Meet two new Wisconsin football assistant coaches
MADISON – Two more Wisconsin football assistant coaches met with reporters Monday.
Matt Mitchell, who is set to coach outside linebackers and special teams, and tight ends coach Nate Letton answered several questions inside the McClain Center.
Mitchell came to UW after 13 years as the head coach of Division II Grand Valley State. His teams compiled a 117-31 record and participated in the NCAA Division II playoffs seven times.
Mitchell and UW defensive coordinator Mike Tressel were teammates at Division III Cornell College in Iowa in the late 1990s.
Letton fills the void created when Gino Guidugli left the UW staff to coach the quarterbacks at Notre Dame. Letton initially joined the UW staff as a quality control coach and was promoted after Guidugli's departure. Letton coached tight ends at Cincinnati last season. He was a graduate assistant working with Cincinnati's offensive linemen in 2020 and 2021.
Q. Matt, you mentioned that head coach Luke Fickell will be involved in UW’s special teams. What will the philosophy be? Does he want units that can affect the game as much, if not more, than the offense and defense?
I've been very impressed with his involvement in special teams. This is definitely not just a one-man show. … It's definitely an area of impact and his philosophy is to have starters play special teams. …The special teams will not be populated solely with reserves. When that is the philosophical approach of the head coach, that starters are involved from Day 1, that gets across the sense of urgency.
Q. Nate, what led you to move to Wisconsin?
If Coach Fick had a job for me I was going to take it regardless of what the role was. I believe in how he runs the program and everything he has done.
Q. Matt, You were in charge of a successful Division II program for more than a decade. Why did you choose to leave that program to become an assistant at UW?
I think there's three big factors. One was, there is so much respect for Wisconsin, the athletic department and also the football program. …That combination, with Madison being an awesome place to go to. …
Obviously a connection with Mike Tressel. I had never worked with Luke Fickell but was always extremely impressed with the culture that he had in place. …So the opportunity to be a part of that in an athletic department and (on) a team that has tradition…a lot of things lining up that I thought would be great for professional growth and opportunity.
And I'm also really relishing the opportunity right now, I'm going from 120 players as the head coach there to right now my focus has been the nine outside linebackers primarily. A lot of deep relationships so far.
Q. Nate, you coached at Division III Centre College in Kentucky from 2015 through 2019 before making the jump to the Cincinnati staff in 2020. What was the transition like?
I'll be honest with you. It's not as big of a transition as people think. Division III football … some people think it is like Pee-Wee football. There's a lot of really good players. There's a lot of dedicated guys.