'The culture here is fantastic': UW-Oshkosh football coach excited for start of new era
OSHKOSH – A new era of UW-Oshkosh football begins Saturday when the Titans open the season under head coach Peter Jennings.
Jennings, in his first season after taking over for retired Pat Cerroni, will lead the Titans against East Texas Baptist University at 1 p.m. at Titan Stadium.
“I’m really excited about this team,” Jennings said. “I’m really excited about our leadership across the board, upperclassmen all the way down to true freshman, and I cannot wait to see what these guys do when we’re finally ready to unleash them on what’s going to be a really tough schedule. I’m excited to see how they come through because I’ve got a lot of confidence in this group.”
After a 6-3 overall finish last season, including 4-3 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Titans are ranked 19th in the D3football.com preseason poll and are picked to finish fourth in the WIAC behind No. 4 UW-Whitewater, No. 12 UW-La Crosse and No. 18 UW-River Falls.
Offensive coordinator Rich Worsell is in his first season at UW-Oshkosh after serving as the director of football research and analytics the past three seasons, as well as tight ends coach in 2020 and 2021, with the Division I University of Akron Zips.
Defensive coordinator Craig Stenbroten, who returns for his 14th season as a member of the Titans coaching staff, said he’s proud of how the team has gotten through the head coaching transition.
“Just can’t say enough about our players right now. To go through the transitions that we’ve been through over the last couple months, everything from Coach Cerroni retiring to the head coaching search, all these different things have happened and the team really stuck together. They bought into a super solid message in the offseason and that’s really paid dividends here so far in camp,” Stenbroten said.
Jennings said he didn’t need to implement a culture change upon arriving in Oshkosh.
“The beauty of coming to a place like UW-Oshkosh, and taking over for this program, is there is a really strong culture already in place,” Jennings said. “That’s what’s really exciting. It’s a player-led culture. We have great leadership. We had a great offseason even through all the ups and downs of a coaching search. At the end of the day, we’re going to be blue-collar tough. We’re going to outwork opponents. We’re going to be the best practice team in America.
“The culture here is fantastic. When I first got here, I knew there would need to be some growth and trust. I think by taking a step back and doing an overall program evaluation allowed me to gain some trust from the players that I wasn’t just here to go scorched earth on this program, that I knew there was a strong foundation in place and what we’re trying to do is build off that foundation, not tear it down.”
Jennings’ first impression of the team was how much speed is on the roster. Now that he’s had some time with the group, he also pointed out its quick growth and improvement.
“We’re fast. We’re very fast. Our defense flies around, we have some guys on the perimeter that can absolutely roll. Our offensive line plays fast, they’re able to play lateral and get to the second level very quickly. Our defensive line can play multiple positions. We’re very fast," Jennings said.
Having spent the last four seasons as the offensive coordinator with UW-Whitewater, a program that has countless national championships, Jennings said he “100%” believes the program is set up to win a Division III national championship.
MORE: Peter Jennings hired as new head coach of UW-Oshkosh football team to replace Pat Cerroni
“We’ve got unbelievable people in the athletics department and administration,” Jennings said. “The Fox Valley is an easy area to recruit to. This campus is an easy campus to recruit to. We’ve got some great football coaches and a great foundation. We were there in 2016, should have been there in 2017, and if we stay the course – if we work hard and put our nose to the grindstone – we’ll get back there. It’s just a matter of time.”
For the first time in at least a decade, the Titans have elected team captains after the team’s leadership council suggested to Jennings they have players representing the team. Defensive back Kyle Scharenbroch, tight end Jimmy DuVal, running back Peter MacCudden, linebacker Tory Jandrin, quarterback Kobe Berghammer and wide receiver Terrell Carey are the captains.
Jandrin said having a former Warhawk come in and take over the program has been a smooth transition.
“It’s great to have Coach Jennings around. I think everybody loves him,” Jandrin said. “He’s been doing a great job. He won the locker room over very quickly.”
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: UW-Oshkosh football team starts new era with high expectations
