Five more coaches from Fresno State set to join UW Huskies staff
Washington’s coaching staff is set for the upcoming 2022 football season.
Not long after Fresno wrapped up a win over UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday afternoon, UW announced five more additions from the Bulldogs’ staff will join new coach Kalen DeBoer in Seattle.
William Inge and Chuck Morrell will head to UW as co-defensive coordinators, while Inge will also coach linebackers and Morrell safeties.
Lee Marks will coach running backs, Eric Schmidt will be UW’s special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach and Ron McKeefery the program’s head strength and conditioning coach.
Saturday’s additions follow the four that were announced Friday morning — including the returns of both wide receivers coach Junior Adams and offensive line coach Scott Huff, as well as the two new additions in tight ends coach Nick Sheridan and defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield.
Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, cornerbacks coach Julius Brown and director of player personnel Courtney Morgan also each joined UW’s staff earlier this month.
The additions announced Saturday, as well as Grubb and Brown, each worked alongside DeBoer at Fresno State this fall.
Inge was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator and linebackers coach the past two seasons during DeBoer’s head coaching stint at Fresno State.
“Coach Inge is a dynamic coach and person who has great knowledge and understanding of what it takes to build a great defense,” DeBoer said in a statement. “His ability to connect with players and reach their hearts and minds is special. He did an amazing job each and every day creating an ‘attitude’ and ‘culture’ the past two seasons, which led to turning around the defense at Fresno State. I am looking forward to the leadership and impact he and Coach Morrell together will bring to our UW Dawg defense.”
Prior to Fresno State, he spent seven seasons at Indiana — where he also worked alongside DeBoer in 2019 — from 2013-19.
After playing linebacker for four seasons at Iowa from 1993-96, Inge returned to begin his coaching career there in 1998, spending three seasons with the Hawkeyes before stints at Northern Iowa (2001-04), Colorado (2005), San Diego State (2006-07), Cincinnati (2008-09), Buffalo (2010-11) and the Buffalo Bills (2012).
Morrell coached safeties the past two seasons at Fresno State with DeBoer, and earlier also coached alongside DeBoer at Sioux Falls, where he spent 12 seasons from 1998-09. The two are also former teammates at Sioux Falls, where Morrell played safety from 1995-97.
Morrell also spent a season at South Dakota in 2010, and was the head coach at Montana Tech from 2011-19 before heading to Fresno.
“Having coached with Coach Morrell for 12 years, I have seen first-hand the ability he has to build attacking and dominant defenses,” DeBoer said in a statement. “He is also an experienced and highly successful former head coach who will bring expertise and perspective to our program beyond just leading the defense. I am truly excited to have him and his family joining our UW football program.”
The addition of Marks — who was the running backs coach, run game coordinator and assistant head coach at Fresno State the past two seasons, and the Bulldogs’ interim coach for Saturday’s bowl game win — rounds out UW’s offensive staff.
“I am extremely excited about the addition of Coach Marks to our UW football program,” DeBoer said in a statement. “I have known Coach Marks for over 10 years, and I’ve always been impressed with his success in recruiting and developing elite running backs throughout his career. Coach Marks is also more than a great football coach. He is a great leader and mentor who has a tremendous passion to build strong relationships with our team, staff, university and community.”
Marks played running back at Boise State from 2001-05, later began his coaching career at Colorado (2007-09), and has also coached at Sioux Falls (2010-11), South Dakota State (2012), Arkansas State (2013) and Boise State (2014-19).
Schmidt was Fresno State’s special teams coordinator and defensive line coach the past two seasons, and also previously worked alongside DeBoer at Southern Illinois, where he coached from 2008-13.
Schmidt has also coached at Crookston High School in Minnesota (2002-05), and in two stints at North Dakota (2006-07, 2014-19).
He also played linebacker for four seasons at North Dakota from 1998-01.
“Coach Schmidt brings over 10 years of experience and success as a special teams and defensive coordinator,” DeBoer said in a statement. “I’ve always been impressed with his attention to detail and passion for developing specialists.”
McKeefery was Fresno State’s assistant athletic director of sports performance and head football strength coach the past two seasons with DeBoer.
He has also spent stints with the Kansas City Royals (1998), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1999-200), the Berlin Thunder (2000), South Florida (2001-10), Tennessee (2001-12), the Cincinnati Bengals (2013-14), Eastern Michigan (2014-16) and PLAE (2016-20) during his career.
McKeefery played defensive back at Ottawa from 1994-97.
“Coach Mac is among the best in business when it comes to strength and conditioning, and player development,” DeBoer said in a statement. “He is an outside-the-box thinker who excels in balancing foundational principles with new, cutting-edge ideas. Ron’s ability and relentless pursuit in building an elite ‘team’ culture is second to none, and I’m looking forward to seeing the immediate impact he’ll have at UW, building our team physically and mentally.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2021 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Five more coaches from Fresno State set to join UW Huskies staff."
