By: Erin Madden
BEREA, Ohio - Jeff Stetler ‘93 began his football career like most little kids - playing in the backyard with his dad and his brother.
As he got older, though, football became a refuge for him. His coaches and fellow student-athletes became like family. Now Stetler is giving back to the game and the program that means the world to him as an assistant offensive line coach at his alma mater, Baldwin Wallace University.
Heading into college, Stetler had options. He was a first-team All-Ohio offensive lineman at Perry High School and received a number of recruiting letters but he also considered going into the Army. But it was the encouragement from Perry head coach Bob Ritley that really led Stetler to BW.
“I’d be walking down the hall at school and I’d hear this buzzing noise behind me,” Stetler recalled. “I’d turn around and it’s Coach Ritley just giving me that little nudge, pushing me toward BW.”
Once Stetler arrived in Berea, he made an immediate impact on the field, making his first start as a freshman. He eventually became a first team All-Ohio Athletic Conference selection, preseason Division III All-American and captain of the undefeated 1991 OAC Championship team.
Being part of a team - the Yellow Jackets, in particular - had an even greater impact on Stetler, though, far beyond anything he accomplished on the field.
“Being on a team has been the most impactful thing in my life, being part of something bigger than myself,” Stetler said. “I can’t stress enough how important this program, this university has been to my life.”
As for career aspirations, Stetler wanted to become a teacher after graduation as a way to give back to all the teachers and coaches who helped him. However, while student teaching, he realized he didn’t have the patience to be in the classroom at the time. Instead, he spent four years serving in the United States Army, which then helped him land a job with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) where he ultimately worked for 23 years.
“Interestingly enough, I remember at BW, going to a job fair at that gymnasium next to the student union but there was a job fair there and the FBI had a booth set up and I thought, ‘Man, that would be cool,’” Stetler said. “What a great way to continue serving, to do something great for your country, to help your community in a very positive way. Unfortunately, at the time, I thought there was no way they were going to give me a job. And the average age of a brand new agent is 31 so I don’t think many people know that. The Bureau just doesn't really hire people fresh out of college to be special agents. It’s always a second career. You always have to have some kind of work experience, some kind of life experience, before that happens.”
That desire to give back to his teachers and coaches eventually paved the way for Stetler’s return to football. Despite being away from the game for almost three decades, he always had his sights set on roaming the sidelines of George Finnie Stadium once again.
“It was something in my heart I’ve always considered myself a Yellow Jacket,” Stetler said. “I think that being part of the BW community. It’s kind of funny but, in many ways, being the assistant offensive line coach at BW is my dream job.”
The significance of walking into the Packard Athletic Center every day and past photos of Dave Demmerle, Dr. Bob Fisher and Larry Van Dusen is not lost on Stetler, whose coaching style is inspired by all those BW legends.
“I hope that they would be proud of the job that I’m doing,” Stetler said. “To me, I always felt like they cared about me as an individual and so that’s something I try to emulate in my interactions with the players now. Because I do, I care about them. I want them to have success on the football field. I want us to win OAC Championships but I also want them to have success in their personal lives as well. I hope that they know that I do care and that I think that the whole coaching staff really, really cares about them as individuals.”
Stetler is inspired just as much by the student-athletes he coaches day in and day out, especially by their pure love of the game.
“They’re not doing this because they’re going to get paid money or because they’re going on to some kind of professional career,” Stetler said. “They do this because they love it. To see how hard they work for something that they love, if you can’t be inspired by that, then I don’t think you can be inspired.”
His love for the Yellow Jackets is a bond that runs deep and Stetler enjoys getting to share that bond with his current student-athletes.
“The coaches tell the kids about working hard and discipline and caring more about your team,” Stetler said. ‘I think coming back to them, having been away from football for so long, for nearly 30 years, coming back is like I’m proof that what they’re telling them works. I absolutely had a wonderful career in the FBI. I’ve done things that I still can’t believe I got paid to do. I worked with great people, worked great cases. It’s something that I will always cherish. I guess if I were to tell them one thing, I would say that hard work works, that individual accolades mean nothing without team success and that life is going to be hard but if they apply the things that they are learning here at BW to their lives beyond BW, they’re going to be successful.”