Matt Middleton was named Kansas Wesleyan's football coach on November 25 following a national search that attracted more than 150 applicants.
Middleton spent the past two seasons as quarterbacks and fullbacks coach at Division II powerhouse Harding (Searcy, Ark.). The Bisons won the 2023 national championship and were 27-2 with Middleton on the staff - 15-0 in 2023.
Before Harding, Middleton served as an assistant at Division I Louisiana Tech and Central Arkansas and Division II Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Arkansas. He has been an offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and assistant head coach at the collegiate level and was head coach at three high schools in Louisiana.
Middleton arrived in Salina earlier this month following Harding's quarterfinal playoff loss. He has been busy putting a staff together and recruiting a plethora of new players - this year's team had 33 seniors.
Middleton discussed why he pursued the position, his expectations and goals for the program and what he wants to accomplish this spring during a question-and-answer session.
Question: What attracted you to the KWU job?
Middleton: I went back 15 years and there's been a lot of winning at a high level and obviously that says commitment to win. That's one of the main things. Then obviously the backgrounds of Dr. (Matt) Thompson and Ken (Oliver) and Miguel (Paredes) and just looking at the other sports across the board and the success that they've had showed me it is a university that's committed to winning at the highest level.
Question: What do you bring to the football program?
Middleton: High energy, a passion to be the best and a staff that does things the right way. Our number goal is to honor God first, help create great husbands and dads and then win at a high level. That can be in life, it can be in football but the reality is you have to go compete every day. We want to have a great family atmosphere and relationships that last a lifetime.
Question: You've been at KWU a short time but what have you learned so far?
Middleton: I've seen the passion others have across campus. Whoever you interact with you see things are done at an extremely high level which is why Kansas Wesleyan has had success and has flourished for as long as it has.
Question: You've been an assistant coach at several locations and levels. What's the biggest thing you've learned?
Middleton: You learn something wherever you go and whoever you work for. I think you find yourself along the way and all the things you want to take with you. I've work for some good men. Hud Jackson (Southern Arkansas head coach) rubbed off on me as far as being a family man and those things. Working for Paul Simmons (Harding head coach) was a great example of 'we're not going to cut corners, we're going to build it the right way, we're going to honor God first. We're going to hire men to coach with high character, we're going to recruit student athletes with high character. We're going to do it the right way and build it from day one.' There is no instant success.
Question: How will your experiences as a high school head coach benefit you at the college level?
Middleton: The best thing that ever happened to me was being a head high school coach. Starting your career in college a lot of times you're able to recruit to fit a system. In high school you coach the personnel that you have and you have to adapt. Then also understanding and being more sympathetic and empathetic to young people. One thing about high school is you have no idea what somebody has gone through before they get on the bus or where they're at in their life and what their struggles are. It really showed me that each person has a different personality. Being able to deal with a younger personality and realizing that I coach a lot of kids that play for the love of the game. They aren't getting paid or getting a scholarship to do so.
Question: Harding utilizes the ground-heavy flexbone offense. You've said you won't employ it at KWU so what will the offense look like?
Middleton: We're going to play with a breakneck tempo, we're going to play extremely fast. We're going to be more of a power-spread offense. We will get under center some but the biggest thing is play with an all-gas, no-brakes mentality. Cause chaos for the opposing defense and always keep them on their heels. There might be games where you see us running 60 or 70 percent of the time then the next week it might be where we throw it more. You always attack what the defense gives you but you've got to be balanced and you've got to be able to adapt.
Question: What are your top priorities in the spring semester?
Middleton: Recruiting right now. Filling in the gaps of the seniors that we lost and the other people no longer in the program. Make sure they match our vision and what we're trying to do. Then have an extreme, intense offseason program of strength and conditioning and morning workouts to set the stage for what we do want to do in spring practice. I think the most exciting thing for me is to be able to get to spring practice and see what we have and see where we need help. Start building relationships from day one and earning trust. I've got to earn the players trust; they've got to earn mine. I think that's a form of building relationships, going through tough things together. We need to make sure that we have the right people in our program that are going to give us a chance to be successful. People who are great academic students and good football players too. We're not going to babysit anybody.
Question: You've hired new offensive and defensive coordinators. What do Boomer Cunningham and Greg Parker bring to the program?