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Shankweiler 'The Perfect Fit' For JMU

JMU, Houston Hires New O-Line Coach With More Than 40 Years Of Experience

James Madison has hired Steve Shankweiler as its new offensive line coach.
James Madison has hired Steve Shankweiler as its new offensive line coach. (JMU Athletic Communications)

HARRISONBURG – James Madison has its new offensive line coach.

JMU has hired Steve Shankweiler to lead its offensive line, coach Mike Houston said Wednesday.

Shankweiler replaces Bryan Stinespring, who left the school earlier this month for the same job at Maryland.

“His depth, his knowledge, his experience,” Houston said were all reasons Shankweiler aligned as a fit for the Dukes. “And in watching his units that he’s coached over the years play on tape, and the way they play, you see their identity.”

With 43 years of coaching experience, Shankweiler comes to Harrisonburg after spending this past season as a defensive analyst at North Carolina State.

Before that, he was the offensive coordinator and line coach at Florida International. He’s also had stops at South Florida and East Carolina, where he worked previously with current JMU offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick, as well as South Carolina, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Western Kentucky and The Citadel.

Houston said Shankweiler’s coaching philosophy matched what both him and Kirkpatrick were looking for.

“Playing in the offensive line is not in itself fun, but winning and dominating your opponent physically, it’s a trip, man,” Shankweiler said. “It’s the greatest thing there is.”

Shankweiler said he’s most excited to begin working with the offensive linemen.

The Dukes return six players – junior Gerren Butler, junior Jahee Jackson, junior Tyree Chavious, junior Mac Patrick, sophomore Zaire Bethea and sophomore Liam Fornadel – that have started at least a game on the offensive line in their careers.

“We don’t have a senior next year, so it’s a young offensive line, but it’s extremely talented,” Houston said. “So to have someone to develop that group, we found the perfect fit.

“And it’s probably the most critical piece for our continued success. Being able to hire someone that is so fundamental and detail-oriented and is such a good teacher and motivator, he’s going to be able to bring that offensive line along to a level that we want it to be at.”

Shankweiler will treat the position group the same, but said he’d coach each individual differently while making the effort to find out about players personally and what a player is capable of on the field.

He said he hasn’t yet evaluated the linemen on the roster and has only learned about the players through Houston and Kirkpatrick.

“I’ve had a chance to coach guys that have played 10, 12 years in the NFL and guys that just wanted to have a good college career and everything in between,” he said. “They all respond to different things.

“Too many times [coaches] that don’t have a lot of experience and guys that haven’t been exposed to things I’ve been exposed to, tend to lump kids all into one pile, but not every kid learns the same way and that’s where experience helps you.

“You learn to understand what to look for and what you’re asking the kid to do. Can he do this? If he can’t pull, let’s not force a square peg into a round hole and run a bunch of pull plays.”

Houston said he sensed Shankweiler’s vast understanding of the game during the interview process.

“We talked through his interview about some things that I felt like we needed to improve on from this past season,” Houston said. “He’s sitting there and not only does he have ideas on the board, but he can show you stuff on film from his teams in the past where you see he’s going to have the ability to bring some different perspective to the room.”

And Shankweiler said he feels comfortable jumping in right away with the Dukes’ staff because of his familiarity with Kirkpatrick.

The two were together at ECU under Skip Holtz.

“There’s a trust factor involved on good coaching staffs,” Shankweiler said. “And when you have a guy that you’ve worked with, you know what he wants and you know how the two of you think together, you can skip the first couple chapters of the book and get into the meat of the story.”

His overall thoughts sound very similar to how Houston and Kirkpatrick believe the offensive line should play.

Shankweiler said he doesn’t like to overcomplicate anything.

“You don’t get caught up in the Gucci fine things that everyone invents every year,” Shankweiler said. “You know that freaking football is that you line up, put your hand in the dirt and knock the living hell out of somebody. That’s what it is.”

Houston said Shankweiler also will help the program recruit the 757 and the greater Atlanta area.

Shankweiler said he’s anxious to get started.

“I love the game and what it’s done for me, but I know what it can do for the kids,” Shankweiler said. “I’m not into coaching for anything else. I’m just excited about getting to meet them, get to work, and challenge their tales to be as good as we can be and go play in that championship game again this year.”

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