Terrence Metcalf has always wanted to coach at the college level, but it had to be the right fit.

He found it at Pearl River Community College

Metcalf, a former Ole Miss offensive lineman and Oxford’s defensive line coach, has been hired as the Wildcats’ offensive line coach. Metcalf interviewed for the job Monday and said his hiring was finalized Friday.

“I’m excited about it. I’ve been there three times (last) week already meeting with (PRCC head) coach (David) Saunders and Cleo Lemon, who’s the offensive coordinator,” Metcalf said. “They’re going to give me room to work the run game and implement my play calls. Not so much play calls, but the calls that I implement with the offensive linemen and the tight ends.”

Metcalf’s time as the Chargers’ defensive line coach lasted just one season. An All-American during his time with the Rebels from 1998 to 2001 and a member of the Chicago Bears’ 2007 Super Bowl team, Metcalf returned after a seven-year NFL career to help coach the offensive line at Oxford before taking over the defensive line on a full-time basis in 2015.

Metcalf’s first college coaching job is one that will allow him to continue watching his son, Oxford star wideout D.K. Metcalf, play on Saturdays starting next season after the younger Metcalf signed with Ole Miss last week. Mississippi junior colleges play most of their games on Thursdays, which will keep Terrence free to return to Oxford most weekends. PRCC did play two games on Saturday this past season.

“I wanted to really get into college coaching, and with (D.K.) being able to do the things he did and God blessing him to get a scholarship to Ole Miss, I wanted to be on a level where I could still see him play on Saturdays,” Terrence said. “That was a blessing in that as well.”

Terrence is the second former Ole Miss player to join Saunders’ staff, joining defensive line coach Jerrell Powe. PRCC finished 2-7 and 1-5 in the MACJC South Division this past season.

Saunders, a former Ole Miss assistant, was promoted to the head coaching position at PRCC in December after spending the 2015 season coaching the Wildcats’ secondary and special teams. In October 2014, Saunders left his job as an assistant at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette where he was the subject of an NCAA investigation that led to the program being placed on two years of probation and Saunders receiving an eight-year show-cause penalty after the probe found Saunders helped five prospective players receive fraudulent ACT scores at Wayne County High School, lied to the NCAA about it, failed to cooperate with the investigation and paid $6,500 to a player over two semesters while at UL-L.

The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions determined that the academic misconduct began during Saunders’ time at Ole Miss under former coach Houston Nutt. The school recently received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA that charged the football program with rules violations, most of which athletic director Ross Bjork said last week dated back to Nutt’s tenure from 2008 to 2011.

“I really haven’t talked to (Saunders) much about that stuff,” Terrence said. “That’s not why he brought me down there, and that’s not why I accepted the job. I accepted the job to be able to coach these kids. That’s an opportunity that Coach Saunders gave me and (PRCC President William) Lewis at Pearl River and (Vice President Adam) Breerwood gave me down there.”

Oxford’s new head coach, Chris Cutcliffe, said he will interview candidates for the vacant position on his staff once the job is officially posted.

“A guy with Terrence’s experience and how great of a coach he is, it’s no surprise that other people are interested in hiring him,” Cutcliffe said.