New appointees to the staff are assistant coaches Bill Wilt, Dan Enos and Doug Downing. They join recently-hired Mark Caballero, Chris Klieman and Deion Melvin and holdover assistant Larry McDaniel on the new staff. The appointments of all but McDaniel are subject to the approval of the SMS Board of Governors at the next regular board meeting.
Ball anticipates hiring one additional assistant coach.
Bill Wilt will be the Bears' assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive line coach as he takes over the same three assignments he has had for the past nine years under Ball at Western Illinois University. Doug Downing will come to SMS as running backs coach after having worked at Western Illinois for the past three years as offensive coordinatorand quarterbacks and receivers coach. Wilt has orchestrated the defensive excellence enjoyed by Western Illinois in recent years. The Leathernecks have been among the I-AA national leaders in a number of defensive categories for most of the past decade. Wilt was in his most recent assignments with the Leathernecks, and finished first or second in total defense in the Gateway in six of the past nine years.