New Redhawks coach has football staff in place

As new Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz made his way through his coaching career, he always thought about the day he would have the opportunity to be a head coach and who he would choose to be on his coaching staff when that day came.

He didn't want someone who cared about how much money he was going to make or what kind of car he was going to get.

He just wanted people he felt had earned the opportunity to coach at the Division I level, who were excited about taking a step up in their careers and about how they could help the team.

Since he was hired Dec. 18, Matukewicz has had the chance to hire his staff, and it's no surprise many were connected to him at some point previously in his career. The way he talks about them makes it seem like they were the men he had in mind all along.

"Most of these guys have a prior relationship, which I think is pretty important just from a chemistry standpoint," Matukewicz said.

Offensive coordinator Sherard Poteete was a quarterback at SIU Carbondale while Matukewicz was a coach, and defensive coordinator Bryce Saia spent the last two seasons coaching alongside Matukewicz at the University of Toledo and coached with him at SIU from 2004 to 2007.

Jon Wiemers is the assistant head coach and offensive line coach, Eric Burrow is the secondary coach, Matt Martin is the running backs and special teams coach, and Ricky Coon is the offensive line coach.

With the exception of Saia and Burrow, who both worked alongside Matukewicz at Toledo the past two seasons, none of the coaches have coached at the Division I level.

"It was the fact that these guys are extremely hungry and when you have to recruit at some of the lower levels, that's really recruiting," Matukewicz said. "Like if you're at Alabama, you could be a pretty average recruiter, to be honest with you, because when you walk in and you've got that ‘A' on your shirt, you're going to win most recruiting battles.

"I need guys that can recruit with not all the bells and whistles. That's what we needed, and we needed guys that have been tested in the profession and when things aren't going well and those type of things, not get down, stay positive and know that things are going to be fine."

Matukewicz retained Salim Powell and Joe Uhls from former Southeast coach Tony Samuel's staff. Powell serves as the wide receivers coach, and Uhls is director of football operations. Former Southeast football players Bryan Curry and Steve Hendry are offensive and defensive assistants, respectively.

"Basically what I looked at is what kind of value each person could add to my staff," Matukewicz said. "So what was really attractive for Powell was that he played for Southeast, so he's going to have a passion for Southeast even more than I have. When you've played for somebody it's just different, it's your alma mater."

The staff has started to recruit its first class, and coaches have traveled to the Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield areas while Matukewicz met with local coaches and players. Saia and Poteete will travel to Oklahoma today to recruit.

Saia said there are interested athletes as the Feb. 5 national signing day looms.

"They didn't have any commitments when we got here, so we really are starting from scratch," Matukewicz said. "That's why I went local because I was the decision-maker; no one needs to call me. I can meet a kid, be in there, tell them right away what our interest level is and kind of move quickly locally because I want to know what's in our area before I find out do I need to leave to find something because there's nothing locally that we feel like is a good fit."

The day after Matukewicz was announced as Southeast's head coach, he called about 10 local coaches to introduce himself and has tried to meet with as many high school coaches as possible, which has been a struggle because of school cancellations from snowy weather.

Two coaches he has met with are Jackson football coach Brent Eckley and Charleston football coach and Southeast Missouri Football Coaches Assocation secretary and treasurer Brett Blackman.

"I think he's very eager to improve Southeast football and to build a stronger relationship with the area high schools and the area coaches," Blackman said, "and that's what we're thrilled to death about."

Matukewicz spoke with some of Blackman's players about plans for the Southeast football team.

"He used his motto there ‘brick by brick' and how they're coming in there and they're going to work hard," Blackman said. "They're going to run a 12-month program at Southeast now and what he expects from players. He wants them to love football -- he doesn't just want them to like it, but he wants them to love it. He's real personable with the kids and sat down there and talked to the kids for about 30 minutes. He didn't act like he was rushed or disinterested. He made a good impression on my kids."

Matukewicz and Eckley met and talked for a couple of hours last week. Matukewicz said he's trying to talk to coaches, principals and "anybody else that'll listen" to sell people on him, the program and the university.

He also said he can't promise local coaches he will recruit all of their players, but he wants to have a good relationship with them. He mentioned there are some local prospects.

"I think that's smart on his part, and I didn't necessarily get that same, I guess, attention from SEMO before," Eckley said of the meetings. "But that was because I wasn't here when they first got hired. I'm not saying that they didn't pay attention because I know that I spoke with a couple of their coaches several different times and they were professional so nothing to take away from them. But I certainly appreciated him coming and touching base, and I know he's wanting to get face to face with all the area coaches and I think that makes an impression."

So how does a coach recruit a student-athlete to a school he just arrived at himself? Matukewicz and his staff attended what he called an "admission clinic" with Southeast admission counselors before they did any recruiting to learn as much as they could about the university.

"You're going to be in a home and a mom's going to ask you, ‘Well, I want my son in civil engineering,' and you're like, ‘OK, well, I have no idea about our civil engineering. Let me get back to you,'" Matukewicz said. "You need to know the product you're selling, so that's why that had to happen first before you even call somebody so you can answer, legitimately answer, questions from people."

In addition to selling the university, the staff has to convince recruits they have the ability to rebuild a program that has won just three games in each of its last three seasons under a different staff.

"Obviously you've got to sell Coach Tuke and the turnaround he's done at three different programs," Poteete said. "So you can sell that of ‘Hey, there is a blueprint here. He's got it. We've got to follow that.'"

Saia noted most of the coaching staff already had recruited this area for other schools, so they knew some of the players they'd be recruiting.

"The shirt that we put on is different now, but we're still recruiting some of the same kids so we have high expectations," Saia said. "We didn't lose a lot [of players], so it's not going to be a big class, but it will be a quality class."

Southeast returns most of last year's team with only 11 seniors gone, so Matukewicz and staff don't have too many spots they have to fill.

Matukewicz's next step is to get the team's offseason program started and go over expectations with his new team.

Saia and Poteete agreed it's going to take time for players remaining from last year's team to get used to them, but said spring workouts will give them the opportunity to build a relationship.

"It's going to be them getting used to us, us getting used to them," Saia said. "But we're in the people business, and I'm sure that usually works itself out."