CALDWELL, Idaho – Throughout the course of his life, football has taken College of Idaho defensive coordinator
Chris Jewell all over the world.
Norway, Canada, California, Colorado and Idaho are some of the stops he has made along an unconventional path within a sport most commonly associated with the United States.
When Jewell came to Caldwell in January of 2014, he did so with the idea of helping with the restart of the Coyote football program from the ground up.
For someone who likes a good challenge, taking on a role at a school which had not played a competitive game since 1977 was the perfect fit.
"The opportunity to build something and look back and it's ours was appealing to me," Jewell said. "The program is what we made it - good or bad - which luckily, it turns out, it ended up being good."
This past season the Coyote football team won the Frontier Conference title, allowing just 17.3 points per game to opposing offenses, which was the 12th best mark in the NAIA. The defensive unit finished third in the nation with 40 sacks and was fifth in the country in rush defense, yielding just 94.8 yards per game on average.
Seven years after relaunching the program, C of I finished ranked No. 5 in the final NAIA rankings to cap off the 2019 season.
The Yotes will look to build on that strong 11-1 season that culminated with a trip to the NAIA quarterfinals in the upcoming 2020 campaign
"There was a lot of affirmation," Jewell said. "We felt like our culture was really starting to become something established in what we've built, but we're always tweaking and trying to change it and get better. We felt like the year before we were somewhere where we had a shot, and then obviously fell short, so it was great to see it all come together. We didn't change much - it's not like we had a new scheme or anything else - it just kind of came together."
He says the mindset of the team was a major factor.
"We had a lot of vets. With the culture already established and the belief and the buy-in just growing more and more every year, we felt like that's what we should be. We thought we could make this happen. It felt good for the guys because we knew they had been working so hard. For us to be able to say, 'we built it up - and look - we were able to do it'. Not that we met the challenge - we want to win it all - but it was just a big, big step for us. We feel like we should be able to keep it going on this level."
Head coach
Mike Moroski says that the success of the program stems largely from the work that Jewell has put in.
"He is one in a million," Moroski said. "He works really hard and is a great teacher. His fingerprints are all over this program from day one, and we would not be here without Chris. He challenges our defensive players to be very smart and instinctive, and the players have really embraced his sophisticated approach."
Many people and experiences have helped to shape Jewell into the coach and person he is today.
Originally from San Diego, he initially stayed close to home following high school to play football at San Diego Mesa College, where he earned All-Conference honors in 1998.
While he didn't venture far at first for college, it wouldn't take long for Jewell to start racking up the frequent flyer miles.
After earning his associate degree from SDMC in 1999, he spent one year at the University of Idaho and then another at the University of Maine.
By 2001, his travel for school would extend all the way to Canada, where he attended Concordia University in Montreal. At Concordia, he was an All-Conference performer as a defensive tackle in 2003. Jewell graduated from the school with a degree in political science.
While it may seem obvious now that coaching football was the right career choice for Jewell, he didn't always have the profession at the top of his mind, especially right after college when he still wanted to keep playing.
An opportunity with the Nidaros Domers of the Norwegian American Football Association gave him a chance to play, and then eventually, coach as well.
"I wasn't ready to be done playing football or any of that," Jewell said. "Every professional league thought I was ready to be done, so I first went out to Norway to play and then ended up coaching. I coached on the offensive side of the ball, which was fun."
Since he has left, the league has continued to grow.
"All of those European leagues have grown a lot and become bigger and bigger," Jewell said. "When I was over there it was still almost a startup, but it was fun. That was my first coaching experience. I was coaching a bunch of guys who really had little American football experience, so we were definitely starting with fundamentals from the ground up, which I think is really what you should be doing all the time."
From Norway, he would then move on to coach the defensive line at the University of Ottawa in Canada, where the team played 12-man football.
"I kind of think that I enjoyed it because it's just straight up and there's nothing unbalanced about it," Jewell said. "Defensively it's a different game, but I coached with some great people. I learned a ton from them and a bunch of stuff that I brought back with me I was able to use down here in the states."
One mentor in particular from his time in Ottawa sparked his interest in many elements of coaching.
"Danny Laramee was a fairly young defensive coordinator for us," Jewell said. "I was just a young buck who was going to coach because I wasn't going to play anymore. I got around him and his passion, enthusiasm and creativity for the game, along with just his open-mindedness for trying different ways to solve problems, and it really influenced me and lit the fire for the X's and O's part of coaching."
While he had started his path in coaching football, Jewell still stayed involved in multiple other jobs.
He would start as a teacher and varsity basketball coach at Guajome Park Academy in California before heading back to San Diego Mesa to teach physical education and serve as the defensive coordinator for the football team. Along with each of those tasks, he was also a special education aide at Del Mar Union School District.
Once 2011 came, he had worked his way up the coaching ladder to Southwestern College in California, taking over the role of defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.
At Southwestern, Jewell says that head coach Ed Carberry and defensive coordinator Junior Monarrez helped to shape the coach that he is today.
"Ed is a pretty legendary coach down in San Diego," Jewell said. "He was a really successful high school coach before going to Southwestern. I learned a lot from him including leadership and how to treat people. I also learned how to run a program and how to be a boss as far as respecting people, but still getting what you need out of them. Junior is another guy who really was a big-time mentor for me. He taught me not just how to manage young men and give them what they need, but also how to treat them with tough love. He instilled in me and got me to embrace the toughness part of the game."
Following a season at Southwestern, Jewell made the trek to Colorado to Fort Lewis College, where he was the recruiting coordinator and defensive backs coach for two seasons.
From his time there, Jewell says that defensive coordinator Ed Rifilato and head coach John L. Smith were key mentors.
Prior to taking over at Fort Lewis in 2013, Smith had previously served as a head coach at the Division I level at Idaho, Utah State, Louisville, Michigan State and Arkansas.
"Spending a year with him - his enthusiasm and motor - the guy is always on," Jewell said. "You've always got to be on in coaching - there's no breaks - you don't get to be tired around your players when you are a coach. He was just non-stop. His grind and everything else definitely made an impression with me for sure."
Rifilato will be entering his 16th season at Fort Lewis this fall.
"We still share ideas and talk and have similar defensive philosophies," Jewell said. "Along the way you pick up different stuff from different people and you study people that you don't know, take what you like, and try to see if it can work for you. A lot of the time when we are evolving the defense, Ed Rifilato is who I hear in my ear the most, kind of saying, 'make sure that thing is sound and something that you can do against everything. Run your system'."
Now at C of I, Jewell says that those around him are what make the job such a positive experience.
"We're winning with the kind of kids that you would want to be around your family. We are winning with good people, and I feel like we are all working in the same direction. The campus community is small and tight - a lot of people stick around - so I get to come to work every day and work with a staff of great people that are all working hard. I never feel like I'm going to work - I'm going to do what I love doing - which is just getting to hang out with a bunch of people to coach ball and keep trying to get better."
Two things will always come first on the priority list for the C of I defensive coordinator.
"I'm a family guy and a football guy," Jewell said. "I've got a beautiful wife I love and three daughters. My oldest is actually a freshman here at the College who is going to be a sophomore, then I've got a junior in high school over at Rocky Mountain and also a 4-year-old. When I go home, I relax with the wife and play with the 4-year-old. I don't have a lot of hobbies. I like fishing and strumming the 'ole guitar every now and then, but usually I'm having quality time with the family or quality team with the team. That's kind of what I do."
With football season fast approaching, the C of I staff has been taking on the challenge of getting ready for the year in the middle of plenty of unknowns.
While not being able to take part in hands-on work for much of the spring and now the summer due to COVID-19 has admittedly been frustrating, Jewell and the staff are excited for the season and believe that they are doing everything in their power to stay ready.
"I would say from a mental standpoint, we are actually right on track as far as our guys knowing what they are supposed to do and understanding the defense," Jewell said. "We are just missing reps as far as going out and making mistakes and learning from the physical part of it. It's different to watch it, talk it, know it and be able to verbalize it than to run around and feel that, 'hey, that's what you mean'. It'll be interesting. You're going into it saying, 'let's see how ready we really are when we are able to get back together'. It feels like we are on a pretty good track. We're pretty happy with where we are considering, but it's killing me to not be around the guys."
He says there have been positives to come out of the experience though.
"Some of the kinds of technology that we have used are things that are going to be super beneficial down the road now that we've kind of learned how to use them. For all the older guys to learn how to video chat and log onto a computer and watch a couple clips of film with a player, that's stuff that once we are rolling, we'll be able to utilize to catch a guy after dinner and say, 'hey, pop on and watch this play from practice. This is what I was talking about'. I think some of our guys probably learn better sitting and looking at their laptop at home listening to me talk and asking a question than they do in a meeting where they are drained and tired. It's kind of a big experiment though."
If anyone can adapt to the changing climate, Jewell is the guy.
"He is always growing," Moroski said. "He wants to be great and he loves the College and the program so much. He wants all of the student-athletes to be great too. The old adage, 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink' does not work with me. I tell our coaches, 'make them drink'. Chris endeavors every day to inspire, encourage and make the details of the game more understandable and interesting."
