Meet Some New Miami RedHawks Assistant Coaches

When a school hires a new head football coach, they don't just hire a coach -- they hire a staff as well. Miami University has seen the highs and lows of hiring a staff in the past few years, with Mike Haywood bringing on his mentors from places like Texas and LSU, and Don Treadwell trusting his offense to an abject, embarrassing failure who hadn't won a game since George W. Bush was president. (Seriously, because this bears repeating every time John Klacik is considered for a coaching position on any level, even down to Pop Freaking Warner, and every time Don Treadwell is mentioned as a "quality judge" of anything: Lock Haven considered dropping football entirely when his 5-60 ass was somehow given an actual Division I-A coordinator job.)

At any rate, we're starting to see what Chuck Martin's staff will look like at Miami, and unsurprisingly, his first reported hires have ties to his wildly successful tenure at Grand Valley State University. Here are the first four names confirmed to be on staff, along with their position if it's been announced:

Eric Koehler (Co-OC/QB coach)

Koehler comes to Miami from Illinois State, where he spent a year as the quarterbacks coach for the Redbirds. Before moving to Normal (the most aptly named city in America), Koehler spent five years at GVSU, serving as quarterbacks coach under both Martin and his successor, Matt Mitchell. His duties doubled under Mitchell, when he also added the title of offensive coordinator. The Lakers regularly averaged around 40 points a game when he ran the offense, and they were near the top in Division II in terms of yardage as well. Prior to GVSU, Koehler was the head coach at Division III Wartburg College in Iowa, leading the team to a 16-4 record in his two years at the helm. He also served as an assistant at Wartburg before taking over the head job. Koehler is a 1997 graduate of Hanover College in Indiana.

George Barnett (Co-OC/OL coach)

Barnett also joins Miami from Illinois State, where he served as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. He spent three years with the Redbirds, adding the coordinator title for the 2013 season. His 2012 offensive line showed his talent with the big uglies: despite replacing all five starters (lost to graduation), the Redbirds allowed just 14 sacks in 13 games, one of the lowest sack rates in the FCS. Before that, he served on Martin's GVSU staff for two years as the offensive line coach, three years at the University of Indianapolis as the OL coach, and one year at Illinois as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line. Barnett, like Martin, is a graduate of Millikin University.

Pat Welsh (TE coach)

Welsh, like Martin, comes to Oxford from South Bend, where he has been a graduate assistant for the Fighting Irish since 2011. Prior to his time at Notre Dame, Welsh was the quarterbacks coach at Wittenberg, and before that, a graduate assistant and student assistant with GVSU under Mitchell and Martin. Welsh comes to coaching from a somewhat unorthodox path; after graduating from high school, he was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Whitehall High School, in Whitehall, Michigan. He enrolled in college in 2007, and had a GA-like role with the Lakers despite being an undergraduate. He graduated from GVSU in 2010.

Bill Brechin

Brechin joins Miami from GVSU, where he served as wide receivers coach last season. Before that, he joined Notre Dame when Martin did, moving to South Bend in 2009 and serving in a variety of offense-focused roles as a graduate assistant. Before that, Brechin was a graduate assistant at GVSU for two years, coaching under Martin after playing for him as a standout defensive back, including an MVP performance in the 2006 Division II title game. He is a 2006 graduate of GVSU.

Note: this post has been updated to reflect the correct titles for Koehler, Barnett, and Welsh.