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February 26, 2014
The opportunity to plant roots in south Louisiana proved to be too much for new Vandebilt coach Jeremy Atwell to pass up.
After years of college coaching – a job that always comes with the risk of moving your family across the country for a better gig – Atwell decided to drop his family’s anchor in the Tri-parish area and become the Terriers’ next head coach.
With his running a program, Atwell said he is excited and eager to try and turn Vandebilt into a power in Division II – both on and off the field.
“My goal as a coach at any level is this: I want to make this a positive experience for these young men,” Atwell said. “I think coaches get too caught up sometimes in the X’s and O’s and don’t focus enough on the truly important things. In my mind, it’s all about developing these young men and being a great teacher for them, so that’s our goal.”
For Atwell, family was a big factor in his decision.
A native of Oklahoma, Atwell moved to the area in the early 2000s when he landed at Nicholls as a defensive end coach in 2001 – a job he took after an All-Conference playing career as a linebacker at Southeast Missouri State.
From Nicholls, Atwell moved onto to be Thibodaux High School’s defensive coordinator – a job he held for four seasons.
He then found his way back to Nicholls for a second stint, where he ascended to be the team’s defensive coordinator and assistant head coach in his five seasons with the team.
Atwell said he thanked Nicholls for giving him the ability to grow as a coach. But he said the opportunity to become a head coach for the first time without relocating his family proved to be too much to pass up.
Atwell is married to the former Cindy Adams. Together, the couple has two sons and one daughter – all in the local school system.
“In college coaching, people are always moving from job-to-job, because it’s easy to think that the grass is a little bit greener on the other side of the fence,” Atwell said. “My family was huge to me. I’ve been blessed. In my entire coaching career, we’ve never had to move one time. That was incredibly important to me – to have my family with me and to be able to be a dad and a husband while I’m doing my coaching.”
So with the decision made, Atwell said he’s ready to hit the ground running and try and push Vandebilt into the future.
Offensively, Atwell said he doesn’t plan to change much at Vandebilt.
The incoming coach said he plans to keep the team’s offensive staff in tact, and only plans to “tweak” the things that the team has done in recent seasons.
Vandebilt was a multiple-set offense under former coach Brad Villavaso. The Terriers had the ability to run either spread formations or more power-based personnel sets.
Atwell said that’s going to remain in place, adding that the Terriers will base their game plan around ways they can exploit weaknesses in opposing defenses.
“We’re not going to change very much on that side of the football. I like what they’re doing,” Atwell said. “We’re going to make some tweaks on that side to put in some things that I’ve always wanted to do, but we’re not going to change much there.”
On defense and special teams, Atwell said things would probably be schematically different.
The Terriers will shift to a base 3-4 defensive alignment – a philosophy that he said will be predicated on making things uncomfortable for opposing quarterbacks.
Atwell said he is currently building his defensive staff, adding that he doesn’t have plans to be a defensive coordinator and head coach.
“We’re going to do a little bit more blitzing and trying to create havoc,” Atwell said. “We’re going to try and be very opportunistic and try and make plays with our defense.”
On special teams, Atwell said that same game-changing, turnover-hungry outlook would be present.
He said the Terriers will do unconventional things in an effort to confuse opponents and create big plays, good field position and easy points.
“We’re going to be calculated risk takers,” Atwell said. “I think that facet of the game provides us with an opportunity to do some things to make plays. We’re going to do some things on special teams that might not be usual or conventional, but we’re going to change things up and do things different and try to take advantage of some opportunities.”
But at the end of the day, Atwell said it’s all about the kids and molding Vandebilt into a program that guides young men into successful adults.
The coach said he’s been wowed with the support he’s received from school administration in his first days on the job.
He said it’s challenging to take over a program that has experienced success because of the pressure to keep wins churning.
But Atwell said that if he and his staff set the right example for the players, then the victories will fall into place.
“This is a special place,” Atwell said. “I’ve been really pleased with the support from everyone. We have a lot of people here who are really committed to our program. The kids are ready to get to work. I’m ready to get to work. I think this is a great situation, and we’re really excited to get going.”
