East Carolina’s football program has added additional staff to the program, the school announced on Friday.
Head coach Blake Harrell announced six new staff members. ECU Sports Information has more details on those hired.
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Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information photo)
First-year ECU Head Football Coach Blake Harrell announced the addition of six individuals to the program in Mason Baggett (director of strength and conditioning), Hannah Hansley (director of on-campus recruiting), AJ Lembo (director of scouting), Luke Mullett (general manager), Ryan Smith (special teams coordinator) and Lance Ware (director of player personnel/recruiting).
“I am thrilled to announce the newest additions to our staff,” Harrell said. “Each one brings a unique skill set to East Carolina that has already paid dividends within our program from the field to the weight room and in recruiting. We are excited to welcome each to Greenville and Pirate Nation.”
Mason Baggett, Director of Strength and Conditioning
Baggett, who has nearly 20 years of experience training student-athletes at the collegiate level, was officially named the Director of Strength and Conditioning at East Carolina University on April 7, 2025.
His appointment to oversee the Pirate strength and conditioning program ended a two-month stint at Virginia Tech where he served as the associate director of strength and conditioning.
Baggett worked at the University of Maryland in 2024. He served as the head strength and conditioning coach at Nevada in 2022 and 2023, following one year as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Oregon. He previously spent six years at Maryland (2016-2021), including the last four as associate director of football strength and conditioning with the Terrapin football team. Prior to his time in College Park, Baggett served just over a year as the associate strength and conditioning coach with the University of Illinois’ football program.
In 2024, Baggett earned the title of Master Strength and Conditioning Coach from the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association. This prestigious honor marks the highest recognition in the strength and conditioning profession.
Baggett was a Strength and Conditioning Specialist at EXOS in Camp Lejeune, N.C. for almost four years, working with Marine Special Operations Command for the Human Performance and Resiliency Program (MPOTFF). He was directly responsible for the design and implementation of strength and conditioning programs for operators and support personnel with the 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion.
From 2008-11, Baggett was an assistant strength coach at East Carolina University, assisting with the training of the 2008 and 2009 Conference USA championship football program. He also served as the strength coach for baseball, which won the 2009 Conference USA championship. Responsibilities also included working with women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s tennis programs and assisting with the basketball programs.
Baggett interned with the United States Olympic Committee in 2007, working with women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s freestyle wrestling, men’s Greco Roman wrestling, and various other sports.
A Richmond, Va. native, Baggett played football under Coach Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech (2002-06) where he received his undergraduate degree in science of food, nutrition and exercise before earning his master’s in health promotion and sport performance while serving as a graduate assistant strength coach for the Hokies in 2008. He and his wife, Katie, a former All-American volleyball player at Ohio State, have four children, Grace, Nora, Lucy, and Colin.
Hannah Hansley, Director of On-Campus Recruiting
Hansley is in her first year as the Director of On-Campus Recruiting at East Carolina, a position she officially began on March 17, 2025.
Hansley comes to ECU after working at the University of Maryland as the coordinator of on-campus recruiting since 2023 before adding the coordinator of football operations title in June of 2024. While working in recruiting, she helped coordinate itineraries and activities for on-campus events which included the planning and organization of official and unofficial visits, junior day and game days, while also managing all game day needs. Hansley also oversaw guest lists, ticket approvals, sideline operations, pre- and post-game operations as well as reconciling travel and recruiting expenditures.
While helping in football operations, she collaborated with the Director of Football Operations as the designated point of contact for team hotel travel. Hansley also assisted with athlete family members through newsletters, family events and on-boarding/orientation of all new student-athletes and employees. She oversaw the mentorship program by cultivating and strengthening relationships between players and their mentors while executing player development events.
Prior to Maryland, Hansley worked two years at East Carolina as a recruiting intern while completing her undergraduate degree in communication during the summer of 2023. She assisted the director of on-campus recruiting in showcasing athletic facilities and main campus to recruits, as well as managing family game day events. The Charlotte, N.C. native also helped the director of player personnel and recruiting with compliance paperwork, booking hotels, dinner reservations and providing airport transportation.
AJ Lembo, Director of Scouting
Lembo is in his first year at East Carolina University serving as the Director of Scouting for the Pirate football program, a position he began in February of 2025.
His appointment to the Pirates’ staff ended a four-year stay at TCU where he worked with the football program in recruiting and personnel departments while completing his undergraduate degree. While with the Horned Frogs, Lembo assisted personnel and the coaching staff with the evaluation and analysis of high school and college prospects.
Other duties with the TCU program consisted of creating film cut-ups and player analysis reports for recruiting, collecting data on prospects and current players to create in-depth team studies, assisting operations staff with on and off-campus recruiting events and studying transfer portal trends that helped coaching and recruiting staffs identify potential impact players.
Lembo also served as a business operations intern at Telemetry Sports (May 2024 to July 2024) where he analyzed client contacts and data, assisted with the development of the transfer portal database, developed presentations for Player Personnel tasks and assisted with marketing campaigns and NFL team projects. He has also worked with MCR Safety (May 2022 to August 2023), Championship Analytics Inc. (spring of 2020) and Rice Football as and equipment intern from July to August of 2018.
A graduate of Texas Christian University in 2024, Lembo earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing sporting a 3.88 cumulative GPA.
Luke Mullett, General Manager
Mullett, who has over a decade of college football executive leadership experience, is in his first year at East Carolina as the General Manager for Football, a position he began on Feb. 24, 2025.
Mullett comes to ECU following a two-year stint at the University of Cincinnati where he served as a special assistant to the head football coach and a member of the leadership team. While with the Bearcats, he assisted in a variety of responsibilities that included spearheading all facility and technology projects, player development and personnel, business operations, technology, video, recruiting associates, quality control coaches, collective as well as Name, Image and Likeness oversight, and other administrative duties.
Prior to Cincinnati, the South Lyon, Mich. native was the Director of Football Technology at the University of Louisville (2018-22) where he assisted the head coach with related daily tasks within the program. Mullett oversaw technology and video operations, produced statistical reports for coaching staff to use in game strategy preparation, while also working with game management and in-game analytics staff.
At the University of Tennessee, he was the associate director of football operations for one year (2017-18) managing the programs administrative staff. Mullett, who co-coordinated day-to-day internal and external operations, was responsible for the head coaches and all staff members calendars and oversaw the direction of the program’s facilities and facility upgrades. He also oversaw logistics of game operations, team travel, team events, recruiting functions, special events, high school camps and coaching clinics.
Before Tennessee, Mullett was the Director of Video Services at Marshall University (2015-17) and prior to that he served as the video coordinator for three years at Eastern Michigan University. In that role, he directed all aspects of the football team’s audio-visual productions. Mullett was a student assistant for the football team at EMU and served as a defensive graduate assistant before taking over video duties while completing his undergraduate degree in sport management in the summer of 2013.
Mullett and his wife Abbie, have three sons, Weston, Wyatt, and Waylon.
Ryan Smith, Special Teams Coordinator
Smith is in his first year as the Senior Special Teams Analyst at East Carolina, a position he officially began on Feb. 24, 2025.
Smith returns to East Carolina after working the last two-plus years at the University of Minnesota (2022-25) serving as special teams’ quality control. In that role, he was responsible for scouting and break down of the special teams’ units, organizes and coordinated scout special team units, coached unit specific fundamental drills while assisting in the coaching of all special team members.
Prior to joining the Golden Gophers program, Smith spent four seasons at East Carolina, including three as special teams analyst. Among his duties in that role, he created special teams scouting reports and cut-ups for coaches and players, was responsible for breaking down opponent special teams and defense, coached and managed scout special teams and scout offensive units and assisted in recruiting evaluation in various recruiting areas.
Before to being elevated to special teams analyst, Smith spent the 2018 season at ECU as a defensive graduate assistant where he assisted in coaching the cornerbacks. He also assisted in all aspects of official and unofficial recruiting visits, created and managed practice schedules and scripts, among other duties.
The 2017 season saw Smith serve as defensive quality control at Black Hills State University in South Dakota. In that position, he assisted in coaching cornerbacks, coached and managed the scout offense and scout special teams, assisted in weekly opponent prep and assisted in various recruiting aspects.
A 2017 graduate of East Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, Smith also worked at his alma mater from 2014-2017 before moving to Black Hills State. He was a student assistant in the ECU strength and conditioning program from 2014-17, while also serving as a student assistant with football from 2016-17.
Lance Ware, Director of Player Personnel/Recruiting
Lance Ware, who has nearly 30 years of high school and college football experience, is in his first year at East Carolina as the Director of Player Personnel/Recruiting, a position he began on March 17, 2025.
Ware comes to ECU following a six-year stint at Appalachian State (2019-25) where he served one season as the tight ends coach and five as a senior assistant to the head coach. No stranger to North Carolina and South Carolina, Ware was the Mountaineers top recruiter for those states and brings extensive knowledge of both high school and college football.
In his new role, Ware will assist with the recruitment of high school and transfer portal players in addition to conducting player identification and evaluations.
During his lone year at the tight ends coach at App State, his group caught nine of the Mountaineers 23 touchdown passes (all in conference play) and were led by All-Sun Belt honorable mention selection Eli Wilson, who had five scores. Kanen Hamlett’s go-ahead touchdown in the final three minutes against Georgia State was his second career catch, and Max Drag’s touchdown in the final two minutes against ODU was his first career catch. Hamlett and Drag made their first career starts in a set with two tight ends as Wilson and David Larkins were sidelined against ODU.
Before coaching the tight ends, Ware assisted head coaches Eliah Drinkwitz and Shawn Clark with all aspects of organization and running the football program, helping App State win a Sun Belt championship, make two additional conference title game appearances, earn four bowl berths and win three bowl trophies.
As championship winning head coach of Shelby High School just outside of Charlotte from 2011-18, Ware compiled a 99-25 overall record over eight seasons and won five state titles in his last six years.
Ware led the Golden Lions to 2A state championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and 2AA state titles in 2016 and 2018. During his eight-year tenure, Shelby went 33-3 in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association playoffs. In 2022, he was inducted into the Cleveland County Sports Hall of Fame.
During his 22 total seasons coaching at Shelby, the Golden Lions played for 11 state titles, winning eight.
A four-year letterman at App State under head coach Jerry Moore from 1992-96, Ware was the Mountaineers’ long snapper for four seasons. In 1995, Ware helped the Mountaineers go undefeated in the regular season and win a Southern Conference title while playing alongside Clark as well as College Football Hall of Famer Dexter Coakley.
Ware and his wife, Catherine, have three children – Reece, Stockton and Presley.