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"We are really excited about getting Rod on board," Johnson said.
"He came very highly recommended and was impressive to me, as well
as the rest of the staff. He has a great knowledge and has been
coordinating an offense that has a very similar style to ours. It
will be an easy transition for him to adapt to our offense and our
way of doing things." Carey is equally excited about the
opportunity to join the Redbird staff.
"I'm excited. Coach Johnson is a great guy and someone I'm really
looking forward to working for," Carey said. "I'm looking forward to
the challenge of coaching the offensive line. We have four starters
coming back and some good young talent in the mix. My job is to not
upset the apple cart. They won nine games (last season). I'm just
coming in to get them to play a little better."
For the last seven seasons, Carey served as the offensive line
coach at Wisconsin-Stout and was the coordinator for the last six
seasons. With the Blue Devils, Carey's offense averaged nearly 400
yards per game with him calling the plays.
"I really appreciate the fact that he has been a coordinator for
the last several years and brings more of a big-picture perspective
to the job," Johnson said. "He is a good, hard-nosed, tough football
coach, but at the same time is a bright, articulate guy. Again, I
think he is going to be a great addition to our staff."
Prior to coaching the Blue Devils, Carey worked with the
Minnesota offense for two seasons as a graduate assistant. He played
college football at Indiana and was a three-year starter at center.
A team captain in 1993, Carey played in three bowl games and
received the Corby Davis Outstanding Offensive Player and Al Barsch
Hang Tough awards during his playing career.
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Before attending Indiana, Carey was a high school all-American
center at Wayzata (Minn.) High School, where he returned to coach
the offensive line for three seasons before working as a graduate
assistant at Minnesota.
Carey received his bachelor's degree from Indiana in 1993. He and
his wife, Tonya, have a daughter, Kennedi, 2, and a son, Charlie, 4
months.
Williams is beginning his fourth season at Illinois State and
will continue to work with the halfbacks and tight ends, while
serving as the coordinator of the Redbird offense.
"One of the things that attracted me to Jim when he came on board
was that he had been coordinating at Nebraska-Omaha, so he has had
the responsibility and experience of managing the staff, calling
games and managing game day," Johnson said. "We are very fortunate
to have him in-house and on deck ready to step into the coordinating
role, and I think it will be a very seamless transition for our
staff."
Cornelsen, who played quarterback at Missouri Southern, will now
coach the ISU signal callers, due to the departure of Justin Fuente
to TCU.
"Again, I think we are reaping some dividends from our longevity
here in that Brad has been with us four years as a receivers coach,"
Johnson said. "He worked very intimately with coach Fuente in the
passing game, and Brad has always considered himself a quarterbacks
coach. This will also be a seamless transition for our program and
Brad will do a great job."
[Text copied from file received from Todd Kober,
assistant athletics director, media relations,
Illinois
State University]
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