From the Sidelines: Blake Seiler Q&A

ODUSports.com is working on a variety of ways to continue to give Monarch Nation informative and creative content throughout this pandemic. The latest is a series of Q&A's with the football coaching staff. The first is with defensive coordinator, Blake Seiler.

Q: What's it like talking to your players. What are you telling them?
A: We always start off with some culture reinforcement. Then I always try and put it in perspective, we're at times wanting to feel sorry for ourselves not being out there for spring ball. The players want to be out there, the coaches want to be out there, we all want to be doing what we should doing, but we have to sacrifice for the good of other people. My friend tweeted out: "We've been asked to stay home for however many days, but Anne Frank was in hiding for 761 days." I try and give them something like that every day to make sure they're in a good spot mentally. I make sure to ask how they are doing and how their family is doing and how they're doing financially, how they're making it, are their parents able to work. Fortunately, we've been in a good spot there in my room, and then we get to football.
 
Q: How receptive have they been during this process when you talk to them?
Seiler: They've been unbelievable. I have to give them credit. A lot of credit goes to the faculty and what they've done at ODU as far as online classes. There are enough kids that have had at least one or two classes online. They just transition to all of them being that way. As a football staff we made a decision to use all the same tools our academic staff is using so the kids don't have to use a different system. 
 
Q: How do you install your defense with guys that can't go out and practice it?
Seiler: Basically, you're doing it on the board. We were able to get here in time and we were able to go through everything with our players in the meeting room. We had some on-field meetings and walk-thru's. Now we're circling back through and refreshing it. That's all done on Zoom, we're able to share our screens and show them film.
 
Q: When you got here, did you watch the team from last year? You hear some coaches do but others choose not to.
Seiler: Yes. First of all, you're trying to make decisions on recruiting. You have that last period to figure out what you need. Recruiting never ends so you need to figure out what you need for the 2021 class. Several linebackers graduate after next season, so you need to replace them. We need to see what our young guys look like, do we need more of a mike or a will. You have to, I think, watch the film. The other part is now as a staff without spring ball we're moving on to opponent study. So, we're looking at all the teams in Conference USA and we're definitely watching Old Dominion play them. So, we're watching them play against these guys. We've looked at all of it, over and over again.
 
Q: At your position specifically, you have a lot of guys returning at linebacker. That had to be interesting to see that.
Seiler: You're not starting from scratch, but it is kind of tough on the kids because they're now on their third scheme in three years. But fortunately, we'll be pretty similar to what happened last year in a lot of aspects, just by chance. I think Coach Blackwell and myself have been around similar people in our careers. That helps cut down the learning curve for the kids, which is huge.
 
Q: You started your college career at Oklahoma State as a wrestler and then transferred to Kansas State to play football. How did all of that work out?
Seiler: It's an interesting story how I ended up there. I was a football guy, I wanted to play college football, that was my dream. I grew up in Galax, Virginia, that's where I was born but my whole family is from Kansas, my dad went to Kansas State. I kind of grew up watching Frank Beamer turn Virginia Tech into what they became and Bill Snyder build the Kansas State program. Growing up in Galax, near Blacksburg, they're similar programs. That was my goal, my dream. K-State was the family school and I was going to do everything in my power to play Division I football at Kansas State. They were winning, a top-10 program in the country. I dedicated everything I could to do that. I felt wrestling would help me, the toughness, one-on-one nature, would help me become a better football player. So, I really wrestled just to become a better football player. I started wrestling as a freshman in high school and was way better at it than I ever thought I'd be. I ended up being a high school All-American. But still, my focus was on football. I didn't do freestyle and Greco Roman in the summer like a lot of those guys would. I was going to all the football camps trying to get recruited, and then I break my leg my senior year. Wrestling season comes around and I win state, become a high school All-American and place at the senior nationals in Cleveland out of nowhere. The one school I felt like I'd consider seriously in wrestling was Oklahoma State, and then they offered. I got John Smith calling me and telling me he wants me to be his next All-American heavyweight. I did it and it was a great experience. I trained with a bunch of guys that were on the Olympic team. I certainly learned a lot about toughness and competing at the highest level. We won a team championship that year so that's something I'll never forget. But then Christmas came around and I'll never forget sitting in my dorm room watching all the college football bowl games and I said I have to go do what I set out to do my whole life. That's where my heart is at, and in college athletics, if that's not where your heart is, then it's just not going to work. I decided to go do what I planned on doing and luckily Kansas State still had a spot for me, so I walked on. I transferred in the summer, walked on for two years, earned a scholarship, became a starter and then team captain.
 
Q: Kansas State is known for having a great walk-on program. Former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson is the first that comes to mind.  What made K-State have such a successful walk-on program?
Seiler: Jordy Nelson and I actually came in together. I transferred in and he graduated from high school and we were walk-ons going in at the same time. We were both team captains our senior year.  
 
I think it was the way Coach (Bill) Snyder ran his program. He treated everyone the same. It didn't matter if you were a scholarship guy or walk-on, you all got the same equipment. He really counted on those walk-ons to come in and set the tone. They are the guys scrapping and clawing to earn a scholarship. I would just say the coaching staff recruited the right kids to walk-on. You're not just going to allow anybody out there to do it. Walk-ons got recruited just as hard as scholarship kids did. You hear about the ones that succeeded, but there are a lot of them that didn't. They certainly identified the guys that had the athletic ability, and maybe the guys that were under-sized, maybe guys that played four sports and got overlooked, and once they focused on football really developed. The best part about Old Dominion and Coach Rahne is he was at K-State. He was there when I was there, and Jordy, so he understands the value of that and we're going to do that here.
 
Q: When you were at K-State you had Bill Snyder in the beginning, then he retired the first time and Ron Prince took over. What was that like going through the coaching transition.
Seiler: It was great for me being a coach and having another set of contacts. That's how I met Coach Rahne. He came with that staff, along with James Franklin, who was our offensive coordinator, Coach Rahne was one of our offensive graduate assistants. It's kind of a small world but that's how we all met. They were good people, good coaches. I think it's always good to see different systems. It's hard as a player sometimes, especially now, but it was a good learning experience for me.
 
Q: What were some of the biggest things you took from Bill Snyder?
Seiler: Definitely his organization. Coach Snyder is not one of those guys that plays mind games. He set the standard, set the bar high and never budged. And it's amazing what people will do when you challenge them and hold them accountable. This is what we do, what we ask you to do and there's no gray area. And it's amazing what players and staffs do when the bar is set that high and they're challenged to meet that expectation. That's number one. His attention to detail was number two. Just unbelievable. Just how attentive he was to every detail. I think every college football program has so many moving parts, if one or two of them are overlooked then the whole thing comes tumbling down. The third biggest one was how to treat people. We worked hard, but there was always a level of respect. You knew what to expect and what the standard was and you saw it. I think everybody appreciated that at the end of the day.
 
Q: When you graduated from Kansas State you did not go into coaching right away. You went to work for Cessna. What was that like?
Seiler: I got my degree in mechanical engineering. I always wanted to get my master's degree in business because I always thought I wanted to own my own business. I went through college life and playing football and I graduated with a good GPA and when I was interviewing for jobs, I was kind of done with football. I played defensive end and NFL scouts were wanting me to move to the interior. I was a tweener at about 260 pounds and needed to bulk up to about 290 to play the interior. I'm thinking I busted my tail to get a 3.5 GPA in mechanical engineering, so let's go do this. I was at the point where I wanted to use the degree that I busted my tail for. I was interviewing and I interviewed with nine companies and all nine offered me a job. I chose Cessna. I designed the windshield for one airplane and the door frame for another. At the end of my career I was working on the flaps. I spent two years doing that, and I was missing the game. Coach Snyder had come out of retirement and got wind that I was looking to get back in it and he gave me a call. I wasn't married or had kids yet and thought now was the time to go do this and see if it's what I wanted to do. I did know one thing, I did not want to sit in a cubicle my whole life. So, I gave up a great paying job to be a GA at K-State, finished my MBA and the rest is history. I got hired full-time in 2013 and I became coordinator in 2018.
 
Q: When you went to West Virginia was it a shock to your system since you were at K-State for so long?
Seiler: It was, and it was a tough decision. Coach Klieman, the new coach, came in and kept me which was a huge thing for him to do. When Coach Brown called, I had to make a decision. I felt it was time for me to get out and gain experience at another program. West Virginia is a great program with a lot of good coaches on that staff, so I felt like it was a good fit.

Q: Then this year you go from WVU to Old Dominion. This will be your first time at a Group of Five school.
Seiler: I'm not a mover, obviously I haven't been one of those guys. And here I am getting a call a year later from one of my greatest friends in the coaching profession in Coach Rahne. I honestly kind of said why now, why didn't you wait a couple years. I started looking at it, and to be a coordinator again and to work for a good friend and what I think is going to be a great upcoming head coach like Coach Rahne. You don't get those opportunities very often. I definitely wanted to be a defensive coordinator again, that's what I had been. I was coordinating special teams for Coach Brown (at WVU) but that's not where I had been. The opportunity to work for Coach Rahne and be a coordinator again, those were two positive check marks. Then I had to start researching about Old Dominion. Once I started doing my research and what Coach Wilder did here and how they had success right away, that was a positive. I know about Virginia and the 757 area for a recruiting base, that was a big plus. The final stamp of approval for me was the support of the program. How they sold out 60-straight home games. It's not like a lot of Group of Fives have that. You watch some of them on TV and there's nobody there, even if they're winning. That's what did it for me. I know we've got a lot of work to do, but the support has been here, you know, it will take some time but we'll get it right.