What you need to know about new Cincinnati Bearcats defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt

Exactly 107 days after coming to Nippert Stadium with Iowa State and holding the Cincinnati Bearcats to 10 points, Tyson Veidt was introduced as UC's new defensive coordinator Monday.

Previously associate head coach/linebackers coach for Matt Campbell in the Big 12, Veidt helped the Cyclones down the Bearcats 30-10 last Oct. 14, holding them to 115 yards rushing and 99 yards passing, both significantly below their season averages of 217 yards on the ground and 209 through the air.

"We struggled to move the football," UC coach Scott Satterfield said. "There's always teams you play that you're going to remember. You look at the body of work that they (Iowa State) have been able to accomplish; it speaks for itself."

Word of Veidt's hiring came out last Tuesday. He's been with Iowa State since 2016 and was a 2017 Football Scoop Linebackers Coach of the Year after the Cyclones went from 3-9 to No. 14 in the country. The following year he was a Broyles Award nominee for the honor bestowed upon the nation's top assistant.

The Cyclones finished 7-6 (6-3 Big 12). Since Veidt has been with Campbell, Iowa State has led the Big 12 in the following categories:

• Scoring defense (23.2)

• Total defense (354.7)

• Opponent yards per play (5.3)

• Opponent rushing (133.4)

• Opponent yards per carry (3.8)

"It's much more difficult nowadays to stop people defensively," Satterfield said. "If we can hang our hat and be a great defense. I would not be mad at that. I feel like we'll be able to score, we'll be able to move the ball, but if we can be known for defense, as they (UC) have in the past, we'd like to get back to that level."

Here are five things to know about UC defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt.

1. Tyson Veidt has 8 years of Big 12 coaching experience

"For them to be able to be maybe the best defense over that span, he's been an integral part of that," Satterfield said.

The coaching courtship involved several 40-plus minute phone calls, which led to Zoom calls, a personal meeting, and Satterfield signing off on Veidt.

"I really have a great relationship with Matt Campbell (Iowa State head coach) having worked with him in 2009 (at Toledo)," Satterfield said. "Talking to other people that worked with Coach (Veidt) I just really felt good about it and comfortable and that this was going to be the best thing for the Bearcats."

2. Veidt is from Ohio

Veidt is from Logan, Ohio, southeast of Columbus near Hocking Hills. He played and was a grad assistant at Muskingum, Indiana and West Virginia. He was head coach at Division III Bluffton from 2008-2013 before joining Campbell at Toledo for two years where they went 19-6 and won two bowl games. Since 2016, he's been in Ames, Iowa, where Campbell heavily recruited Ohio, Veidt can now steer some of those athletes to the Bearcats.

"You're always excited to keep the guys that you think fit your program that are local first," Veidt said. "Absolutely want to do that."

3. Will Tyson Veidt bring the 3-3-5 to the 513?

Iowa State is notorious for the 3-3-5 defense featuring three safeties. Some have called it the "flyover" defense with its purpose being to balance out the run, the pass, and run/pass option games.

"Is that a structure I'm familiar with? It absolutely is," Veidt said. "Do we need to find out what our depth looks like at all the positions, the front, the linebackers and all those things? We do. That would be the most important thing to me rather than say, 'This is exactly what we do on defense' just because that's what I've done the last several years. That would be unfair to the current roster."

Iowa State was a four-man front until 2017. That year the Cyclones went 8-5 knocking off No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 TCU.

4. Tyson Veidt's college football roots began literally on grass

He began at Division III at Muskingum then coached at Saint Vincent (Pennsylvania) before being head coach of the Bluffton Beavers, a job he figured he'd have for 20 years or more.

"I'm a Division III guy, it's what I've been most all of my life," Veidt said. "You're wearing many hats. You're mowing the grass and lighting the field, filling up the water bottles and all of those things. You want to remember where and how you started and hopefully, you carry that into the rest of your career."

Veidt even mentioned overseeding the field at Bluffton, something that won't be necessary on Nippert Stadium's artificial blades.

5. Will Tyson Veidt coach UC's linebackers or delegate the job?

Last season Nate Fuqua coached outside linebackers and Cort Braswell inside linebackers. Veidt's bread and butter has been coaching linebackers.

"Coach (Veidt) has met with our guys and I've met with our staff," Satterfield said. "We'll figure that out in the next few weeks here. We're going to put our guys in the best places to be able to coach to get the most out of our players. We've got a really good staff here. They're eager to work with coach as well. We've got a bunch of unselfish guys."

Spring practice

Strength and conditioning work continues for the Bearcats under Director of Sports Performance Niko Palazeti with spring practice set to begin March 4. The 15 practices culminate with the annual Spring Game on Saturday, April 13.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC Bearcats introduce Tyson Veidt as new defensive coordinator