How SEMO OC Jeromy McDowell became one of the premier coordinators in the FCS

CAPE GIRARDEAU – Jeromy McDowell took a step back on the Houck Stadium turf after football practice and took a moment to think about what he was going to say next. The question was simple yet sophisticated: how did the former SEMO quarterback become one of the top offensive coordinators at the FCS level?

McDowell, SEMO’s seventh-year play-caller, offered what was understandably a broad answer. He mentioned growing up in Bonne Terre. He mentioned being recruited by and falling in love with SEMO while he was a player in high school. He mentioned springboarding from coaching at his high school alma mater to landing an OC job at a Division II program out west. And he mentioned his first run with Tom Matukewicz, one that paved the path to him being the man entrusted with SEMO’s offensive future back when he was hired in December of 2017.

From there it took a path that is now on its way to Nissan Stadium, where No. 11 SEMO will play No. 25 Tennessee State for the outright Big South-Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) championship Saturday afternoon.

SEMO offensive coordinator Jeromy McDowell watches his offense run a play during practice on Tuesday, Nov. 19.Kaiden Karper ~ kkarper@semoball.com

McDowell was a standout quarterback at North County High School, who reached the 1997 Class 4 State Championship game when he was a sophomore. One of former SEMO head coach Tim Billings’ first recruits, McDowell decided to play quarterback for the Redhawks upon graduating from high school in 2000. McDowell had a promising redshirt-freshman season and averaged 186.5 passing yards per game, which currently ranks seventh in single-season program history.

Then a string of unfortunate setbacks kept him off the field.

“I had shoulder and knee surgery after the season was over,” McDowell said. “And then my sophomore year in Week 1, I blew my knee out again and had surgery. Then I tried to come back the following spring and hurt my shoulder again, so I was just riddled with injuries. I'd never been hurt before in my life until I came down here, and then two knee surgeries and two surgeries on my throwing shoulder. That was kind of that.”

Billings asked McDowell to be a graduate assistant for the Redhawks after he finished school, but he was set on earning a living through his business degree and wanted “nothing to do with coaching” after leaving college.

Then, in 2004, when McDowell ended up helping his alma mater North County as a quarterbacks coach, he learned something about himself that would ultimately change his life.

“I fell in love with helping guys,” he said. “I fell in love with coaching, so I actually went back to school in the evenings to get my teaching degree because I had business, so I ended up getting my business ed. so I could teach. And then that's when I became a head coach.”

From 2009-2013, McDowell took the head coaching reigns at North County and led the Raiders to back-to-back conference championships and Class 4 District 1 finals appearances in 2012 and 2013.

That’s when McDowell felt it was time to take the whole coaching thing a little more seriously. He was soon contacted by his former SEMO offensive coordinator Russ Martin, who was the head coach at Division II Colorado Mesa at the time and asked McDowell to join his staff.

“My wife is amazing, and I have twins who were not quite in kindergarten yet,” McDowell said. “So, she said, ‘if we're gonna do the college thing, we’ve got to do it now.’ Then we just picked up and moved out there and haven't looked back since.”

Following two seasons as the wide receivers coach, Colorado Mesa won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) title in McDowell’s first year as the offensive coordinator in 2016. Though he had a brief stint as the program’s play-caller from 2016-2017, McDowell’s impact on the team and in the system was evident. In those two seasons, the Mavericks won nine games each year, while averaging 41.3 points per game in 2016 and 46.4 points per game in 2017.

Then Matukewicz reached out.

“We had met once before, but I never really knew Coach Tuke,” McDowell said. “He reached out, said he had an opening and if I would be interested. He brought me out for an interview and I kind of grinded out a full-day interview before he sent me back to Colorado without a job offer. And then he phoned my wife while I was on the airplane and talked to her, and then when I landed, he called and basically offered me the job.

“It was pretty surreal and fortunate.”

Since Matukewicz hired McDowell to be the architect of his offense in 2017, SEMO has had one of the most prolific units in the OVC year in and year out.

In his first year as the offensive coordinator, McDowell’s offense broke four single-season school records in 2018, including points per game (37.1). In 2021, the Redhawks led the FCS in red zone offense before shattering single-season school records in total yards (5,618) and yards per game (468.2) during the 2022 season, which saw SEMO win its third OVC championship.

“As a coach, it doesn't matter what I want to do or what I like to do,” McDowell said. “It matters what our guys can do. And I think a good coach has to have that mindset or you're really going to be frustrated.”

Matukewicz is obviously fond of McDowell’s philosophy, creativity and spread offensive scheme – one that has resonated well with the strengths of SEMO’s offensive personnel this fall.

“Jeromy's done a great job,” Matukewicz said. “We've had as good an offense as any in the country in the lots of years he's been here. A lot of the quarterback record holders are Daniel Santacaterina, who he coached, and obviously Paxton, so he's done a great job there. The whole offense is really responding. On offense is where a lot of those injuries have crept in and they've just kind of found a way to move the ball to score points.”

SEMO’s offense under McDowell has a lot to be confident about, especially with the regular season finale right around the corner. The Redhawks rank sixth in the FCS in passing offense (307.9 yards per game), 10th in first down offense (254 total) and 11th in red zone offense (90.6 percent scoring rate). Star quarterback Paxton DeLaurent, who currently leads the country in pass completions per game (26.6) and is ranked fifth in passing yards (3,287) and fifth passing touchdowns (27), said he is maximizing his strengths in McDowell’s system and credits him for helping refine his game as a passer.

“We revolutionized our offense this year,” DeLaurent said. “I think my first year we had 2,000 yards by Geno (Hess) and 2,000 yards by me – pretty balanced. And then this year we had injuries, and we realized that my ability to play and throw the ball accurate was best.

“Just to get the best out of me, this team and this offense, and obviously, we're the top offense in the conference and playing really well, shows a testament to him that he's able to adjust and adapt to what players he has.”

McDowell’s successful tenure at SEMO marks a critical juncture in his coaching career, and, in terms of his future, he said that he has no intention of coaching anywhere else.

“My family loves where we are,” he said. “I have three kids that are in school, and they love their school, and my wife works from home, so we're just where our feet are right now. We're just loving life and doing the best we can. And if something happens, it happens, and we'll deal with it. But God has us here for a reason, and we're all in right now.”

So are the SEMO Redhawks, who are just one win away from hoisting an OVC Championship trophy.

Should SEMO’s offense keep the momentum going this Saturday and defeat Tennessee State, there’s no telling how far this team and the man calling the plays can go come playoff time.

“We're doing everything we can to bring home a championship,” McDowell said. “When you see people on social media talking about SEMO football, I've seen what it was in years past and it's nothing like this. I'm just hoping that we can continue to make fans, along with the community, proud and give them something cheer for.”