By Harry Minium
EL PASO, Texas -- Remington Rebstock and his brother, Chevis, were raised by a single mom in El Dorado, Kansas, a hardscrabble, blue-collar town of about 13,000 that owes its existence to oil. When oil was first discovered there in 1918, it produced more than ten percent of the world's supply.
It is home to the largest oil refinery in Kansas and the official Kansas Oil Museum. It is a place where people work hard and don't mind getting their hands dirty.
Diane Rebstock taught her sons the value of work the old fashioned way – she led by example and also didn't mind getting her hands dirty.
"We didn't know at the time all of the challenges she faced," Remington Rebstock said. "She worked full-time, she took care of us and she never missed any of our games. She worked so hard.
"And she did an amazing job of pushing my brother and me to pursue our dreams."
She began her career as a part-time employee at Younger Energy and worked her way up the ladder until two years ago she was named the company president.
Talk about perseverance.
Her sons followed her example. Chevis is a senior executive with the Wichita Chamber of Commerce.
Remington, meanwhile, showed incredible endurance and patience in pursuing his dream to coach college football. He was a student assistant and graduate assistant for five years at Kansas State and three more at Oklahoma State before being hired full-time in 2018 at UTEP.
That's eight years of not being paid, or essentially being paid subsistence wages, for a lot of 70-hour work weeks.
He worked on a master's degree in economics – he said he wanted something to fall back on in case football didn't work out – at Kansas State. He remembers studying from midnight until about 3 a.m. many a night. He then would get up at 7 to head to football practice before working until midnight again and then hitting the books.
After two seasons at UTEP, where he coached in the secondary, he came to Old Dominion, lured by head coach Ricky Rahne, with whom he worked with at Kansas State.
Saturday night, Rebstock returns to UTEP's Sun Bowl Stadium as ODU's assistant defensive coordinator and safeties coach. The Monarchs (1-3) and Miners (3-1) square off at 9 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Conference USA opener for both teams.
Rebstock said leaving UTEP was difficult. He met Miners' coach Dana Dimel at Kansas State and they were close. "I love coach Dimel," he said.
His wife, Alex, was also an assistant softball coach at UTEP.
And contrary to what you have have heard, El Paso is one cool place to live, he said. Having having visited this lovely city along the Mexican border three times, I couldn't agree more. It's my favorite place to visit in Conference USA.
The mountain and desert scenery are spectacular, the people are friendly and the city is proud of its blue-collar roots. The city is overwhelmingly Hispanic and nearly everyone is bilingual.
Although Juarez, Mexico, El Paso's sister city, has a reputation for drug violence, El Paso is one of the safest cities in America.
And it has among the best Tex-Mex food you will find anywhere.
"There are great people in El Paso, just wonderful people," Rebstock said. "The food is just amazing. We have a lot of great memories and a lot of great friends there."
Returning to the Sun Bowl "is going to be strange," he said.
"I spent two years of my life there and recruited a bunch of kids still there. It will be different.
"But there won't be any time to reminisce. It will be good to reconnect with people there, but this is a very important game."
For both programs.
Dimel inherited a mammoth rebuilding job at UTEP, which won just four games from 2017 through 2019 and then went 3-5 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The Miners are 3-1 this season, including a 20-13 victory over New Mexico last week.
A victory would leave UTEP two victories short of being bowl eligible for the first time since 2014 with six games to play. That would be a huge step forward for the Miners.
ODU, meanwhile, played its best half of the season in last week's 35-34 loss to Buffalo, in which the Monarch outscored the Bulls, 27-0, in the second half. A win Saturday would be a huge step forward for the Monarchs, who are 3 ½-point underdogs.
Rebstock said the decision to move to ODU was based not only on his relationship with Rahne, but also the university's potential. S.B. Ballard Stadium had just undergone a $70 million renovation and although El Paso has great scenery, it doesn't have the Atlantic Ocean.
"Our families love to come here and visit us more than they did in El Paso," he said.
Not only was he close with Rahne, he's also close to Blake Seiler, the former Kansas State defensive coordinator who is now ODU's defensive coordinator.
Seiler said he would have lobbied Rahne to hire Rebstock but that he didn't need to. "He's one of the brightest, up and coming assistant coaches in college football," Seiler said.
Rebstock walked into the Kansas State football office as a junior and volunteered to do anything the team needed. He was quickly paired with Seiler.
"He was one of our volunteer coaches and he really rose to the top and just did a great job," Seiler said. "He spent a lot of time breaking down film.
Remington and Alex Rebstock
"As soon as he graduated, I went to coach (Bill) Snyder and said we need to hire this guy as a grad assistant. He did and Remington was a part of our Big 12 championship team in 2012."
Seilder wanted an assistant defensive coordinator who knew the defense ODU was going to run and Rebstock knew the defense backward and forward. The Monarchs essentially play the same defense that Seiler coached at Kansas State.
Rahne said that played a role in his decision to hire Rebstock, but other factors were more important.
"I really liked his attention to detail," Rahne said. "He works very hard and he kind of learned under a lot of people I learned from.
"But the No. 1 thing to me was his positive attitude. Has a great way of looking at things. I thought that was something we really needed at Old Dominion."
Rebstock said that while leaving UTEP was difficult, making the decision to come to ODU was not.
"I knew Ricky from Kansas State and knew what kind of program he was going to run here," Rebstock said.
"Blake is one of my best friends in the profession. Knowing the kind of people coach Rahne was bringing into the program and knowing I would be working with Blake was why we chose to make the move.
"It was an amazing opportunity. There's just a ton of potential here."
His first year here was difficult. During the team's third day of fall practice in 2020, he had a freak accident and tore the ACL in his knee. Dr. Bradley Butkovich, ODU's orthopedic surgeon, rebuilt his knee.
ODU canceled the 2020 season shortly after his injury because of the pandemic. When spring practice began in 2021, Rebstock was still on crutches. While other coaches ran from one side of the field to the other, Rebstock motored around the field on a golf cart.
"That was kind of awkward," he said.
There isn't a softball team for Alex to coach but she's heads Orangetheory Fitness Center in Ghent.
And she's clearly the best athlete in the family. He played junior college football briefly. She was, meanwhile, an All-Big 12 softball player at Kansas, who was both a pitcher and outfielder who hit .303, ranks in the top-10 in school history in at-bats, hits, runs and stolen bases, and was a member of the National Honor Society.
He recalls making some wise cracks about softball when she was coaching a 12-and-under travel team. She said, "Ok, let's see if you can hit my pitching."
He grabbed a bat and 12 strikes later, he walked away sheepishly.
"I looked so foolish," he said. "She throws so fast I could hardly see it."
Rebstock said he wasn't named for the Remington gun company, although that seems difficult to believe given the hunting culture in Kansas, but does maintain his connections with Kansas State. Although former Kansas State coach Bill Snyder has long been retired, he, Seiler and Rahne get the occasional note from Snyder, most offering encouragement but some also offering suggestions.
"I don't know if coach Snyder has any hobbies outside of football," Rebstock said. "He gave me the opportunity to start in coaching and he taught all of us to grind.
"I'm grateful to everyone who's given me a chance."
Rahne said he's aware of the role Diane Rebstock played in Remington's life and said that's often the way it is with college football coaches.
"A lot of coaches struggled more than you might think they did," he said. "I think it helps them relate to players of all different backgrounds and demographics. One of those things it does as you you grow up is that it helps you establish your work ethic."
Remington Rebstock said he can't praise his mom enough.
"I will always look at my mother with admiration for what she did for us," he said.
"I couldn't have had a better Mom."
Minium was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in his 39 years at The Virginian-Pilot and won 27 state and national writing awards. He covers ODU athletics for odusports.com Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu
Minium: ODU's Remington Rebstock says Returning to UTEP Saturday "Will be a Little Strange"
