Frank Okam comes to the Panthers as the assistant defensive line coach with six years of collegiate coaching experience.
Okam most recently spent the last two seasons in the same position under head coach Matt Rhule at Baylor. During the 2019 season, Okam helped the Bears produce 46 sacks to finish the year ranked ninth in the nation. Okam coached Baylor defensive tackle James Lynch to earning the Big 12's Defensive Player of the Year award, and along the way, Lynch tallied a school-record 13.5 sacks on the year (5th in the nation).
Prior to his time at Baylor, Okam spent four years at Rice University working with the defensive line from 2014 to 2017. After working as a graduate assistant during his first two years with the Owls, Okam was promoted to defensive line coach.
Okam, a fifth-round pick by the Texans in the 2008 NFL Draft, played three years in Houston before stints with Seattle, Tampa Bay and the New York Giants. Collegiately, Okam was a four-year letterman playing defensive tackle for the University of Texas from 2004 to 2007. Okam's time at Texas included a BCS National Championship in 2005, Freshman All-America honors in 2004, and back-to-back All-Big 12 recognition in 2005 and 2006.
Okam graduated from the University of Texas in 2007 with a degree in sport management before earning a master's degree in liberal studies from Rice University in 2017.
