Indiana's Kane Wommack was born — and raised — to be a coach
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Kane Wommack was still just a kid when he asked his parents to sit down on the couch and talk about the family business.
This kind of thing happens all across America every day, these talks about the family business and the next generation’s role in it. It happens in boardrooms, palatial offices and, many times, on cozy living room couches down a quiet road in a college town.
Kane looked at his parents, Dave and Leslie Wommack, and blurted it out with conviction:
“I want to be a coach,’’ the teenager said.
That announcement wasn’t all that surprising to his father, Dave, because he had been a football coach his entire life. Coaching defense, that’s the family business.
Dad must have been so happy, right?
“I told him, ‘Don’t do it,’ ’’ Wommack said with a smile last week after one of Indiana’s football practice. Wommack, 63, retired three ago after 37 years in the football business and was invited up to watch his son coach Indiana’s defense. Kane, who’s only 32 years old, is Indiana’s first-year defensive coordinator, and he’s the youngest coordinator in the Big Ten.
“I wanted him to make sure he knew what it was really like. The coaching life, it’s really, really hard, especially when you have a family. I took him to a coach’s convention one time so he could see guys walking around and looking for jobs, and bouncing around. He needed to know all that, but it didn’t matter with him.’’
No, it didn’t. Dad no zero chance of changing Kane’s mind.
“I had a very strong passion from a very early age,’’ Kane said. “When I graduated from high school, I said to myself, ‘only four more years until I get to do what I want.’ My dad had an uphill battle on his hands trying to talk me out of coaching.’’
It didn’t work then, and certainly would never work now. Kane has his dream job as a defensive coordinator at a Big Ten school. And far sooner than he would have ever imagined.
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Growing up with a purpose
At a very young age, like 5 or 6 years old, Kane started tagging along to practice with his father, and he loved every minute of it. Dave had a great coaching career. He started coaching in 1979 as a graduate assistant, but spent many of his 37 years as a well-respected defensive coordinator. He had stops as a DC at Southwest Missouri State (1986-91), UNLV (1992-93), Southern Miss (1994-2000), Arkansas (2001-04), Georgia Tech (2008-10), Arkansas State (2011) and Ole Miss (2012-16).
“Kane always just loved being around the field and the players, even when he was little,’’ Dave said. “He just loved football, right from the beginning.’’
Kane was a decent enough high school player, good enough to play in college, first at Arkansas and then at Southern Miss. It was a good way to learn more football, with the coaching dream getting closer and closer.
“As a player, I always did all the right things, but I probably didn’t have any business playing at Arkansas (2005-06) or Southern Miss (2007-09). I wasn’t that talented,’’ Kane said. “But it was fun and it helped me be ready for the next step.’’
The coaching opportunities came quickly, and every step has helped him be well prepared to take on this Indiana job. After graduating from Southern Miss in 2009, he was a volunteer assistant coach on the offensive line and then was a quarterbacks coach for a year at Tennessee-Martin. Those two years on that side of the ball was a big part of his learning process.
“There were two things that probably helped me best at a younger age, and one was coaching on the offensive side of the ball for a couple of years,’’ Kane said. “Jason Simpson hired me at UT-Martin, and he never should have given me that job. I was the worst quarterbacks coach in the country, but I learned a lot.’’
He spent a year at Jacksonville State as a defensive line coach, then went to Ole Miss as a graduate assistant for two years, and that’s where he first worked alongside current Indiana coach Tom Allen. Kane was a GA working with linebackers, Allen was the linebackers coach and Kane’s dad Dave was the Ole Miss defensive coordinator.
"I first met Kane when his dad and I coached together at Arkansas State. He wasn't on our staff, but that's where we met,’’ Allen said. “We did work together at Ole Miss, where he was one of our GA's, so we worked side-by-side and have been really close ever since.’’
Kane credits that GA experience at Ole Miss with Allen and his dad as the biggest thing that accelerated his career.
“It was great as a GA to have a defensive coordinator and a position coach who treated his graduate assistants like full-time coaches,’’ Kane said. “We were actively involved in everything, meetings, on the field, game-planning, everything.
"My dad, he had five GA’s at Ole Miss at the time. And myself, Tray Scott, who’s the defensive line coach at Georgia; Chris Robinson, who’s the linebacker coach at Florida at 28 years old; and DeMarcus Covington, at 27 is the linebacker coach for the New England Patriots, we all had a great experience.
“When you’re given that kind of ownership as a coach, when opportunities come, we felt like we were ready.’’
Indiana defensive coordinator Kane Wommack.
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Running defenses at an early age
Ready is an understatement. When Wommack was only 27 years old, he was hired to be the defensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois. He spent two years there, then two years at Sout Alabama as DC before joining the Indiana staff in 2018. He coached linebackers last year before being promoted to defensive coordinator in December.
“I feel like I’m more than ready to do this,’’ Wommack said. “For five of the past six years, I’ve been a coordinator. I’ve dreamed about this forever, and the example that’s been set for me has been great.’’
Allen, who was Indiana’s defensive coordinator when he was promoted to head coach, continued to run the defense. When he hired Wommack, he was more than prepared to hand it off, because the 4-2-5 defense that Allen uses is the same one they’ve both learned from Dave Wommack. They can all talk the same language.
But for Allen, he knew this spring that it was time to step back, too. He did that, and did it with full confidence in Wommack.
“There was no question Kane Wommack was ready to take on the role of defensive coordinator,” Allen said. “I have tremendous confidence in him and his understanding of our entire defense, from the front to the back.’’
Allen made sure to stay away from a lot of the defensive meetings in the spring, focusing more on the offense to Wommack could set the tone defensively, both with his players and his assistants. He’s let him put his stamp on this defense, making tweaks and improvements where necessary.
He didn't want people waiting for him to weigh in on things. He wanted them all — players and assistant coaches alike — to be looking toward Wommack.
“He brought some things that are a little bit unique and different that we hadn’t been doing, and I gave him the authority to be able to make some of those adjustments,” Allen said. “We’ve been talking about this defense for years, and we’re always kicking around ideas. We did that a lot when he was gone, and we still do it a lot now, obviously.
"Any time you have common interests, common philosophies, things that you share in life, it draws you to those people on staff. Our faith was a thing that drew us together and similar passion on defense. I knew what his goals were, he wanted to be a coordinator on defense one day. So you talk a lot of football together, you talk a lot about life together and you spend all those hours in the office, side-by-side working together. I think it's a neat time.
“Just like any other profession, you gravitate to those who are more like you. He and I have just become really close with all that and he left us and went on to Eastern Illinois. We probably, from a football perspective, probably talked more. When you are working together, you're more talking about what you're doing, you're not scheming. Once he left and became a coordinator at Eastern Illinois, that's when we started bouncing ideas off one another. Then he went to South Alabama and just kept growing. I would say we were close for sure before, but got even closer as time moved on."
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Bringing the energy every day
One of the obvious things you see from Wommack on the Indiana practice fields is that he brings plenty of energy every day. You’d expect that from a 32-year-old.
“Coach K is real energetic, and he’s great about breaking down his philosophy,’’ Indiana senior linebacker Reakwon Jones said. “It’s the same defense, but it’s just coming from a new voice, and playing with a swagger. That's what he wants from us, to play with a swagger. We like that.
“He definitely brings energy every day, in meetings, and on the field. You see him running around a lot and getting juiced up on the field. You see him celebrating with us after a big play, and we love all that. He’s been great.’’
Wommack has loved having his dad around this week. It was Dave's goal to retire at 60 and enjoy life, and he’s been doing that. He’s loved spending time this week with Kane and his wife, Melissa, and his three grandsons, Asher, Tatum and Jones. But getting a football taste has been fun for both of them.
“It’s been nice. He’s just been hanging back, watching and saying a few things, but I know the comments are coming. We have him here to watch us practice, but we had to get him up early. He had an early staff meeting that he wasn't used to being up for this time of year. (Once you are a coach), you don't ever lose it. My dad is the same way. He's 82 and he is always telling me a thing or two that I need to work on.''
In less than two weeks, the games begin and the pressure is on Wommack to deliver. He’s confident, and everyone is confident in him.
That includes Allen, for sure, who’s been thrilled with how everything has gone since Wommack took over.
His dad is confident, too.
And proud.
Like father, like son.
