Thundering Herd history. During her tenure at Marshall, she assisted in the planning and execution of all recruiting functions, in addition to coordinating summer football camps and recruiting travel for assistant coaches.
Prior to her appointment at Marshall, Cole Nations served at Austin Peay from 2019-20. She joined the Governors as director of on-campus recruiting in 2019 and added director of operations to her responsibilities in 2020. In addition to leading all off-field operations in 2020, she also served as the eligibility and admissions manager for prospective student-athletes.
The Tupelo, Mississippi native spent 2018 as a recruiting assistant at Mississippi State while Villagrana served as the Bulldogs' director of recruiting. She earned a master's degree in sport administration from Mississippi State in 2019.
Cole Nations began her football career at LSU as a student assistant for the football program in 2013 and worked in various capacities with the Tigers until her graduation in 2017. She and her husband, Will Nations, were married in 2020.
Ballein joins the Hokies as director of on-campus recruiting. She previously served as Wake Forest Football's assistant to head coach Dave Clawson and on-campus recruiting coordinator. She was appointed to that post in 2021 and was part of a Demon Deacons program that won the ACC Atlantic Division title, registered a victory in the 2021 Gator Bowl and finished the season with an 11-3 record.
With Wake Forest, she played a key role in helping assemble the 2022 recruiting class that was the highest-rated group of Clawson's tenure in Winston-Salem. She coordinated official and unofficial visits, in addition to organizing campus tours and meetings with key athletics and university staff. Prior to her time at Wake Forest, Ballein served as the director of on-campus recruiting at Georgia Southern. While in Statesboro, Ballein was part of a squad that finished the 2020 season at 8-5 and won the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. She was also part of a staff that recruited a top 100 class for the Eagles in the 2021 cycle.
Ballein joins her parents as members of the Virginia Tech Athletics staff. Her father, John, currently works as executive associate director of athletics and served on Frank Beamer's football staff for 29 years. Her mother, Stephanie, serves as chief of staff for the Tech men's basketball program. The Georgia Southern graduate majored in public relations and is pursuing her master's degree in sports management with an emphasis in business.
Ferebee will serve as Tech's director of high school relations. He comes to Blacksburg after working as a high school head football coach for the past eight seasons. He has served as head coach at Julius Chambers High School in Charlotte, North Carolina since 2019 where he helped the program to a 38-5 record in three seasons. He was named the conference and region coach of the year in 2019 and won the state championship in 2019 and 2020.
He served as head coach at Indian River High School in Chesapeake, Virginia from 2014-18 where he piloted a program to a 47-16 record over five seasons. During his time at Indian River, Ferebee coached Tech DB Devon Hunter to high school All-America status. He was named the conference coach of the year in 2018, 2015 and 2014 while he earned the honor from the region in 2018 and 2015. Ferebee helped Indian River win the southern district championship in 2018.
Prior to those head coaching stints, Ferebee served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Hampton University during the 2013 season. He also served as the head coach at Lakeland High School in Suffolk, Virginia from 2008-12.
Ferebee graduated with a degree in multidisciplinary studies from Liberty in 2003. The Virginia Beach, Virginia native also has experience as a special education teacher. He has a son, Glenwood Ferebee II.
Pry also indicated on Tuesday that former assistant director of player personnel Kyshoen Jarrett will transition into a new role as a defensive graduate assistant on the coaching staff.
Jarrett led the Hokies with 88 tackles (52 solo) and three INTs as a senior in 2014. He saw duty in a total of 53 games in a Tech uniform, finishing his collegiate career with 249 tackles (155 solo), five INTs (48 yards) and 8.5 TFL, as well as 26 punt returns for 324 yards, including a 94-yard TD. The Tannersville, Pennsylvania native played in all 16 games (six starts) for Washington in 2015, racking up 58 tackles (39 solo) before an injury concluded his playing career. He returned to Washington's NFL franchise as a defensive intern in 2018 before serving as a defensive quality control coach/assistant defensive backs coach in 2019. He and his wife, Chantel, are parents of a daughter, Aniyah, and sons Kyler and Kaden.