Mauro Monz enters his fourth season with the Zips’ football program, but third as assistant coach. In 2006, Monz served as the director of football operations and moved to wide receivers coach prior to 2007 spring drills.

Under his direction, Jabari Arthur turned in the best season in UA history, hauling in a UA record 86 receptions for 1,171 yards and a Mid-American Conference best 10 touchdowns. He would earn fourth team All-American honors, first team All-MAC recognition and end his career as Akron’s all-time leader in both receptions (184) and receiving yards (2,653). What made Arthur’s season all the more special is that opponents knew the ball would be going to Arthur, but they still could not stop him as the next best receptions total for the 2007 season was 22 by running back Bryan Williams.

In 2008, Monz oversaw a group of wideouts that accounted for over 2,200 yards through the air. Headlining the list were All-MAC honorees Deryn Bowser and Andre Jones. Bowser, a first-year, juco transfer, led the Zips with 64 receptions — sixth-best on the UA single-season list — for 785 yards. He was named MAC East Offensive Player of the Week for his fourth-and-11 touchdown reception late in regulation and later named third-team All-MAC. Jones, who spent his first two seasons as one of Akron’s top defensive players (playing free safety) moved to wide receiver to take advantage of his big-play ability. He responded by being named MAC East Offensive Player of the Week for reaching the century mark (100 yards) in the win at Army and was later tabbed third team All-MAC. While Jones only caught 47 passes — 15th on the UA single-season list — he led the Zips with seven touchdown catches, the 39th-best total in school history.

Prior to coming to Akron, Monz spent the 2005 season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Duquesne University. The stint was his second with the Dukes as he served in the same positions during the 2001 and ‘02 seasons. During his first two seasons with Duquesne, he helped the Dukes finish 12th and 11th in the nation, respectively, in scoring offense.

Before returning to Duquesne, Monz served as the head coach at West Virginia Tech for two seasons (2003-04).

 Prior to accepting his first assistant job at Duquesne, Monz served an 11-month stint as assistant recruiting coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh, where he helped the Panthers land a recruiting class ranked in the top 25 nationally.

Before joining the staff at Pittsburgh, Monz served as quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at Robert Morris University where he was part of four Northeast Conference championship teams. In 1999 he served as quarterbacks and special teams coach for Team USA in the Team USA vs. Team Florida college all-star game.

Monz, a first team All-MAAC defensive back for the Dukes in 1994 and 1995, was an important part of DU’s first MAAC championship team in 1995. He finished his career second on DU’s all-time list with 12 interceptions.

The 33-year-old Pittsburgh native earned his undergraduate degree in elementary education in the fall of 1996 and completed work on his masters degree in instructional leadership at Robert Morris in 1999. Monz and his wife, Dana, have three children, daughter Dea (5), son Dominic (3) and son Dylan (1).