Jovan Dewitt never imagined his multilingual background would come in handy on the recruiting trail.
But there he was in the week before National Signing Day, speaking French over Skype with the father of junior college defensive lineman Chris Mulumba. It was one of the factors that helped close the deal for the native of Finland.
Dewitt, who is UCF's linebackers coach and special teams coordinator, joins the staff after making stops at Army (2014-15) and FAU (2012-13). He's also one of four UCF coaches with Northern Iowa ties, spending three seasons (2009-11) as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
As the team was winding down spring, UCFSports.com caught up with the Milwaukee native and Northern Michigan grad.
I know you have the Northern Iowa tie that Scott Frost has. Looking at the years, it looks as if Scott Frost was on the way out and you were coming in?
"He was the linebacker coach and I came in as the next linebacker coach."
Did you get to know each other a little bit then?
"There was a little bit of a transition time and we've communicated off and on throughout the years since then. Our connection was really more through Chinander and Verduzco. It was a little bit of overlap with communication. We had stayed in touch a little bit, talking about X's and O's, thinks like that. That's how it worked."
I know you have some Florida ties. You played for the Orlando Predators? When was that?
"Late 90s I was there for a brief period of time. Not even (one season). I got hurt. I was with the Iowa Barnstormers initially. Kurt Warner was there then. Then I came over here and was working out. I had a situation and had to go back home, so I wasn't even here for a full year at that point."
You got the phone call from January from Coach Frost asking if you'd be interested in being on the staff. I know you've been in Florida working at FAU and knew a couple guys on the staff. Did you jump at the chance?
"My family had actually stayed down in West Palm Beach in Wellington. We have a place down there. So my family stayed. This past year we had a baby before the season started. So they stayed down this last year. When the opportunity presented itself, it was one I couldn't possibly turn down. To go work with some friends and people you love and trust, there's nothing better than that in the coaching world. It's rare that you get a chance to get people you know on staff. To have that at a place like this, you've got to go."
The chemistry seems like it's really good among the staff. I'm sure it helps when some of the coaches have previously spent time with each other like you have with Chinander and Verduzco.
"It's really good. It's awesome. It's a lot of fun. We hang out outside of the office. We're all together. None of our families are really here yet. They're starting to matriculate in right now. We can hang out with each other and not get tired of seeing each other so that makes it fun. You have more open communication when there's people that you trust around you and people you genuinely care about. You can talk X's and O's without hurting anybody's feelings or anything like that."
One of the fun stories on Signing Day was when Coach Frost talked about how you corresponded with junior college defensive line signee Chris Mulumba's father in French. How many languages do you speak?
"I speak French. I grew up in Milwaukee where they have immersion schools and you're not allowed to speak English. There was one for German, Spanish, French and Japanese. I went to the French one. It was kind of cool to be able to do that. I speak a little bit of Spanish though not very well. An itty-bitty, tiny little bit of German.
"Chris had Skyped with his father on his visit and I was able to talk to him in French to help explain the recruiting process... It was really cool. A lot of fun. It was the first time I had to do that."
How young were you when you started the French immersion program?
"Kindergarten. I went to school early. Kindergarten is usually what, five? I was four."
You guys are almost wrapped up with spring practice. Where are things right now? Looking back, has it been a good spring of getting everyone adjusted?
"I think it's gone really well. There's obviously a lot of detail we've got to clean up. We've gone to the stage of just learning the words and now we're starting to utilize the words. I think what we need to get to next, the next evolution for us, is really understanding the communication and implications that each word means to us. So for me, the next phase, I was just talking to my guys about it after practice. They're doing a much better job of demanding better communication from everybody around them, but now it's understanding what a specific word means. Whether that word changes my leverage on the play, whether that word affects my tempo or my pressure. Really understanding what that word means and how that play develops and how I react to it."
Have the guys respond well to the changes? I know some guys were moving to linebacker that hadn't played there before. Have you seen the guys buy in?
"I think so. I think we're having a lot of fun. I think our guys are the first ones to tell you that it's a demanding process especially on the defensive side in terms of adjusting to the tempo. The mental demand is much harder than the physical demand for our guys. They've really bought in to giving us the best they can possibly give. I've seen a lot of growth from that standpoint. They've done a good job. It's demanding, but I think they're having fun at the same time."
Have you coached on a team that had an offense that went that fast? I don't think Army did.
"No, Army does not (laughs). It was funny. Towards the end of my tenure at Florida Atlantic, one of the things we were able to implement the last month of the season there was the first period of the day was to be a tempo period like we're running now. The way we looked at it, I sat down and talked with a bunch of strength coaches, it trains the nervous system to react fast. The old standard way of practices is to go through individuals, go through group work and then come together for a team period. At that point your nervous system is already starting to wear out a little bit, so you're practicing at 75 percent speed as opposed to maybe 85, 95 percent speed. To me, it's really good for us in terms of training our guys to move fast early on so that when they get to the tempo of a game, they don't have to adjust back to game speed. They've already taken those reps and communicated at game speed. It's nothing but a benefit to us."
Are there some guys in your unit that have had a good spring that you've been happy with their development?
"To be honest with you, with the backers, I think everybody has done a pretty good job. They've all really bought in. They're coming in extra, watching some film, asking legitimate questions in terms of what does that mean to me? How can I do this better? So when a guy comes to you five hours after practice and asks about play 15 in team two, I don't understand what happened here, then you know they've really bought in. I've had multiple guys throughout the course of spring do that with me. That's really encouraging."
The family must be pretty excited if they were staying in Wellington. Are they moving up soon?
"I'll tell you this. If mama's happy, everybody's got a chance to be happy. Mama is really happy that we're staying in Florida. It was an opportunity that was too good to pass up."
