Scott Allen Wachenheim (born August 13, 1962) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

coach and, most recently, the head coach of the

VMI Keydets football The VMI Keydets football team represents the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. The Keydets compete in the Southern Conference of the NCAA Division I FCS, and are coached by Danny Rocco, named head coach on December 3, 2022. VMI ...

team. A graduate of the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Un ...

, Wachenheim has been an assistant coach at various positions for nine different teams, ranging from the

NCAA Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

and FCS to a brief stint in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). Wachenheim was most recently hired as the head coach of the

VMI Keydets The VMI Keydets are the athletic teams that represent the Virginia Military Institute. All sports participate in the NCAA Division I, and all but three compete in the Southern Conference (the exceptions being men's and women's swimming and diving ...

on December 14, 2014, replacing former bench boss

Sparky Woods Phillip Perry "Sparky" Woods (born December 20, 1953) is an American football coach. He is a senior adviser for football team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Woods served as the head football coach at Appalachian State Univer ...

after seven seasons. Before that, he served as an offensive line coach at

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

under

Mike London Michael Wilson London Sr. (born October 9, 1960) is the current head football coach for the William & Mary Tribe football program at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He is a former defensive back and associate head coac ...

for four seasons.

Playing career

Wachenheim attended the

from 1980 to 1983 where he was a four-year starter on the football team. As an offensive lineman, Wachenheim garnered All- WAC honors in his senior season and was named as an honorable mention to All-America honors. During that season, the

Falcons Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

went 10–2 and were ranked second in the country in rushing offense. Wachenheim would earn a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Civil Engineering from Air Force in 1984, and became the offensive coordinator of the Air Force junior varsity football team as a graduate assistant before completing his obligatory military service.

Coaching career

After serving in the Air Force, Wachenheim returned to coaching, working as an offensive tackles and tight ends coach for the

Utah State Aggies The Utah State Aggies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Utah State University, located in Logan. The school fields 16 sports teams – seven men and nine women – and compete in the Mountain West Conference. Sports spons ...

in 1992. In his second season, Wachenheim was part of the Aggies' 1993

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

championship team that won the second edition of the

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada before moving to ...

with a win over

Ball State Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, industrialists and founders of the Ball Co ...

. The following season, Wachenheim joined

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universit ...

for twelve seasons, serving under head coach

Ken Hatfield Kenneth Wahl Hatfield (born June 6, 1943) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the United States Air Force Academy (1979–1983), the University of Arkansas (1984–1989), Clemson University (1 ...

. He was the

Owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

's offensive line coach for the first seven of those years, and was then promoted to the role of offensive coordinator in 2001. Wachenheim then went on to serve as an offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a Private university, private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer ...

, a former

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non- football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). ...

rival of VMI. Prior to the 2007 season, Wachenheim was upgraded by head coach

Danny Rocco Daniel Christopher Rocco (born July 16, 1960)''1995 University of Texas Football Media Guide'' p. 94 is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach of the VMI Keydets. Rocco has previously been the head coach of the Liberty Flames, ...

to the title of assistant head coach, and the Flames subsequently won two consecutive Big South championships in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, Wachenheim briefly moved up to the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

coaching ranks, serving as the tight ends coach for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

. Though the Redskins went 4–12 that season, Wachenheim did work in the development of tight end Fred Davis, a second-round pick who caught 48 passes for 509 yards and six touchdowns. Wachenheim returned to college ball the following season, working with first-year head coach

and his

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic ...

. Initially, Wachenheim coached tight ends in his first season at Virginia, but was designated to coach the offensive line in 2011, a position he held for four years. Under Wachenheim's guidance, four Cavalier linemen made NFL rosters:

Morgan Moses Morgan Moses (born March 3, 1991) is an American football offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Virginia and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the third round of ...

of the Redskins, Luke Bowanko and Austin Pasztor of the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

, and

Oday Aboushi Oday Aboushi (born June 5, 1991) is a Palestinian-American American football offensive guard who is a free agent. He played college football at Virginia and was selected by the New York Jets in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He has als ...

of the New York Jets. On December 14, 2014, it was announced by VMI athletic director

Dave Diles David L. Diles (October 14, 1931 – December 29, 2009) was an American sports broadcaster and journalist, as well as an author. He was a broadcaster for ABC Sports and hosted the “Prudential College Football Scoreboard Show”. Early life Dav ...

that the school had hired Wachenheim as head football coach. Wachenheim became the Institute's 31st all-time head coach, replacing

, who, in seven seasons, compiled a 17–62 record with the Keydets. Wachenheim led VMI to a 2020 SoCon title (with the season played in the spring of 2021, due to COVID-19) and a first-ever FCS playoff berth. That was followed by a 6-5 season in the fall of 2021. On November 20, 2022, with his three-year contract extension expiring in a month, Wachenheim announced his decision to step down as head coach.

Personal life

Wachenheim was born in

Encino, California Encino ( Spanish for "oak") is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History In 1769, the Spanish Portolá expedition, first Europeans to see inland areas of California, traveled north through Sepulved ...

, and raised in nearby Woodland Hills, a suburb of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. He and his wife, Karla, have two sons, Kyle and Tyson.

Head coaching record

References

External links

VMI profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wachenheim, Scott Living people 1962 births American football offensive linemen Air Force Falcons football coaches Air Force Falcons football players Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches Colorado Buffaloes football players Liberty Flames football coaches Rice Owls football coaches Utah State Aggies football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches VMI Keydets football coaches Washington Redskins coaches People from Encino, Los Angeles People from Woodland Hills, Los Angeles Players of American football from Los Angeles Coaches of American football from California Sports coaches from Los Angeles