John Settle’s deep, clear voice cut through the pounding music projecting from Camp Randall Stadium’s sound system and the cacophony of whistles and smacking shoulder pads during individual position drills at a recent spring practice.
The running backs coach stopped Taiwan Deal as he was high-stepping over pads in an agility drill, barked a few corrections at the redshirt freshman and then swiftly moved his attention to the next running back in line.
That’s Settle’s style. He pushes the running backs at a breakneck pace throughout practice, but he doesn’t hesitate to halt everything and remedy a mistake that catches his attention.
“I would describe coach Settle as a car flying at 100 miles-an-hour, but knows how to hit the brake at one point,” said junior running back Corey Clement. “His intensity is what we want, and I think sometimes we need to handle how he just lays it out there for us.”
This combination of energy and acute attention to detail is the foundation of Settle’s highly successful coaching record. In his first stint as Wisconsin’s running backs coach from 2006-’10, the Badgers averaged over 2,660 rushing yards, driven by the likes of P.J. Hill, John Clay, Montee Ball and James White.
Following the 2010 season, Settle made the jump to the NFL coaching ranks, serving as the running backs coach for the Carolina Panthers for two years and the Cleveland Browns in 2013. Last year he made a return to college and reunited with then-Pittsburgh head coach Paul Chryst, who was UW’s offensive coordinator during Settle’s tenure in Madison.
Settle closely incorporated the lessons he learned from his time in the NFL into his coaching philosophy at the collegiate level.
“The one thing going back to the NFL helped me to do was not trying to do too much,” Settle said. “You only get a certain amount of time to work with the guys individually, so your time is precious and what you want to work on and cover has to be pinpointed.”
When Chryst was hired as Wisconsin’s head coach last December, Settle found his job prospects in flux once again. That changed in mid-February, when then-UW running backs coach Thomas Brown left for the same position at Georgia. Chryst approached him to return to Wisconsin, and Settle seized opportunity despite having other options on the table.
“It was interesting because I almost ruined it because I was trying to wait on an NFL job, an opportunity to go back to the NFL, and two other college jobs,” Settle said. “But for some reason I had not pulled the trigger. So when it worked out to where Thomas was leaving and coach [Chryst] called and offered me the opportunity to come back, I jumped at it.”
Now that Settle’s career path has gone full circle, he is firmly committed to unearthing the success he started cultivating at UW nearly a decade ago.
“The opportunity to reconnect and work with coach Chryst, a guy that I believe in and believe in his offense and the way he approaches things,” Settle said of his rationale behind returning. “And then the opportunity to come back and work at ‘Tailback U.’ First time around I had a group of guys who were able to have success. I want to be able to come back and be able to continue that success.”
Those goals now lie on the shoulders of Clement, redshirt junior Dare Ogunbowale and Deal. The task of replacing the prolific Melvin Gordon and recreating Wisconsin’s quintessential 1-2-punch at running back with Clement and Ogunbowale is unlike any other challenge Settle has faced.
“This is a totally different group,” Settle said. “Normally you have a big back and a smaller guy, so to speak. Thunder and lightning. Here I think we’ve got two guys right now that are both lightning. Dare and Corey are both quick hitters, guys that are smaller, that [have] the ability to make guys miss and go the distance.”
If there’s anyone who is primed to make this group of backs into a special one, it’s Settle. Despite his history of stimulating dominant rushing attacks, he maintained that his response to being labeled a running back guru is simple.
“I say ‘I’m a good coach, [but] I have great players.’ And I’ll always believe that….I do believe that I have enough background because I played the position, I’ve coached the position, to be able to teach and to see some things that maybe will help them, in combination with their ability, to be a better player.”
Stout and barrel-chested, Settle walks with the same swagger as the players he coaches, a characteristic born out of his playing days in the NFL in the late ‘80s. This relatable persona and methodical style of teaching will have Clement, Ogunbowale and Deal following him stride-for-stride throughout Wisconsin’s preparation for this fall.
