Aaron Bohl carrying on the family name on UW's coaching staff

Dec. 21—LARAMIE — Aaron Bohl didn't grow up wanting to follow in his father's footsteps.

Bohl, the University of Wyoming's linebackers coach for the past four seasons, saw the hardships that came along with coaching college football. His dad, Craig, has been a college coach since 1981, and Aaron wanted to pave his own professional path.

"It's a lot different than people think: I did not grow up wanting to be a coach," Aaron told WyoSports on Thursday. "I just had that little rebellion where I was going to go do something different, and then, as I got into high school and really when I got to college, I realized this is what God designed me for and really what I wanted to do."

Craig spent 10 seasons as UW's head coach before announcing his retirement earlier this month. Defensive coordinator Jay Sawvel was named as Craig's replacement the same day, leaving a coaching vacancy at the helm of the Cowboys' defense.

Two weeks after his promotion, Sawvel named Aaron as UW's newest defensive coordinator. He will assume the post following the team's appearance in the Arizona Bowl on Dec. 30.

"It definitely is a dream come true," Aaron said. "I'm very excited for it, and I'm blessed and thankful for coach Sawvel for the opportunity. I'm thankful for the guys I've worked with and the players for helping us get into this position."

Aaron has coached a first team All-Mountain West linebacker in each of his four seasons in Laramie. He takes over a defense that ranked second in the conference this fall at 22.9 points allowed per game. The Cowboys also were third in the MW in total defense, surrendering just 360.3 yards per contest.

Sawvel broke the news of Aaron's promotion during UW's signing day Zoom conference Wednesday afternoon. While Aaron had already accepted the position, he wasn't expecting his new head coach to announce the news publicly the same day.

"Obviously, coach Sawvel can now say anything when he wants," Aaron said with a laugh. "I wasn't expecting it then. Me and him had a talk, so I knew, but I was actually picking up my daughter from school, and I came back and I had about 15 messages on my phone, so I figured something happened."

Aaron joined UW's staff as a defensive graduate assistant in 2017. He was promoted to linebackers coach two years later, and the Arizona Bowl will cap his seventh season in Laramie.

His dad has been at the helm throughout his entire tenure. Craig spent 21 seasons as a head coach before his retirement, including 11 years at North Dakota State and 10 at UW.

Craig won three Football Championship Subdivision national titles with the Bison and was the MW coach of the year for the Cowboys in 2016.

One of Aaron's biggest supporters since learning of his promotion has been his dad. Craig was a defensive coordinator at Rice (1989-93), Duke (1994) and Nebraska (2000-02) before being hired as NDSU's head coach in 2003.

Craig won two national titles as Nebraska's linebackers coach in 1995 and 1997.

"We had a lot of conversations about it," Aaron said. "He obviously did it a long time at a really high level. He gave me a lot of thought about, No. 1, how to do it with a family, and No. 2, how to go about the game plan and how you go about your personnel and how you go about the relationship aspects.

"He kind of filled me in on the mistakes he made in his past and some things that worked out well. I've also been really blessed to have three really good defensive coordinators that I've worked for (at UW) that are all pretty successful."

Carrying on the Bohl family name in Laramie is an added bonus to Aaron's promotion. The first-time defensive coordinator was relieved to see athletics director Tom Burman promote Sawvel internally to help keep UW's coaching nucleus intact.

"Once my dad told us that he was going to retire, we were hoping for a way to stay (on the staff at UW), because my wife and I really love this town, this community and the guys on this team," Aaron said. "I'm glad it all worked out."

Aaron is looking forward to working with Sawvel as he transitions to head coach. He has all the confidence in the world in Sawvel after seeing what he was able to do as a defensive coordinator over the past three seasons at UW.

"I think he's very well prepared to be a head coach," Aaron Bohl said. "He's been around a lot of really good head coaches in his tenure that have taught him a lot, and I'm excited to learn something new and learn a new way that people do things and seeing the tweaks that he's going to make along with keeping the foundation the same to really propel us to the next level."

The Arizona Bowl will be Craig Bohl's final game as UW's head coach. He goes into the matchup with Toledo at 60-60 overall in his 10 seasons with the Cowboys, and Aaron and the rest of the staff are looking forward to sending him out on a high note in Tucson, Arizona.

"I'm so excited for my dad," Aaron said. "It was fun to be with him for his last year as a coach, and it'll be really fun to coach with him in his last game. You see someone that has put in so much effort and work into what he's built here, and I'm just so proud. I'm excited that he got to go out on his terms. Not a lot of people in this business get to do that.

"I'm really excited for this next challenge, too, on our end, with my new role that I'll be stepping into. Obviously, I'm extremely excited for that. It's something that I've wanted for a while, and I'm excited to have an opportunity to do it. I'm also excited to be here for coach Sawvel's first year and his tenure. He's a guy that I really respect and care about, and I'm excited to see him succeed."

Alex Taylor is the assistant editor for WyoSports and covers University of Wyoming athletics. He can be reached at ataylor@wyosports.net. Follow him on X at @alex_m_taylor22.