Arizona adds Bobby Wade, Alonzo Carter, Josh Oglesby, Matt Adkins, Joe Seumalo and others to staff

After the addition of defensive coordinator Duane Akina, Arizona officially added more coaches to Brent Brennan's staff on Wednesday: wide receivers coach and UA great Bobby Wade, running backs coach Alonzo Carter, offensive line coach Josh Oglesby, tight ends coach Matt Adkins, defensive line coach Joe Seumalo and "stars" coach Brett Arce.

Like Brennan, some of them have ties to Arizona coaching legend Dick Tomey. 

Brennan was a graduate assistant under former Arizona head coach Dick Tomey during Wade’s sophomore season at Arizona in 2000. Brennan was also an offensive assistant under Tomey at San Jose State from 2005-09.

In Wade’s four-year career with the Wildcats, the Phoenix native and former Desert Vista High School standout recorded 230 catches for 3,351 yards and 23 touchdowns. Besides Arizona’s record-holder for career receiving yards, Wade also owns the single-season receptions record (93). He’s third in single-season receiving yards (1,389) behind Dennis Northcutt and current Wildcat Tetairoa McMillan (1,402), who passed Wade during Arizona’s win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. McMillan currently has 2,104 receiving yards in two seasons and is on track to break Wade's record. 

After Tomey was fired in 2000, Wade starred at Arizona under head coach John Mackovic, albeit the Wildcats went 9-14 in Wade’s final two seasons. Wade was inducted into the Arizona Stadium Ring of Honor in 2015. 

Wade was drafted in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, where he was primarily used as a punt returner. Wade also held stints with the Titans, Vikings, Chiefs and Redskins. Wade finished his NFL career with 244 receptions for 2,858 yards and nine touchdowns; as a returner, he had 1,854 yards and one touchdown.

After his playing career, Wade entered the coaching realm in Phoenix and coached at Cesar Chavez High School before becoming a senior offensive analyst with the Arizona State Sun Devils from 2021-23.

Carter, a Oakland, California native and longtime coach in the Bay Area native, coached running backs at SJSU since Brennan's first season with the Spartans in 2017. San Jose State senior running back Kairee Robinson finished second in the Mountain West in rushing with 1,194 yards and a conference-best 18 touchdowns this past season. Junior running back Quali Conley, who entered the transfer portal on Monday, finished seventh in the Mountain West with 842 yards and nine touchdowns. In 2019, Carter was the 247Sports.com Mountain West Recruiter of the Year.  

Before San Jose State, Carter was a head coach for 18 years at Berkeley High School and McClymonds High School in the Bay Area and held a 129-69-3 all-time record. Carter was later the head coach at Contra Costa College, a junior college in Northern California. 

When Carter attended Cal State Hayward, he became a backup dancer for MC Hammer and received a multi-platinum record for “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em," which sold over 10 million copies. 

Carter will inherit an inexperienced running backs room at Arizona. The Wildcats' most experienced running back is Rayshon Luke, who has 258 yards and one touchdown in two seasons. Arizona also has redshirt freshman Brandon Johnson and bring in four-star 2024 running back Jordan Washington from Long Beach, California. 

Oglesby, a Milwaukee native, was an All-Big Ten offensive lineman for the Wisconsin Badgers, and then became a graduate assistant at Wisconsin, before taking on quality control positions at Oregon State and UTEP. He also coached tight ends for the San Antonio Commanders of the ceased Alliance of American Football (AAF) and offensive line for the XFL's Seattle Dragons.

Oglesby coached San Jose State's offensive line for four seasons and helped SJSU left tackle Jack Snyder become the first San Jose State offensive lineman to receive All-Mountain West honors in eight years during the 2022 season. 

Adkins coached first-team All-Mountain West tight end Josh Oliver, a third-round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Adkins spent the first two years of his six-year stint at SJSU as a graduate assistant. Projected starter and third-year tight end Keyan Burnett removed his name from the transfer portal on Monday and joined longtime teammates in quarterback Noah Fifita, McMillan and linebacker Jacob Manu in staying at Arizona.

Before coaching, Seumalo was a defensive lineman at Hawaii under Tomey; he played two seasons under the late coaching icon in 1985 and '86, before Tomey left for the UA to replace Larry Smith.

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In 2022, Seumalo coached two Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year winners in three seasons between SJSU defensive ends Viliami Fehoko Jr. and Cade Hall. San Jose State ended the '22 season ranked fifth nationally, averaging 3.27 sacks per game. Seumalo has also held coaching roles at Arizona State, UNLV, Oregon State and Cal Poly; he coached under Tomey for one season at San Jose State in 2005.

Arce spent the last three seasons as a defensive analyst under former head coach Jedd Fisch at Arizona, after having a defensive quality control role at USC the previous three years. Arce was recently elevated to coach Arizona's "stars" and will help coach the Wildcats' safeties, nickel backs and linebackers.

Arizona also announced former Oregon State quarterback Lyle Moevao as an offensive analyst and Ben Thienes as chief of staff. Moevao had a 14-4 record as the starting quarterback for the Beavers and led OSU to back-to-back bowl wins in 2007 and '08.  

Here's a current look at Arizona's staff for 2024: 

Head coach: Brent Brennan

Defensive coordinator: Duane Akina

Running backs: Alonzo Carter

Wide receivers: Bobby Wade

Offensive line: Josh Oglesby

Tight ends: Matt Adkins

Defensive line: Joe Seumalo

Linebackers, special teams: Danny Gonzales

Stars: Brett Arce

Strength and conditioning: Cullen Carroll

Assistant strength and conditioning: James Perez

Offensive analyst: Lyle Moevao

Chief of staff: Ben Thienes