BACK TOGETHER AGAIN
3/6/2020 8:53:00 PM | Football
Wickline is Fedora’s O-Line Coach at 4th Different Stop
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
In a nine-year run as the offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee (1999-2001), Florida (2002-04) and Oklahoma State (2005-07), the one constant for Larry Fedora was having Joe Wickline by his side as the offensive line coach at all three stops.
"We were together all the time," Fedora said. "And then when I became a head coach, I couldn't afford him. I couldn't hire him at Southern Miss, so that's when we broke apart."
Thirteen years later, they're back together. And back at Baylor.
Fedora, who cut his teeth in the college ranks as an assistant coach at Baylor under Grant Teaff and Chuck Reedy (1991-96), was brought back as the Bears' offensive coordinator under first-year head coach Dave Aranda. And, of course, he brought Wickline with him as the offensive line coach.
"It was very important," Fedora said. "You've got to remember that when I left Middle Tennessee and went to Florida, I told Coach (Ron) Zook to come there I've got to be able to bring him. And when I left there and came to Oklahoma State, I told Mike Gundy that I was going to have to bring Joe to come. So (this time), it was a no-brainer for me."
Wickline, who actually followed Fedora at Baylor as the offensive line coach under Dave Roberts (1997-98), says "it's both interesting and a lot of fun" to be back together with Fedora.
"It's interesting, because he's gone places and been unbelievably successful on offense, and this is what worked for him," said Wickline, who also coached the offensive line in stops at Texas (2014-15) and West Virginia (2016-18). "I've been places and we've been decently successful on offense, and this is what worked for me. And he'll say, 'Who cares?' I used to be able to say something back, but now it's like, you've got nowhere to miss a putt."
Since working together at Oklahoma State, Fedora and Wickline have stayed in touch. And when they talk, "it's been the silliest things," Wickline said.
"He'll call and say, 'Hey, Joe, did you see so-and-so? They put the formation to the boundary, and they motioned the guy out, and the tight end ran a wheel route.' It's just been football. And then, 'How's your son doing? What's going on?''''
Out of coaching last season, for the first time since his own playing days at Florida, Joe got the chance to watch his son, Kelby, play his final season as an offensive lineman at West Virginia.
It was an "unbelievable" experience, Joe said.
"One of the reasons I felt good about it was I got to take a step away and see Kelby play," he said. "I went to almost every game, and he did a great job. It was a totally different deal when you're coaching them and watching them play. It allowed me to stay out of it and just watch the games."
As he looks to mold the next offensive line group at Baylor, Wickline said his goal is to find the starting five, plus a swing tackle and guard and a backup center. "And we've got plenty of practices to get that done."
"What I like is that we have some guys who have played, that have been in the battle," he said of a returning group that includes rising seniors Xavier Newman-Johnson, Blake Bedier and Johncarlo Valentin, juniors Khalil Keith, Connor Galvin and Jason Moore and sophomore Casey Phillips, who made seven starts as a redshirt freshman. "I'm pleased with their attitudes, on their length, on their movement. I think they're nice young men. They believe in it, and it's going to be an easy group to work with."
Since they both left Baylor more than 20 years, a lot has changed in Waco, on the Baylor campus and with the football program.
"It's kind of blown me away to see it," Fedora said. "The growth of Waco alone, and then the growth of this university and what they've done athletically, the facilities are out of this world. And the vision that (Baylor VP and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades) has for the athletics program, that's why they've been successful, there's no doubt."
Moving from Floyd Casey Stadium to the on-campus McLane Stadium has been a game-changer, they said.
"It's not about the bricks and pillars, it's more about the association of being on campus," Wickline said. "That just makes it special. And then secondly, obviously, somebody made some big sacrifices to get to where we are at this point, and continue to do so."
Fedora, who has coached at eight different schools in 29 years in the college ranks, said "there is probably no other (setting) like it in college football."
On the one recruiting weekend that he was a part of before the February signing day, he said, "To go over that bridge . . . and be in that stadium and look out over Waco and see all the lights and all the green, it just blew me away. That's why we're successful here, because you've got facilities like that and you've made a commitment to being successful."
Baylor begins spring training drills on March 17, following spring break, and will conclude with the spring game on April 18. The Bears open the 2020 season with a neutral-site matchup against Ole Miss in the Sept. 5 Texas Kickoff at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Baylor Bear Insider
In a nine-year run as the offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee (1999-2001), Florida (2002-04) and Oklahoma State (2005-07), the one constant for Larry Fedora was having Joe Wickline by his side as the offensive line coach at all three stops.
"We were together all the time," Fedora said. "And then when I became a head coach, I couldn't afford him. I couldn't hire him at Southern Miss, so that's when we broke apart."
Thirteen years later, they're back together. And back at Baylor.
Fedora, who cut his teeth in the college ranks as an assistant coach at Baylor under Grant Teaff and Chuck Reedy (1991-96), was brought back as the Bears' offensive coordinator under first-year head coach Dave Aranda. And, of course, he brought Wickline with him as the offensive line coach.
"It was very important," Fedora said. "You've got to remember that when I left Middle Tennessee and went to Florida, I told Coach (Ron) Zook to come there I've got to be able to bring him. And when I left there and came to Oklahoma State, I told Mike Gundy that I was going to have to bring Joe to come. So (this time), it was a no-brainer for me."
Wickline, who actually followed Fedora at Baylor as the offensive line coach under Dave Roberts (1997-98), says "it's both interesting and a lot of fun" to be back together with Fedora.
"It's interesting, because he's gone places and been unbelievably successful on offense, and this is what worked for him," said Wickline, who also coached the offensive line in stops at Texas (2014-15) and West Virginia (2016-18). "I've been places and we've been decently successful on offense, and this is what worked for me. And he'll say, 'Who cares?' I used to be able to say something back, but now it's like, you've got nowhere to miss a putt."
Since working together at Oklahoma State, Fedora and Wickline have stayed in touch. And when they talk, "it's been the silliest things," Wickline said.
"He'll call and say, 'Hey, Joe, did you see so-and-so? They put the formation to the boundary, and they motioned the guy out, and the tight end ran a wheel route.' It's just been football. And then, 'How's your son doing? What's going on?''''
Out of coaching last season, for the first time since his own playing days at Florida, Joe got the chance to watch his son, Kelby, play his final season as an offensive lineman at West Virginia.
It was an "unbelievable" experience, Joe said.
"One of the reasons I felt good about it was I got to take a step away and see Kelby play," he said. "I went to almost every game, and he did a great job. It was a totally different deal when you're coaching them and watching them play. It allowed me to stay out of it and just watch the games."
As he looks to mold the next offensive line group at Baylor, Wickline said his goal is to find the starting five, plus a swing tackle and guard and a backup center. "And we've got plenty of practices to get that done."
"What I like is that we have some guys who have played, that have been in the battle," he said of a returning group that includes rising seniors Xavier Newman-Johnson, Blake Bedier and Johncarlo Valentin, juniors Khalil Keith, Connor Galvin and Jason Moore and sophomore Casey Phillips, who made seven starts as a redshirt freshman. "I'm pleased with their attitudes, on their length, on their movement. I think they're nice young men. They believe in it, and it's going to be an easy group to work with."
Since they both left Baylor more than 20 years, a lot has changed in Waco, on the Baylor campus and with the football program.
"It's kind of blown me away to see it," Fedora said. "The growth of Waco alone, and then the growth of this university and what they've done athletically, the facilities are out of this world. And the vision that (Baylor VP and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades) has for the athletics program, that's why they've been successful, there's no doubt."
Moving from Floyd Casey Stadium to the on-campus McLane Stadium has been a game-changer, they said.
"It's not about the bricks and pillars, it's more about the association of being on campus," Wickline said. "That just makes it special. And then secondly, obviously, somebody made some big sacrifices to get to where we are at this point, and continue to do so."
Fedora, who has coached at eight different schools in 29 years in the college ranks, said "there is probably no other (setting) like it in college football."
On the one recruiting weekend that he was a part of before the February signing day, he said, "To go over that bridge . . . and be in that stadium and look out over Waco and see all the lights and all the green, it just blew me away. That's why we're successful here, because you've got facilities like that and you've made a commitment to being successful."
Baylor begins spring training drills on March 17, following spring break, and will conclude with the spring game on April 18. The Bears open the 2020 season with a neutral-site matchup against Ole Miss in the Sept. 5 Texas Kickoff at NRG Stadium in Houston.
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