At Coe College, Iowa acting coach Seth Wallace piled up yards and football knowledge

Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell was educated at the University of Mount Union. Alabama Coach Kalen DeBoer is a graduate of the University of Sioux Falls.

In the Big Ten, Oregon Coach Dan Lanning is from William Jewell, Penn State’s James Franklin went to East Stroudsburg, and Ohio State’s Ryan Day attended New Hampshire.

Seth Wallace’s “less-traveled” road to being Iowa’s acting head coach Saturday actually isn’t off college football’s beaten path at all. Wallace went to college a half-hour up the road from Iowa City at Cedar Rapids’ Coe College, then began his coaching career there.

“I loved having him be part of our program,” Erik Raeburn said. “I knew he’d be a good coach. He’s far exceeded any reasonable expectations and has done an incredible job.”

Raeburn was in his first season as Coe’s head football coach in 2000 when Wallace was a senior wide receiver and team captain. Raeburn, now the head coach at Gannon University in Erie, Pa., got Wallace the ball.

Wallace had 879 receiving yards and eight touchdowns that season. His 25.1 yards per catch remains a Coe record, as does his career average of 16.4 yards per punt return.

“At Coe, as a player, I had the pleasure to play for two outstanding head coaches in D.J. LeRoy and Erik Raeburn,” Wallace said. “Observing their two different styles of coaching provided me with a piece of my coaching foundation at an early point in my career.”

As the Kohawks bused home from a loss at Central College in Pella late in the 2000 season, Raeburn approached Wallace and asked him if he wanted to join the coaching staff the following season.

“Seth’s dad (former Grinnell College head coach Greg Wallace) was a really successful coach and Seth was always around it,” Raeburn said. “It was awesome for us to get to coach him. He was a weapon, for sure.”

Raeburn thought enough of Wallace to add him to his coaching staff the next season. After two years at Coe, Wallace coached at Lake Forest for three years, was an Iowa graduate assistant for three years, and was on the staff at Valdosta State for five. He was an offensive coordinator at Lake Forest, a defensive coordinator at Valdosta State.

Then came his return to Iowa in 2014. Wallace began coaching the Hawkeyes’ linebackers in 2016. Josey Jewell and Jack Campbell were Iowa linebackers who were the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year five years apart under Wallace’s guidance, and current Hawkeye Jay Higgins was a second-team AP All-American last year.

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That’s all from Wallace’s beginnings at Coe, where the football is good, but sits in the long shadow of their neighbors in Iowa City. Quarterback Tim Vinyard and offensive tackle Nick Nielsen joined Wallace as Coe’s first-team All-Iowa Conference players in 2000.

Nielsen, vice president of sales operations for GreatAmerica Financial Services in Cedar Rapids, said, “You could see right away Seth could make game-changing plays for us, and he did. He understood concepts. He was a football junkie. The locker room was probably his happy place.

“He was a beloved teammate, easy to like. We all respected him.”

Vinyard is an orthopedic surgeon in Des Moines. He and former Coe/Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson met up with Wallace at Iowa’s spring practice in Kinnick Stadium this year.

“Seth caught my terrible passes at Coe and made me look good,” Vinyard joked.

“The first thing that stood out about him was his athletic ability. He was a really, really good wide receiver-slash-tight end. He had a hybrid role. He was great at running routes and catching the ball, but he also was an outstanding blocker, tough and physical.

“I’ve told people I’m not surprised at all that he’s been as successful as he has in the realm of football. He was a guy who got along with everybody, be it players, coaches, training staff. He was hardworking, had a great attitude, and was a natural-born leader.

“We were Division III, playing in front of our parents and a smattering of the student body. We made the most of it.”

Saturday, Wallace will run a big operation in front of almost 70,000 fans and many more at home.

“He’ll do fine,” Vinyard said. “I’m very proud of him.”

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