Semoball

Jeromy McDowell brings attacking style as Southeast Missouri State football's newest offensive coordinator

The Southeast Missouri State football team announced the hiring of former Redhawks quarterback Jeromy McDowell as the team's new offensive coordinator on Tuesday.
Photo courtesy of Colorado Mesa athletics

With a resume of national success and former ties to the Southeast Missouri State football program, Jeromy McDowell's coaching debut at the Division I level appears to be a quintessential match.

McDowell, who played quarterback for three seasons at Southeast, was hired Tuesday as the Redhawks' offensive coordinator. He'll also take over as quarterbacks coach, assuming both positions that were held the last two seasons by Jon Wiemers.

"When I really profiled the position and really took the time to think deeply about what we needed, with just about everything I was looking for, he had it," Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz said about McDowell. "I certainly wasn't going to consider any candidate that didn't have success coordinating at the college level, so that was obviously the No. 1 thing. But there was also the fact that he played quarterback and played it at a high level.

"I'm a defensive guy. I've been defense my whole life, so I really wanted a guy that played the position and knows how to coach the position to help me interact with the quarterback. Just the fact that he's a Redhawk, that's one thing I really want to focus on this year -- taking pride in being a Redhawk football player. ... Obviously, I was looking for a guy character-wise who's going to treat people well, someone who's a great man -- a husband and a father. All those things are characteristics you look for in somebody that you spend so much time with on the staff."

McDowell brings along 14 years of coaching experience, both at the high school and college level. He spent the last four seasons at Colorado Mesa, a Division II school in Grand Junction, Colorado.

"First and foremost, I'm very thankful for the opportunity," McDowell said. "My family and I are extremely excited to get back to the area, and we're just really looking forward to being a part of the Redhawk program. And I'm excited about what the future holds."

During his time at Colorado Mesa, McDowell coached running backs in 2014 and wide receivers in 2015 before taking over as offensive coordinator the last two seasons (2016-17). With the Mavericks, McDowell worked under head coach Russ Martin, who was offensive coordinator at Southeast when McDowell was quarterback.

In 2017, McDowell led a Colorado Mesa offense that ranked second in the nation with 46.4 points per game. The Mavericks were ranked seventh in the country in rushing offense (257.8 yards per game) and eighth in total offense (489.3 ypg), finishing with a 9-2 record. Colorado Mesa amassed a 9-1 record in conference play, claiming its third straight Rocky Mountain Conference title.

McDowell describes his offense at Colorado Mesa as an attacking style, and he hopes to use a similar approach in order to rejuvenate a Redhawks offense that has been beleaguered in recent years.

"We'll be simple in how we're communicating with ourselves and how we're going about our business, but at the same time, it's going to have a complex feel to the defense and to others that are observing," McDowell said. "With those two mixed together, that allows us to work at a fast pace, and it's just another component that puts pressure on the defense. We were able to have success (at Colorado Mesa), and we were able to adjust with what we did well and just took advantage of what the defense was giving us.

"We did that at a fast pace and just kind of built the culture to where guys were basically expected to not be playing a lot in the second half of games just because we were going after people right from the first snap. We were excited about getting the ball on the opening kickoff if we got that chance, and so it was just a culture and expectation as much as anything, as far as Xs and Os."

SEMO's offense regressed statistically but improved in conference standing in two years under Wiemers, whose contract was not renewed following the 2017 season.

In 2016, the Redhawks ranked last in the Ohio Valley Conference in both scoring offense (20.8 ppg) and total offense (348.7 ypg). Those numbers took a slight dip in 2017, as Southeast finished sixth in the league in scoring offense (20.5 ppg) and fifth in total offense (303.0 ypg).

Southeast will graduate just three starters on offense and will return a pair of All-OVC performers in running back Marquis Terry (first team) and left tackle Drew Forbes (second team).

The biggest question lies at quarterback, a starting job that was held the last two seasons by senior Jesse Hosket.

"The last couple of years, I had different quarterbacks, and we just attacked defenses in different ways," McDowell said. "Offense is going to be built around the quarterback, and whatever the quarterback does well, that's what we're going to do. It's not going to be a secret."

McDowell said his offensive philosophy focuses primarily on utilizing his playmakers and forcing the defense to defend the entire field.

"My style is definitely an attacking type of style, which just means we're going to stress the defense by formation, by tempo, and we're just going to be constantly attacking them and making them adjust to us, instead of vice versa. That's just kind of generally the philosophy," McDowell said. "As far as schemes and different things like that, we'll be no-huddle, shotgun, and everything that we do, we're going to have the ability to basically attack the defense's weaknesses, whether it's schematically, personnel-wise. We just want to keep coming at the defense.

"I'm just excited to get to work. There's a lot of great football players already on the roster, and we're trying to get them going with what we want to do. And I think they're excited as well."

Prior to joining the college ranks, McDowell spent 10 years as a high school coach, including the last five as head coach at North County High School in Bonne Terre, Missouri. During that time, McDowell guided the Raiders to back-to-back conference titles (2012-13).

Upon making the leap from coaching at the high school level, McDowell said the recruiting process has been the biggest thing he's learned.

"You get the chance to step into that realm, and you need to be a good recruiter if you're going to be a successful college football coach," McDowell said. "I felt like that was a strength of mine once I got there and figured things out. That was the obvious first thing.

"At the end of the day, football is just football. It's just trying to find what you do well and trying to put pressure on the opponent, and you just figure things out."

McDowell played QB at Southeast from 2001-03, during which he completed 219 of 389 passes for 2,651 yards and 17 touchdowns. He ranks among SEMO's career all-time leaders in pass efficiency (eighth, 119.2) and is on the school's single-season all-time list in passing ypg (seventh, 186.5), touchdown passes (tied for ninth, 13) and pass completion percentage (second, 64.6). Additionally, McDowell threw for 391 yards in a 24-5 win over Southern Illinois on Sept. 8, 2001, the third-highest mark in a single game at Southeast.

He graduated with a degree in business education from Central Methodist University.

McDowell said he first met Matukewicz and several other assistant coaches on the Redhawks' staff about two years ago.

I knew that he was a good man and was going in the right direction with the program, but I had a chance to speak with him about the potential to have the opportunity," McDowell said about Matukewicz. "I'm just really excited about the direction things are going and the hard work that they've put in. I'm just excited to be a part of that group."

As for the players, McDowell had the opportunity to introduce himself during a team meeting Monday.

"I loved just getting the chance to put faces with names and numbers," McDowell said. "I have seen some game film, and there's just something about looking into players' eyes and speaking to them and letting them know my expectations and who I am. I'm really looking forward to getting to know who they are and some of their goals. ... I told those guys when I got the chance to meet them yesterday about our expectations moving forward and who we're going to be, and I think guys were really excited about that.

"Now, it's going to take a lot of work, but that's where the fun comes in -- day in and day out -- seeing guys start to grow as players. It's going to be a lot of fun. We look forward to having a lot of success right now. We just need to get to work."

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