By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations
NATCHITOCHES – As he builds the future of Northwestern State football, head coach Blaine McCorkle reached into his past to fill a couple of holes on his staff.
McCorkle announced Thursday the hiring of assistant coaches Tyson Wachenheim and Brian Brown – both of whom have ties to McCorkle’s stops prior to his arrival in Natchitoches.
“We are very excited to welcome Brian and Tyson to our staff,” McCorkle said. “For the first time, NSU football will have a full allotment of on the field coaches and stand on a more level playing field with the rest of the SLC in this area. This just shows the commitment of President (James T.) Genovese and (Director of Athletics) Kevin Bostian to the growth of our program, and I can’t thank them enough. These are two guys I do have a lot of history with and am very eager to reunite and introduce them to NSU and the Natchitoches community.”
Wachenheim will serve as Northwestern’s special teams coordinator after coaching tight ends at Towson for the past two seasons.
Under Wachenheim, Carter Runyon twice earned All-Coastal Athletic Association and AP All-American honors becoming Towson’s first multi-year All-American since 2018. In two seasons under Wachenheim, Runyon caught 88 passes for 1,051 yards and nine touchdowns.
Wachenheim spent the 2022 season on McCorkle’s staff at Belhaven, coaching tight ends. With Wachenheim on staff, the Blazers produced the No. 4 rushing offense in NCAA Division III and had the No. 9 red zone offense. During his time at Belhaven, Wachenheim also was responsible for running the defensive scout team.
A four-year Christopher Newport University tight end, Wachenheim spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Indiana, working with the Hoosiers’ quarterbacks and wide receivers. His time at Indiana followed a three-season stint at Georgia Tech as a graduate assistant where he worked with all three levels of the Yellow Jackets’ defense.
Wachenheim began his coaching career as the tight ends coach at VMI where he coached first-team All-Southern Conference tight end Ryan Swingle.
A 2015 Christopher Newport graduate in American studies, Wachenheim earned his master’s degree in building construction and facilities management from Georgia Tech in December 2019.
“Our staff is all very excited to have Tyson back with us,” McCorkle said. “We all worked very well together in our time at Belhaven and, in many ways, Tyson will be able to pick up where he left off. Tyson is a great young coach who is detailed, organized and takes a very professional approach to his work. He is very creative and not afraid to present new ideas, and that’s exactly what you need in the kick game. I am also extremely excited to be able to expand our staff to the point that we now can have a full-time special teams coordinator on the staff. J-Will (Justin Williamson) did a tremendous job for us last year, but now to allow him to focus solely on the linebackers and Tyson on the special teams just allows us to be that much more thorough as a staff.”
While Wachenheim coached with McCorkle after McCorkle had coached with Wachenheim’s father, former VMI head coach Scott Wachenheim, Brown is a former player under McCorkle when the current Demon head coach was at Richmond.
Brown spent the past two seasons coaching the secondary at Davidson, helping the Wildcats post a combined 13-9 record.
Under Brown, TJ Magee earned second-team All-Pioneer Football League honors in 2024, leading the conference with 10 pass breakups. Magee also had a 98-yard interception return for a score while finishing third on the team with 45 tackles.
In his first season at Davidson, Brown helped Daniel Carter earn second-team All-PFL honors.
Brown began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Hermitage High School in Richmond, Virginia. At Hermitage, Brown was the team’s passing game coordinator while coaching both wide receivers and safeties.
During his playing career at Richmond, Brown established school career marks in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown receptions. Brown was a two-time All-American and three-time all-conference honoree during his Spider career.
He spent three-plus seasons on the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions practice squads.
A double major in sociology and history, Brown graduated from Richmond in 2017. He was teammates with Williamson, Northwestern’s second-year linebackers coach.
“I am thrilled to have Brian Brown join our staff,” McCorkle said. “He is a guy I have a great history with and a lot of very fond memories of him as a player. In our time at Richmond, Brian established himself as one of the best wide receivers I’ve ever been around at any level. Brian is highly intelligent about his position, will be a great recruiter and will be a role model for our guys both on and off the field. One, because he has achieved everything at this level they desire, but secondly, is a very mature and professional man they should want to emulate.”