Brett Dewhurst
Assistant Coach and Defensive Back Coach Brett Dewhurst is one of the new coaches for the Lions football team this season. A former defensive back from Texas Tech University, Dewhurst had some coaching experience during his time at Texas Tech University and University of Houston.
Dewhurst has enjoyed coaching under Head Coach Ron Roberts so far in the offseason.
Dewhurst said, “It’s really my first time to work under a defensive-minded coach. In the past, I have worked under offensive coaches or special teams coaches. Anybody that works for him will tell you that he knows everything about everything. It’s been really a blessing too that we run the option and do a lot of running plays, which helps the defense. Coach Roberts is a guy that runs a clean program. We teach our guys to be disciplined, do right and work hard. It’s just been a fun team to work for.”
Dewhurst has been working with an experienced defense this offseason and believes that the veteran players will succeed. Roberts served as a mentor for Dewhurst, and players viewed him in the same respect.
“Last year we lost a lot of guys up front on the line, but we returned some linebackers and some secondary,” said Dewhurst. “It’s been good for me that these guys are not hearing it for the first time. Coach Roberts did a good job of teaching it to this group last year. Moving on to game week, we are starting to move on to different formations and other stuff that we don’t normally see from our offense that will prepare us for the season.”
During his time at Texas Tech University and the University of Houston, Dewhurst was a defensive quality control assistant. He helped lead TTU to an appearance in the 2015 Texas Bowl. Dewhurst left to get a job as a full-time coach and to obtain more responsibility in his career.
“The reason I went to Texas Tech was because I worked with a guy at the University of Houston, and I followed him to help coach at Texas Tech,” said Dewhurst. “At those schools, I was not a full-time coach. I could do a bunch of stuff, but I couldn’t go on the road and recruit. That was the main reason I left to come here to be full hands on deck. It doesn’t matter where you are at, what matters is who you are with.”
Dewhurst hopes to pass on what he is learning about coaching football to other coaches and athletes that he encounters.
“I have been fortunate enough to be with some really good coaches who took me under their wing and taught me how to be a coach,” said Dewhurst. “That’s kind of my goal now, to learn new ways to do things, grow and develop and obviously try to pass it along to others as well.”
Dewhurst has adjusted to living in Hammond with his wife Ryanne and has admiration for the culture of the university.
“The city of Hammond is awesome,” said Dewhurst. “Somebody around here is lying because everybody says they have the best jambalaya, but I enjoy it. I’m a fat kid at heart. I love all of the food around here. Me and my wife just got settled in, and we’re figuring it out. I’ve been using my Google maps these past few weeks to figure out where I’m at. There is a lot of Southeastern people around. I can tell even since I came from the airport in New Orleans that people support Southeastern.”