Dwone Sanders may be a newcomer at Virginia State University but he is a familiar face to VSU football Coach Reggie Barlow.

Sanders has been named defensive coordinator by first-year head Coach Barlow, who succeeded Byron Thweatt earlier this year.

There is a clear Barlow-Sanders connection.

When Coach Barlow was playing football at Alabama Sate University in the mid-1990s, Coach Sanders was an assistant coach for the Southwestern Athletic Conference school.

“He (Sanders) coached me in college and left a lasting impression,” said Coach Barlow. “So I have always wanted to work with him since then.”

A native of New Orleans and graduate of McNeese State University in Louisiana, Sanders has been around the coaching block.

In addition to his three-year stint at Alabama State, he has served as an assistant at three high schools and also at Penn State University as a graduate assistant, Southeast Missouri State and Utah State universities.

Coach Sanders was head coach 2013 to 2015 at Langston University in Oklahoma, where he was 14-12 overall.

His teams were 5-5 in 2013, 7-4 in 2014 and 2-3 in 2015, when he stepped down at midseason.

VSU, coming off a 6-4 season under Coach Thweatt, will open its 2016 season under Coach Barlow Sept. 3 at Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina.