Story by Zach Scott, Staff writer
Murray State football is welcoming several new faces to its coaching staff this fall.
This offseason, with Head Coach Mitch Stewart’s former coaching staff leaving for new jobs, he brought in six new faces to his coaching staff. Stewart said he realizes change in the coaching staff can be a tough adjustment, but he also realizes the potential is there with the new staff.
“Change is always tough, but change is good; it brings new opportunities, new ideas, new ways to do things,” Stewart said. “It can be tough, but it can also be a good way to get you better.”
Most notable among the new hires is Nick Coleman, who will be taking over the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach duties. Coleman previously was the quarterbacks coach at Tennessee Tech.
Stewart also awarded a number of promotions to coaches inside his coaching staff. Jake Johnson, who spent last season as a special teams coach and linebackers coach, has been promoted to the role of defensive coordinator, succeeding Chris Boone. Brian Hamilton, who served as the offensive line coach last season, has been elevated to the role of assistant head coach. Carson Hunter will be taking over as the recruiting coordinator and running back coach after coaching wide receivers last season.
Tate Omli will take over as the safeties coach and become the new special teams coordinator. Omli spent the last three years of his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Angelo State University and Eastern Michigan University. Omli’s younger brother, Toby, played for the Racers from 2015 to 2016.
Charles Jones will join the Racer staff as the new cornerbacks coach. Jones was a three-year starter at the University of Alabama from 2000-2003. He played one year in the NFL for the New York Giants in 2004.
Former Canadian Football League cornerback Alex Suber will join Stewart’s staff as the inside wide receivers coach. Suber averaged almost six tackles per game during his time in the CFL. He played at Middle Tennessee State University during his collegiate career.
Walter Vaughn will take over as the defensive line coach for the Racers. Vaughn was a standout defensive tackle at Southeastern Louisiana State, and recently coached at Highland Community College.
Josh Hollingsworth caps off the changes in the coaching staff, coming in as a graduate assistant. Hollingsworth, a quarterback from Hamilton, Alabama, had a spectacular high school career at Hamilton High School, where he contributed 7,515 yards in total offense in his career.
With the degree of coaching turnover that Murray State has experienced this offseason, Stewart emphasized the importance of cohesiveness within his team.
“There’s no secret to it; it’s relationships,” Stewart said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re recruiting, if you’re coaching – if you don’t have a relationship with anything that you’re doing, then you’re not going to be very successful.”
Stewart knows that with the new coaching staff coming in, putting names to all of the new faces will be a challenge for the new staff.
“Learning their names, and it sounds like a joke, but that’s the biggest thing, we’ve made a huge emphasis on learning their names, not saying “hey, 31”, “hey, 42”, “hey, you”, because it’s hard to build trust when I don’t even know your name,” Steward said. “Get to know your guys first, from a first name basis, then get to know their parents and then branch out from there.”
One change that Stewart has already noticed with his new staff is the way that his coaches are looking at their players and how they are performing throughout the offseason.
“They don’t care what these kids did prior, all they care about is what they’re putting on tape and we are going with that mentality and it has been really good for us,” Stewart said.
Even though the first few seasons with Stewart as a head coach have been underwhelming, where he has compiled a 10-23 record in his first three years, he knows the importance of going into every season with no memory of what has happened in the past.
“It’s always year zero,” Stewart said. “The only way you’re going to get better no matter how good or bad, you have to strip that down. You have to look and evaluate what you’re doing. How you’re recruiting, how you’re coaching, we sat around and really looked at that.”
The Racers will look to get off to a fresh start when they open the season on August 31 against Southern Illinois at Roy Stewart Stadium.