TUCSON, Ariz. – University of Arizona Head Football Coach
Brent Brennan continues to fill out his staff with the following additions today:
Alonzo Carter (Assistant Head Coach / Running Backs),
Josh Oglesby (Offensive Line Coach),
Matt Adkins (Tight Ends Coach),
Bobby Wade (Wide Receivers Coach),
Joe Seumalo (Defensive Line Coach),
Brett Arce (Stars Coach),
James Perez (Assistant Director of Football Strength and Conditioning),
Lyle Moevao (Analyst- Quarterbacks), and
Ben Thienes (Chief of Staff).
Below is a comprehensive list of the new additions to the Arizona Football staff, as announced by Head Coach
Brent Brennan.
Alonzo Carter – Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs
Arizona Football head coach
Brent Brennan today announced the addition of
Alonzo Carter as Assistant Head Coach and Running Backs Coach. Carter joins the Wildcats following seven seasons with San Jose State. Carter was hired by the Spartans in January 2017, as the running backs coach and added the duties of assistant head coach in 2021. Under Carter's leadership in 2023, running back Kairee Robinson finished second in the Mountain West with a career-high 1,194 rushing yards and led the conference with a career-high 18 rushing touchdowns. Robinson rushed for a career-high 200 yards against Fresno State on Nov. 11, 2023, and punched in a career-high three touchdowns against New Mexico (10/14/23).
The 2020 season was a banner year for the running back group led by Coach Carter helping the Spartans to a Mountain West Championship and No. 24 in the final AP Poll. Tailbacks averaged 4.5 yards per rush, its best average for SJSU in five years, and became one of the first two teams in NCAA Football Bow Subdivision (FBS) history to complete a season without losing a fumble by a ball handler on offense, defense, and special teams.
At Cal State Hayward, he and a group of friends answered an audition call, became backup dancers and rap artists, and toured extensively with iconic hip-hop musician MC Hammer. Carter was awarded a multi-platinum record signifying at least 10 million albums sold for "Please Hammer Don't Hurt Em."
Josh Oglesby – Offensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator
Oglesby is the second member of coach Brennan's inaugural staff at Arizona that participated in the Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship program, first with the Oakland Raiders in 2016 and again with the Indianapolis Colts in 2019.
The offensive line at San Jose State excelled under Oglesby's leadership. Behind his offensive line, the 2023 Spartans led the Mountain West Conference with an average of 5.58 yards per rushing attempt. In 2022, Oglesby's offensive line protected SJSU quarterback Chevan Cordeiro en route to a MWC-leading 3,251 passing yards and 23 touchdowns.
During his first season with San Jose State, Oglesby's offensive line unit ranked among the best in the nation, tying for eighth in Division I with just 1.00 sacks allowed per game. Their rushing marks in the COVID-shortened 2020 season was the program's best in five years, averaging 4.5 yards per attempt and 132.5 yards per game. Left tackle Jack Snyder, a key member of that 2020 unit, became the first Spartan lineman in eight years to earn All-Mountain West First Team honors; he went on to sign with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. As a player, Oglesby earned 2011 All-Big Ten First Team honors at Wisconsin and helped the Badgers advance to both the 2010 and 2011 Rose Bowls.
Prior to his time in San Jose State, Oglesby logged time with the XFL's Seattle Sea Dragons, the AAF's San Antonio Commanders, UTEP, Oregon State, and Wisconsin.
Matt Adkins – Tight Ends Coach/Passing Game Coordinator
Adkins joined San Jose State in 2017 as a graduate assistant that worked with the offensive coaching staff and tight ends and maintained that role through the 2019 season. He was then promoted to full-time assistant as the program's tight ends coach, a position he kept through the 2023 campaign. San Jose State's tight ends thrived under Adkins' guidance; over the past two seasons the Spartans tight ends have combined to haul in ten touchdowns, while 2022 standout Dominick Mazotti earned an All-Mountain West Honorable Mention selection.
His 2020 tight end class included Derrick Deese Jr., a semifinalist for the John Mackey Award who earned a free agent contract from the Detroit Lions after the 2021 season.
While working as a graduate assistant in 2018 Adkins helped develop All-Mountain West tight end Josh Oliver, who led the Spartans with 56 receptions for 709 yards and four touchdowns. Oliver went on to become the third-round selection of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2019 NFL Draft and has since enjoyed a four-year NFL career.
Adkins is a native of Ellensburg, Washington and a 2012 graduate of Southern Oregon University. His collegiate playing career included time at quarterback for Southern Oregon and Shasta College.
He is a third-generation football coach, following his father, Doug, who was the head coach at Humboldt State from 2000-07 and his grandfather, Tom Perry, who is the winningest head coach in Central Washington University history with 95 career victories and a member of the Washington State Football Coaches Hall of Fame.
Bobby Wade – Wide Receivers Coach
Wade, who played wide receiver for the Wildcats from 1999-2002, hauled in 230 receptions for 3,351 yards and 23 touchdowns during his collegiate career, all three marks which rank within the top five in program history. The 2002 All-American and two-time All-Pac-12 First Team honoree was inducted into the Arizona Football Ring of Honor in 2015. Following his collegiate career, Wade was selected by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He went on to enjoy a seven-year, 102-game NFL career that included 244 receptions for 2,858 yards and nine touchdowns. Wade spent time on the rosters of the Bears, Tennessee Titans, Minnesota Vikings, and Kansas City Chiefs.
Before returning to Tucson, Wade spent the previous five years on staff at Arizona State, serving in multiple roles. He began his tenure in Tempe as a graduate assistant from 2019-20, moved into an offensive analyst role in 2021, and earned a promotion to full-time receivers coach for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. During the 2023 season he took over as the Sun Devils senior offensive analyst. Wade's coaching career also includes participation in the NFL's Bill Walsh Minority Fellowship internship program with the Miami Dolphins. His time at ASU was preceded by a two-plus year stint at Cesar Chavez High School in Phoenix, where he coached the team's wide receivers.
Wade's coaching experience also includes four-plus years as the head coach and co-president of Arizona Saints Sports, a prominent youth football organization.
Joe Seumalo – Defensive Line Coach
Seumalo joins the Wildcats coaching staff after serving as defensive line coach with the San Jose State Spartans since 2017. It was his second stint with the Spartans after serving as an assistant in 2005. He molded current NFL player Viliami Fehoko into Mountain West Defensive Player of the year. Becoming the third Spartan coached by Seumalo to earn the award.
Fehoko was also named to the Sporting News All-America Second Team, the PFF All-America Second Team, and the Phil Steele All-America Fourth Team. Fehoko and Cade Hall were both named to the Mountain West First Team in 2022.
SJSU also led the Mountain West in sacks with 39 while playing in a conference low 12 games and finished fifth in the nation averaging 3.27 sacks per game in 2022. Seumalo has 22 seasons of NCAA Division I experience coaching defensive linemen. Ten of his players went on to play professional football. Chris Gocong, who played for Seumalo at Cal Poly, finished second in the 2004 Buck Buchanan Award voting for the top defensive player in the NCAA Division I-AA classification, now known as the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Oregon State's Stephen Paea was the 2010 Pac-12 Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
A defensive lineman at the University of Hawaii from 1985 through 1988, Seumalo was a second-team All-Western Athletic Conference his senior season. He went on to play in the Canadian Football League for Calgary Stampeders and Ottawa Roughriders in 1989 and the Edmonton Eskimos in 1994. Seumalo concluded his pro playing career with the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe in 1995.
Arizona Football has promoted ace defensive analyst
Brett Arce to the role of Stars Coach, head coach
Brent Brennan announced today. Arce has spent the last three years on the Wildcats staff working with the program's safeties and nickel backs. Since 2021, Arce has helped provide academic, athletic, and interpersonal direction for the Arizona safeties room. Additionally, he has assisted with meeting room agendas, on-field drills, practice plan, and game plan development, along with numerous other responsibilities.
Arce helped Arizona make one of the greatest leaps in defensive rankings in the nation from 2022 to 2023, with Arizona improving from 124th in the nation in total defense in 2022 (467.7 yards per game) all the way to 48th last season (357.9 yards per game), an improvement of over 100 yards per game. Over that same span the Wildcats secondary jumped from four interceptions to nine and dropped their passing efficiency defense from 153.02 to 127.31, the latter of which represented a vault of 79 spots in the national rankings. The Wildcats defensive improvements, particularly in the secondary, were a crucial piece of the team's Valero Alamo Bowl berth and victory over Oklahoma.
University of Arizona new Head Football Coach
Brent Brennan announces
Lyle Moevao as
an Analyst. Moevao (pronounced Moy-vow) most recently served as an offensive analyst under Coach Brennan at San Jose State University. The Spartans led the Mountain West in passing offense during the 2023 season, averaging 272.5 yards per game with 23 touchdowns through the air and 3,270 total yards passing. SJSU's quarterback Chevan Cordeiro was named to the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List prior to the 2023 season. Corderio was also named 2023 All-Mountain West First Team along with tailback Kairee Robinson.
The Spartans prolific offense finished third in the Mountain West in total touchdowns scored with 55, while averaging 31.9 points per game. Moevao joined SJSU in 2021 after serving as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Northern Colorado during the 2020 season. Prior to his time at UNC, Moevao was the running backs coach for the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). He was the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at Lewis and Clark College for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. The 2010 Oregon State graduate majored in sociology and was a quarterback on the Beavers football team during the 2006 through 2009 seasons. As a starting quarterback, Oregon State posted a 14-4 win-loss record and won the 2007 Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, California and the 2008 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. Moevao went on to play two seasons of professional football in France and Japan.
Thienes joins the Wildcats following seven seasons at San Jose State University. He earned a promotion to Assistant Athletics Director of Football Operations in May of 2020 with the Spartans. He was named SJSU's director of football operations in January 2017. During his professional career, he has been involved with eight teams to win a conference championship and/or participate in a post-season bowl game including the 2020 San José State University team. Thienes received the 2022 Football Scoop Operations Director of the Year Award presented by AstroTurf at the American Football Coaches Association's (AFCA) annual convention. The award encompasses the 2020 and 2021 seasons when the Spartans won the Mountain West championship in 2020 and the daily challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic locally, statewide, and nationally. Thienes came to the Spartans after serving as the linebackers coach and director of player personnel at Portland State University for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The 2015 Vikings made their first appearance in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs in 15 years.
He began his college athletics career in 2007 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Fla., as an assistant football coach. He was the team's defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach. Thienes spent the 2008 through 2010 seasons at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, Iowa as an assistant football coach and strength and conditioning coordinator. Ellsworth won the 2008 and 2009 NJCAA Region XI Championships and Graphic Edge Bowls. During the 2011 through 2013 seasons, he was a graduate assistant for the Boise State football program. He worked with the defensive backs and had various special teams' responsibilities. The Broncos were the 2012 Mountain West champions, won bowl games in two of his three seasons and compiled an overall 31-8 win-loss record. Thienes was at the University of Washington as a graduate assistant in 2014. He worked with the linebackers and special teams' players. The Huskies finished their season playing in the Cactus Bowl.
The 2008 Boise State University graduate majored in psychology. He earned a master's degree in kinesiology & behavioral studies from Boise State in 2013.
James Perez - Assistant Director of Football Strength and Conditioning
James Perez joins the Wildcats after one season at San Jose State University in 2023. Perez came from Stanford where he was for four years with the last two seasons as Assistant Director of Football Sports Performance. With Stanford, Perez was elevated to Assistant Director in 2021 after serving as the Associate Football Sports Performance for the Cardinal in 2019 and 2020. Before coming to Stanford, Perez served as the top Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Fresno State working with the Bulldog Football program. During his time in Fresno, the Bulldogs won the 2018 Mountain West Championship, 2018 Las Vegas Bowl, and finished the season 12-2 overall.
Prior to Fresno State, he spent the 2017 season with the Stanford football program while also assisting with the Cardinal Wrestling and Men's Swimming and Diving teams. Perez also spent four years at Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton, California, and served as the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach until being promoted to Director of Athletic Performance in 2016. In 2011, Perez served as a volunteer assistant at Cal. A native of Petaluma Calif., Perez holds a master's degree in Exercise Science (Sports Psychology) from California University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from Willamette University, where he was a two-sport athlete playing Football and Baseball. He is C.S.C.S, FMS, AED and CPR certified.
