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Phil Elmassian serves as the defensive backs coach at Nebraska. Getting ready to enter his 3rd season with the Huskers, Phil has been instrumental in leading a resurgence of the famed Blackshirts defense. Nebraska's defense continued to improve over the last two seasons and culminated that 2005 season with a win over Michigan in the Alamo Bowl in one of the wildest endings in college football history. Noticeable in the pandemonium on the field at the end of the game was one of Coach Elmassian's players making the gave saving tackle for the Huskers.

Elmassian has coached extensively around the country, most recently at Purdue University where the Boilers played in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day against Georgia. While at Marshall University he was coached outside linebackers and coordinated the defensive kicking game. The Marshall Thundering Herd finished the 2002 season with an 11-2 record, a ranking of 31st in the nation in total defense and as GMAC Bowl champions.

Elmassian has over 20 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I. He has coached 17 all-conference performers and been a part of 14 bowl teams at schools that include:

East Carolina
Minnesota
Virginia Tech
Virginia
Syracuse
Washington
Boston College
Wisconsin
LSU
West Virginia

During Elmassian's stint at Wisconsin, the Badgers led the nation in scoring defense in 1998 (11.9 points per game) and ranked fifth in 1999 (12.8). They were No. 1 in the Big Ten in scoring defense, total defense (298.1 - 15th nationally) and passing defense (97.9 - fifth nationally) in 1999. Wisconsin became the first Big Ten school to win back-to-back Rose Bowls in 1998 and 1999, defeating the high-powered offenses of UCLA and Stanford.

A native of Cambridge, Mass., Elmassian played quarterback at Ferrum before transferring to William & Mary, where he was a defensive back under Lou Holtz. He began his coaching career at William & Mary in 1974. Elmassian also earned a B.A. degree from William & Mary in 1974. He and his wife, Mary, have three children: Claire, Dylan and Olivia.

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