FIU’s new offensive coordinator Coleman devoted to family and football
Nick Coleman and his wife, Kelly, have been married 14-plus years, and they are preparing this summer to settle into their 17th home.
That’s the life of a coach and his family, which includes their son, Eli, 12; and their daughter, Sophie, 9.
Coleman and his wife met while they were students at Middle Tennessee State University.
Coleman, who is set to officially become FIU’s new offensive coordinator any day now, said his coaching success is a credit, in large part, to his wife.
“She’s the backbone of our family,” said Coleman, a 37-year-old native of Decaturville, Tennessee. “I tricked her into marrying me before I became a coach.”
Coleman was clearly kidding, but it’s no joke to say that the Colemans are a football family.
In fact, they are a quarterback family. Coleman was a backup QB at Middle Tennessee. Eli — named after a certain Southern-roots QB with the last name of Manning — is a sixth-grade quarterback prospect who trains in Alabama with the father of Tua Tagovailoa.
But don’t forget about Sophie. Her father said she’s an elite multisport athlete who aspires to become the NFL’s first female quarterback.
But while it’s too soon for Eli or Sophie to get recruited, Coleman will have a large part in FIU’s efforts to add offensive talent.
In a phone interview with the Herald on Thursday, Coleman said FIU has already secured its biggest recruit of the 2024-2025 cycle.
He’s not a transfer.
And he’s not a prep senior.
He is, in fact, Keyone Jenkins, FIU’s starting quarterback the past two years.
Jenkins put his name in the transfer portal soon after Mike MacIntyre was fired on Dec.1, a dismissal that followed the coach’s third straight 4-8 season at FIU.
But when FIU hired coach Willie Simmons — a former quarterback at Clemson and The Citadel — Jenkins was rerecruited by FIU, and he decided to stay for his junior season.
Coleman and Jenkins have already had several conversations.
“Recruiting priority No. 1 was getting Keyone back,” Coleman said. “He’s not a pocket passer, and he’s not just a runner. He’s intriguing because he has multiple tools, and he’s hungry to work.
“Keyone loves Miami, and he loves FIU. He has a dynamic personality.”
Coleman said spring practice, which will start in March, will be important for FIU’s all-new offensive coaching staff to find out what Panthers players do best.
With Jenkins, though, Coleman has a head start because he has already studied tape of his quarterback. In fact, Coleman said he has already watched every snap Jenkins took for the past two years at FIU.
“I’ve seen him grow,” Coleman said. “I’ve seen him mature. The ceiling he can reach is high.
“What I really like about Keyone is he can throw guys open — back shoulder, away from defenders. A lot of quarterbacks can hit open receivers. But not a lot of them can throw guys open who appear to be covered.
“Keyone sees windows in the passing game. He anticipates well. He also has the athleticism to play in space and become a threat in the run game. We can build off of that because there will be times when we want to run him.
“Ultimately, we want to see what he does best and then pour gasoline on that.”
Despite the fact that Coleman has yet to reach age 40, he already has a lot of experience as a play-caller.
Soon after graduating from Middle Tennessee with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, Coleman — in 2012 at the age of 24 — became offensive coordinator at Faulkner University, an NAIA school. Faulkner that season led the nation (NAIA) in passing touchdowns (49) and total offense per game (590).
From 2014 to 2016, he was the OC at Itawamba Community College, where he developed three quarterbacks in three years who all signed Division I scholarships. Itawamba’s 2016 team led its conference in total offense (563 yards per game) and passing offense (393).
Coleman then served one year as passing game coordinator at Tennessee Tech and two years as the OC at Murray State, where he developed quarterback Drew Anderson, who went on to play for the Arizona Cardinals.
In 2020, it was on to Northeast Mississippi Community College.
One of Coleman’s biggest thrills so far was serving as the play-caller for the South Carolina Gamecocks in the 2022 TaxSlayer Bowl.
Offesnsive coordinator Marcus Satterfield had left South Carolina to serve on Matt Rhule’s staff at Nebraska, and that meant that offensive analyst Coleman called the plays.
South Carolina lost that game 45-38 to Notre Dame, but Coleman picked up valuable experience coaching quarterback Spencer Rattler, who is now in the NFL.
For the past two years, Coleman worked as UAB’s quarterback coach under Trent Dilfer, who was a pretty fair QB in his days in the NFL (see Super Bowl win, 2000-2001 season).
At UAB, Coleman led quarterback Jacob Zeno to one of the most prolific seasons in program history. In 2023 Zeno broke school records for completions and completion percentage (73.6). He finished second in passing yards (3.126).
Now, Coleman gets to reunite with Simmons, who was on the offensive staff at Middle Tennessee when Nick was a player. Coleman also worked under Simmons as a Middle Tennessee graduate assistant.
“I’ve been trying to get back to coaching with [Simmons] for nearly 15 years,” Coleman said. “[Simmons] is a proven winner, a great father, and a great husband …
“When this opportunity came up, my wife immediately said, ‘We have to do this.’”
Coleman said he and Simmons run similar offensive systems, which should make the transition seamless.
In short, Coleman said he will adjust to the available talent and not the other way around.
“We won’t try to squeeze a square peg into a round hole,” Coleman said. “There have been years when I put two or three tight ends on the field at the same time if that was our strongest lineup … or two running backs or four receivers.”
Coleman said he grew up in the “Air Raid” system and has added pro-style concepts to his play-calling.
He wants to use different personnel and vary tempo to confuse defenses.
“Ideally,” Coleman said, “the defensive players have to adjust on the fly and make calls as opposed to the defensive coordinator making calls.”
Coleman, who talked to the Herald while vacationing in Jamaica for a few post-Christmas days, said he spent most of his time off with his family in the pool.
However, he added that he had a good view of a TV screen while in the pool as he watched just about every bowl game and playoff matchup.
Jamaica is where he and his wife honeymooned years ago, and this was their first return trip.
It was fitting for Coleman as the time off blended his two passions – family and football.
“We could’ve been in rural Mississippi and still been fine as long as we’re together,” Coleman said. “My son checks the transfer portal and recruiting rankings every day, and my wife is the same way.
“Our family lives and breathes football.”