One of the more versatile members of the staff, Al Seamonson is in his 10th season at Maryland.
Seamonson coached outside linebackers his first eight seasons, working mostly with the strongside (Sam) backers and the LEOs (linebacker end option), a hybrid of defensive end and outside linebacker.
With the addition of coordinator Don Brown last year, Seamonson responsibilities increased, he handles the whole linebacking corps. He was also the defensive coordinator over the final month of the 2008 season.
Seamonson, who also assists special teams coordinator Charles Bankins, has prepared a number of defensive players for the NFL over the years, including All-Pro Shawne Merriman.
There are curently six former Maryland linebackers on NFL rosters and Seamonson had a hand in grooming most of them.
Former walk-on Moise Fokou was one of the top linebackers in the Atlantic Coast Conference his last two seasons. He tallied five sacks from his Sam linebacker spot in 2008 (the most by a Terp since Merriman's 8.5 in 2004) and went on be selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2009 NFL Draft.
Fokou was among the top defensive rookies in the NFL last year, earning five starts at outside linebacker.
Chase Bullock and Dave Philistin, who each earned spots on NFL camp rosters in the summer of 2009. also spent time under Seamonson's tutelage in their careers.
In 2006, Seamonson was responsible for a unit that was consistently among the defense's best tacklers. Among his pupils, Sam LB David Holloway ended the year third on the team in tackles and moved on to the NFL, where he spent three seasons (2007-09).
In 2005, Seamonson guided Holloway to a productive year (61 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, 3.0 sacks) working to replace one of the defense's top players in Merriman. Merriman was a first team All-ACC pick in 2004 and ended up second in the ACC in sacks and tackles for loss en route to being the 12th overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft by San Diegeo and eventually the league's Defensive Rookie of the Year.
In 2003, Seamonson helped lead a defense that was again one of the top units in the nation in scoring (sixth) and total defense (15th).
Merriman finished the season with the second-most sacks in the ACC. In 2002, Seamonson helped coach a Terp defense that ranked first in the ACC and seventh nationally in scoring, allowing just 16.3 points per game. In addition, the Maryland rushing and passing defense each ranked in the top three in the league while the team was second in the conference in sacks (37) and red-zone defense.
That season, Seamonson's outside linebackers were a source of both steady improvement and big plays while Merriman was named to The Sporting News' ACC All-Rookie team. All of this came on the heels of a team that had the nation's fourth-best turnover margin (+1.45 average) and the ACC's lowest scoring defense (19.1 points per game) in his first season on the job in 2001. Seamonson boasts 27 years of collegiate coaching experience.
Prior to coming to Maryland, he spent the 2000 season at Bowling Green State University -- where he worked under former Terp defensive coordinator Gary Blackney -- as special teams coordinator and linebackers coach. Seamonson helped the Falcons rank fourth in the MAC in rushing defense and total defense.
Seamonson's coaching tenure prior to BGSU was weighted heavily in military settings. From 1987-99, he worked at The Citadel, where he started as a wide receivers coach (1987) before serving the remainder of his tenure (1988-99) as special teams coordinator and linebackers coach.
At The Citadel, Seamonson coached under former Terp offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe and worked alongside current defensive line coach Dave Sollazzo. He helped coach five linebackers to All-Southern Conference honors and one (J.J. Davis) to an appearance in the Senior Bowl. The highlight of his tenure was in 1992 when the Bulldogs led Division I-AA in scoring defense, yielding just 13.0 points per contest en route to a Southern Conference championship while advancing to the I-AA playoffs for the third time in five years.
The Citadel was not Seamonson's first taste of the military life, however, as he was a linebackers coach at the U.S. Military Academy (Army) in West Point, N.Y., for the 1985 and `86 seasons. In his first year at Army, the Cadets were one of the surprise teams in the country as they won the 1985 Peach Bowl, 31-29, over Illinois. It was one of just four times in the Academy's history that it had gone to a bowl game.
A 1982 graduate of Wisconsin and a two-year letterwinner at wide receiver, Seamonson got his start in coaching in Madison. In 1982, he served as a volunteer coach for Wisconsin's wide receivers. The next two years he was a graduate assistant working with the secondary.
A native of Stoughton, Wis., Seamonson was a wide receiver at Stoughton High School and was a captain for the all-state Shrine Team in 1977. He and his wife, Kristi, have three children: Kylen, Kalvin and Karter.
Kylen and Kalvin both attend Maryland. Kalvin is a freshman on the football team.
The Seamonson File
Personal
Date of Birth: September 7, 1959
Hometown: Stoughton, Wis.
Alma Mater: Wisconsin, `82
Coaching Experience
Maryland 2009-pr.: Assistant Coach - Linebackers/Special Teams Assistant
2001-08: Assistant Coach - Outside Linebackers/Special Teams Assistant
Bowling Green 2000: Assistant Coach - Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers
The Citadel 1987-99: Assistant Coach - Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers/Wide Receivers
United States Military Academy (Army)
1985-86: Assistant Coach - Linebackers
Wisconsin 1983-84: Graduate Assistant - Defensive Backs
Wisconsin 1982-83: Part-Time Assistant Coach - Wide Receivers
Playing Experience
Wisconsin 1978-81 Wide Receiver
Recruiting Areas
Northern Virginia, South Carolina and North Florida
