Jon Wiemers promoted to offensive coordinator for Southeast Missouri State football team

Just over two years after joining coach Tom Matukewicz's staff at Southeast Missouri State, Jon Wiemers earned a promotion from offensive line coach to offensive coordinator.

The athletics department announced the news Thursday evening along with the hiring of Ben Blake as the Redhawks' offensive line coach.

Wiemers fills the spot left by Sherard Poteete.

"I'm really excited about Coach Wiemers leading our offense," Matukewicz said in a press release. "I talked to our offensive players and interviewed several other candidates. We chose Jon because of his ability to lead young people and his success at coordinating other offenses in the past."

Wiemers, who also will serve as quarterbacks coach, coached the offensive line that helped the Redhawks to average 182.9 yards per game last year, which was second-best in the Ohio Valley Conference.

He coached left guard Garret Baker, who was a second-team all-OVC selection in 2015 as a junior.

During Matukewicz and Wiemers' first season Southeast allowed the fewest sacks of any team in the conference with eight and the team ranked first in third and fourth-down conversions.

Wiemers served as William Penn's offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for one season prior to Southeast.

Wiemers also served as offensive coordinator at Coffeyville Community College from 2009-10, Division II Concord University from 2007-08 and Emporia State from 2004-06.

He was at Emporia State as a graduate assistant in 1999-2000 and switched to offensive line coach in 2001.

The Hornets won the Mineral Water Bowl in 2012 and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association title in 2003. The program made its first national playoff berth in school history in 2003.

Blake joins Matukewicz's staff after spending the last two years as the offensive line coach at the University of Sioux Falls.

The Division II school was 20-4 during his time there. Last season the Cougars led the nation in sacks allowed with only five sacks during their 9-3 season in which they tied for second in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

USF was 11th in the country in third-down conversion as well as 16th in scoring offense and first downs and 19th in total offense.

The Cougars were 11-1 during Blake's first season at USF and were ranked No. 16/18 at the end of the season. They were first in the conference and seventh nationally in scoring with 42.7 points per game.

For three years prior to USF, Blake was the offensive line coach, run game coordinator and strength and conditioning coach at Evangel University in Missouri.

He was co-offensive coordinator at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, from 2007-10, an assistant at Highland Community College in Kansas from 2005-06 and a graduate assistant with the offensive line and tight ends at Division III Concordia University-Wisconsin in 2004.

He played collegiately at Concordia and was the 2003 Illini-Badger Football Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year. He was three-time all-conference and All-North region as a senior.

The Prairie Grove, Arkansas, native graduated from Concordia with a degree in business management and a minor in public relations. He got his master's in business administration.

"We are thrilled to have Ben Blake join our team," Matukewicz said. "We interviewed several candidates, and without a doubt, Ben was the best. He has a history with guys on our coaching staff, so we feel like it's a great fit. We are just as excited about his wife, Alyssa, and daughter, Gracie, joining our community."