Joe Seumalo - Football Coach - Oregon State University Athletics

Joe Seumalo

Title:
Assistant Coach - Defensive Line

Joe Seumalo (pronounced Say-u-malo) is in his ninth year at Oregon State and is credited with developing some of the school’s best ever linemen. Rivals.com rated Seumalo as one of the top recruiters in the Pac-12 Conference in February of 2013.

Defensive end Scott Crichton turned in his third consecutive stellar season in 2013, earning Pac-12 Second Team honors, was a member of four postseason awards watch lists and Sports Illustrated selected him honorable mention All-American.

The Beavers equaled the biggest turnaround in the nation in 2012 from the previous season and it was in large part to the play of the defensive line. Crichton earned Pac-12 First Team honors and tackle Andrew Seumalo, the son of Joe, landed on the Pac-12’s Honorable Mention team. The Beaver defense held four opponents to under 10 points, the most since the 2000 season, finished second in the league for scoring defense (20.6 points) and nearly set the school record for fewest overall points allowed for a 13-game year.

In 2011, freshmen defensive ends Dylan Wynn and Crichton earned All-America honors. Crichton forced a school record six fumbles while Wynn recovered a school record five fumbles.

Defensive tackle Stephen Paea earned the Morris Trophy in 2010 for the second consecutive year. The award is presented to the Pac-12 Conference’s top defensive lineman as voted on by the league’s offensive linemen. Paea also was a consensus All-America selection and was invited to play in the Senior Bowl. In addition, end Gabe Miller was selected to the Conference’s honorable mention team. Both Paea and Miller were members of the 2011 NFL Draft; Paea in the second round to Chicago and Miller in the fifth round to Kansas City.

Paea burst onto the college football map in 2009 as a junior, earning Pac-10 First Team honors as well as being the recipient of the league’s Morris Trophy. Led by Paea, the Beavers rushing defense ranked among the top 25 in the country. His defensive line helped OSU play in its fourth consecutive bowl game.

In 2008, his Beaver defense was the only unit in the NCAA to hold an opponent (Pittsburgh) scoreless in a bowl game (Sun). The defense ranked second overall in the Pac-10 for fewest yards allowed per contest (312.0) and quarterback sacks (39), and fifth for yards lost (456) via tackles-for-loss. His 2008 team also featured two of the best defensive ends in the history of the program, Victor Butler and Slade Norris. Butler earned the Sun Bowl’s MVP honor after making five tackles-for-loss, including four quarterback sacks. Butler’s 21.5 tackles-for-loss overall in ’08 set a school record and he matched the Beaver mark for sacks (12) and forced fumbles (4) for a season. Three of his defenders earned Pac-10 honors, with Butler (Dallas) and Norris (Oakland) being selected in the fourth round of the NFL Draft.

In 2007, the Beavers led the nation against the run (70.6), were fourth for quarterback sacks (3.4 per game), sixth for tackles-for-loss (8.2 pg) and eighth for total defense overall (306.2 yds p/g). The team accounted for more yards (537) lost via tackles-for-loss than any other team. Of the 13 teams the Beavers faced in 2007, 12 gained under their season average for rushing yards. All four of his starters on the Beaver defensive line earned Pac-10 postseason honors.

Seumalo’s first year with the program was very successful as he was part of a defensive unit that ranked first in the Pac-10 for quarterback sacks and led the nation for tackles-for-loss yardage (528). Linemen Ben Siegert and Jeff Van Orsow both earned Pac-10 postseason recognition after the two made among the biggest plays in OSU history. Siegert blocked a school record two kicks in the win over Oregon, including the Ducks’ game-winning field goal attempt. Van Orsow deflected John-David Booty’s two-point conversion attempt to preserve a 33-31 win over USC, ending the Trojans’ 27-game conference win streak.

Seumalo arrived at Oregon State after one year as the defensive line coach at San Jose State University. Prior to his stint in the Bay Area, he spent four years as the defensive line coach at Cal Poly University in San Luis, Obispo.

At Cal Poly, he was part of a coaching staff that molded one of the top Division I-AA defenses. In 2004, the nationally-ranked Mustangs were third in the country for rushing defense and ninth in scoring defense yielding just 16.6 points per game. One of his linemen, All-American Chris Gocong, led all I-AA players in quarterback sacks with 17.5 and was second in tackles-for-loss at 21.5. Gocong went on to finish second in the 2004 Buck Buchanan Award voting for the top defensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision classification.

The 2003 Cal Poly defense was 24th nationally in rushing defense yielding 121.1 yards per game and was among the best pass rushing teams with 40 quarterback sacks. Overall, the Mustangs averaged 39 sacks a season in his four years.

A defensive lineman at the University of Hawai’i from 1985 through 1988, Seumalo was a Western Athletic Conference Second Team choice in his senior season. Seumalo went on to play in the Canadian Football League for the Calgary Stampeders and Ottawa Roughriders in 1989, the Edmonton Eskimos in 1994 and for the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe in 1995.

The 1995 graduate of Hawai’i began his coaching career in 1994 at Kaiser High School in Honolulu. He also served as a guest coach for the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1996 and the Hawai’i Hammerheads of the Indoor Football League in 1999.

Seumalo moved to the college ranks in 1999 as a graduate assistant at Hawai’i, where he was part of a staff that included current OSU offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh. In his two seasons, he coached the defensive ends and assisted with the special teams.

He and his wife, Karen, have four sons, Andrew, Isaac, Noah and Levi, and one daughter, Jessi. Isaac is a sophomore center on the team and earned Freshman All-America honors in 2012.

SEUMALO PROFILE

Assignment: Defensive Line

Recruiting Area: Western Inland Empire, Utah, America Samoa

Year at OSU: 9th

Age: 45

Hometown: Honolulu, Hawai’I

Education: Bachelor’s in Sociology from the University of Hawai’I (1995), Radford High School (1984)

Wife: Karen

Children: Andrew, Isaac, Noah, Jessi and Levi

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Oregon State, 2006-present (DL); San Jose State, 2005 (DL); Cal Poly-SLO, 2001-04 (DL); Hawai’i, 1999-2000 (DL); Kaiser High School (Honolulu), 1994-98; Hawai’i Hammerheads (Indoor football), 1999

OSU HIGHLIGHTS

2013

Scott Crichton (DE) – Pac-12 Second Team/Honorable Mention All-American

2012

Scott Crichton (DE) – Pac-12 First Team

Andrew Seumalo (DT) – Pac-12 Honorable Mention

Scoring Defense (20.6 pts) – 2^nd in Pac-12/20^th in NCAA

Total Defense (354.0 yds) – 3^rd in Pac-12

Rush Defense (129.5 yds) – 3^rd in Pac-12

2011

Scott Crichton (DE) – Freshman All-America/school record six forced fumbles

Dylan Wynn (DE) – Freshman All-America/school record five fumble recoveries