On the heels of the storied program’s return to the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs, Eastern Kentucky is elevating a number of staffers into advanced roles in Walt Wells’s Colonels regime.
EKU, which posted seven wins last fall under Wells, a mark that included a jarring, seven-overtime win at Football Bowls Subdivision program Bowling Green, has tabbed Derek Day and Chris Franklin as co-special teams coordinators for the Colonels.
Veteran college coach Mike Dietzel, who’s coached at the Power 5 level, as well as the MAC and XFL, was promoted to assistant head coach. Since he joined the staff two years ago in spring 2021, Dietzel has been a key defensive assistant.
Caleb Cox was lifted to the Colonels’ recruiting coordinator role in addition to his work as EKU’s wide receivers coach.
Both Cox and Day worked previously with Wells at the University of Tennessee, and they’ve emerged as key factors in the rebuild of the Colonels program which made its 22nd all-time FCS Playoffs appearance last fall but its first since 2014. EKU advanced to postseason play on the strength of a regular season that saw it capture the Atlantic Sun-WAC automatic qualifier bid.
While EKU has elevated these assistants, Wells & Co. still are seeking a quality control coach for special teams. Interested applicants can reach out to Day (derek.day@eku.edu) or Franklin (christopher.franklin@eku.edu).
The Colonels, entering their fourth year under Wells, open their 2023 season this fall with a grueling pair of back-to-back games against Power 5 opponents.
EKU is the first game of the Scott Satterfield era at Cincinnati, when the two programs meet Sept. 2; a week later the Colonels make the half-hour trip to Lexington to face Mark Stoops’s University of Kentucky program.
EKU initiates FCS play in Week 3 against Western Carolina.