Lucas: Letton's passion runs in the family
March 07, 2023 | Football, Mike Lucas
Badgers' tight ends coach has shaped a coaching path of his own
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – The drive between Lexington, Kentucky and the little town of Paris was a good time for player-coach reflection after practice at Lexington Catholic High School. It was just part of the routine for Nate Letton and his dad Bill; the head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
"All three of which I had to deal with him on a daily basis," said Nate, chuckling at the recollection of those 25-mile trips and answering to his father in all facets of his own play. "There were some very loud conversations on the 40-minute drive home (to Paris) or some very quiet rides."
But upon further review, all these years later, he admitted, "That experience I wouldn't have traded for anything. I got to play with my older brother (Will). Dad was the coach. My little brother (Sam) was a water boy. Those were some really, really awesome years for us."
Will Letton went on to play at the University of Kentucky. Bill Letton went on to coach at Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia. Sam Letton went on to play at Troy University. And Nate Letton? A first-team all-state linebacker, he went on to play at Centre College in Danville, Ky.
"I got a degree in biology because I was trying to convince myself I was going to be a doctor and beat my own path," Nate said. "I always had an itch to coach. But I thought I should do my own thing and not follow in the old man's footsteps. I got certified in teaching just in case."
Given his respect for his father, who won the 2007 state title at Lexington Catholic, it was just a matter of time before he would follow his heart. Or as he likes to tell it, "I quickly realized through my major course work that I wasn't nearly talented nor smart enough to be a future physician."
It was during his Centre College playing days that Letton warmed to the idea of coaching.
"Probably heading out of my sophomore year and into my junior year, I sat down with my head coach and I told him I wanted to coach at the college level," Letton said of his conversation with Andy Frye, who's the all-time winningest coach in school history and still on the job today after 24 years.
"He was awesome to me. He made a tremendous number of phone calls to connect me initially. He took me to the (coaches) convention when I was still a player and introduced me to folks. Halfway through college when it started to materialize, I was like, 'Hey, this is what I'm going to do.'"
Little did he know then that he would be doing it someday in the Big Ten at Wisconsin. But after Luke Fickell opened the FBS doors for Letton by hiring him as an offensive line grad assistant at Cincinnati – he coached tight ends last season – there were new, exciting pathways in the profession.
"Coach Fickell gave me an opportunity to come up here (Wisconsin) initially as an analyst and I was going to jump on anything that he gave me the opportunity to do here," he said. "Any opportunity to work with coach Fickell in this kind of environment, I was going to take."
It took a different turn for Letton when Gino Guidugli, who was targeted to coach UW tight ends after spending last season as Cincinnati's offensive coordinator, opted instead to join Marcus Freeman as his quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame.
As a result, Letton has taken over the tight ends for Badger offensive coordinator Phil Longo.
"He has been great to work for so far," the 30-year-old Letton said of Longo, the veteran playcaller. "Our system is a lot of fun. It's new to me, so it has been invigorating to learn from the ground floor and get to install it with the guys (the players). I'm learning it alongside of them.
"Phil is well-established, and his track record speaks for itself."
Breaking down Longo's offense, he said, "There's a lot of freedom from play-to-play. You may call a concept two to three times in a game and it takes on a lot of different forms and shapes.
"And it's because players can be really reactionary to what the defense is doing. That empowers the players to play fast. Obviously, we're playing with some tempo. But we still have a huge commitment to run the football and give the guys the freedom to go out and cut it loose."
There may be the temptation to question how tight ends factor into Longo's Air Raid. And yet, at North Carolina last season, Longo got measurable production out of three tight ends: Bryson Nesbit (35 catches, 507 yards, 4 TDs), Kamari Morales (29, 358, 4) and John Copenhaver (15, 222, 0).
"They played three guys all of which had really different skill sets," Letton said. "With the current guys we have on our roster, and the guys that we're trying to recruit here, you don't have to fit a mold. We can take a lot of different player-types, fit them into the system and they can be successful."
Taking inventory on his UW tight ends, Letton underlined how "they're all very different." The returners with the most experience are Clay Cundiff, who's rehabbing from surgery for a second consecutive off-season; Hayden Rucci, an accomplished blocker; and Jack Eschenbach, a hybrid WR/TE.
"I can't say enough about them," Letton said. "They're a fun group to get to know."
Letton is versed on the fundamentals of more than one position group as an assistant coach. Catching on with Frye's staff at Centre College at the end of his playing career, he coached the wide receivers in 2015 and the tight ends in 2016 before shifting over to the offensive line for three seasons.
"I hope more than anything the guys here understand I'm going to help them in a variety of ways, but particularly in the run game," Letton said. "As you bring guys from the high school level, the majority of elite tight ends have a propensity to want to catch the ball.
"That's what they did in high school. More than likely, they were the best player on the field. Sometimes being in the blocking unit, involved in that element of the game at this level, in this league, is really challenging. It takes a lot of work, a lot of desire to want to do it.
"We're training those guys to do that at a very high level.
"While also in this system, they're going to have a lot of fun catching the football, too."
As a player, Letton's enjoyment came from chasing the ball not catching it. In 2014, he was the second-leading tackler on the Centre College defense and helped spark the Colonels to an undefeated regular season (their first since 1955) and a conference title (Southern Athletic Association).
"Some people might have misconceptions about the talent level," he said. "Obviously, we're not made up anything similarly athletically to what we have here at Wisconsin. But there were some really good players. I wasn't one of them. But we had some really good players on our team.
"What was special for me was the head coach (Frye) I got to play for is a phenomenal person and excellent mentor. He was invested in all the players. All my teammates really loved football and we were all taking on debt to continue to play because we loved it. We had a special group in our class."
Letton has Tight End DNA. It starts with his father, who was a four-year starter at the position for Centre College. Bill Letton set school records for single-game, season and career receptions. All three of his sons played tight end in high school though Nate was better known for playing on defense.
As Cincinnati's tight ends coach last season, Nate Letton had a first-team All-AAC selection in Josh Whyle, a team captain. The 6-7, 257-pound Whyle, who was on Bruce Feldman's 2020 Freaks List, broke the school record for career touchdown catches with 15 (surpassing Brent Celek's mark).
In a Bearcats program that turned out Travis Kelce, the NFL's top tight end, Whyle is among the all-time leaders in TE receptions with 88 for 1,062 yards. Meanwhile, Letton made the most of his promotion to coaching Whyle and the UC position group by parlaying it into a ticket to Wisconsin.
That led to another promotion with Guidugli's departure. Letton owes it all to Fickell.
"What has struck me, what has motivated me to work for him as long as I can remember, he always keeps our players first," Letton said. "Nothing in the landscape of college football will allow him to detract from the experience and the opportunities that he puts our players in."
Like nothing will ever replace those 40-minute post-practice, soul-searching trips back to Paris.
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – The drive between Lexington, Kentucky and the little town of Paris was a good time for player-coach reflection after practice at Lexington Catholic High School. It was just part of the routine for Nate Letton and his dad Bill; the head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
"All three of which I had to deal with him on a daily basis," said Nate, chuckling at the recollection of those 25-mile trips and answering to his father in all facets of his own play. "There were some very loud conversations on the 40-minute drive home (to Paris) or some very quiet rides."
But upon further review, all these years later, he admitted, "That experience I wouldn't have traded for anything. I got to play with my older brother (Will). Dad was the coach. My little brother (Sam) was a water boy. Those were some really, really awesome years for us."
Will Letton went on to play at the University of Kentucky. Bill Letton went on to coach at Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia. Sam Letton went on to play at Troy University. And Nate Letton? A first-team all-state linebacker, he went on to play at Centre College in Danville, Ky.
"I got a degree in biology because I was trying to convince myself I was going to be a doctor and beat my own path," Nate said. "I always had an itch to coach. But I thought I should do my own thing and not follow in the old man's footsteps. I got certified in teaching just in case."
Given his respect for his father, who won the 2007 state title at Lexington Catholic, it was just a matter of time before he would follow his heart. Or as he likes to tell it, "I quickly realized through my major course work that I wasn't nearly talented nor smart enough to be a future physician."
It was during his Centre College playing days that Letton warmed to the idea of coaching.
"Probably heading out of my sophomore year and into my junior year, I sat down with my head coach and I told him I wanted to coach at the college level," Letton said of his conversation with Andy Frye, who's the all-time winningest coach in school history and still on the job today after 24 years.
"He was awesome to me. He made a tremendous number of phone calls to connect me initially. He took me to the (coaches) convention when I was still a player and introduced me to folks. Halfway through college when it started to materialize, I was like, 'Hey, this is what I'm going to do.'"
Little did he know then that he would be doing it someday in the Big Ten at Wisconsin. But after Luke Fickell opened the FBS doors for Letton by hiring him as an offensive line grad assistant at Cincinnati – he coached tight ends last season – there were new, exciting pathways in the profession.
"Coach Fickell gave me an opportunity to come up here (Wisconsin) initially as an analyst and I was going to jump on anything that he gave me the opportunity to do here," he said. "Any opportunity to work with coach Fickell in this kind of environment, I was going to take."
It took a different turn for Letton when Gino Guidugli, who was targeted to coach UW tight ends after spending last season as Cincinnati's offensive coordinator, opted instead to join Marcus Freeman as his quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame.
As a result, Letton has taken over the tight ends for Badger offensive coordinator Phil Longo.
"He has been great to work for so far," the 30-year-old Letton said of Longo, the veteran playcaller. "Our system is a lot of fun. It's new to me, so it has been invigorating to learn from the ground floor and get to install it with the guys (the players). I'm learning it alongside of them.
"Phil is well-established, and his track record speaks for itself."
Breaking down Longo's offense, he said, "There's a lot of freedom from play-to-play. You may call a concept two to three times in a game and it takes on a lot of different forms and shapes.
"And it's because players can be really reactionary to what the defense is doing. That empowers the players to play fast. Obviously, we're playing with some tempo. But we still have a huge commitment to run the football and give the guys the freedom to go out and cut it loose."
There may be the temptation to question how tight ends factor into Longo's Air Raid. And yet, at North Carolina last season, Longo got measurable production out of three tight ends: Bryson Nesbit (35 catches, 507 yards, 4 TDs), Kamari Morales (29, 358, 4) and John Copenhaver (15, 222, 0).
"They played three guys all of which had really different skill sets," Letton said. "With the current guys we have on our roster, and the guys that we're trying to recruit here, you don't have to fit a mold. We can take a lot of different player-types, fit them into the system and they can be successful."
Taking inventory on his UW tight ends, Letton underlined how "they're all very different." The returners with the most experience are Clay Cundiff, who's rehabbing from surgery for a second consecutive off-season; Hayden Rucci, an accomplished blocker; and Jack Eschenbach, a hybrid WR/TE.
"I can't say enough about them," Letton said. "They're a fun group to get to know."
Letton is versed on the fundamentals of more than one position group as an assistant coach. Catching on with Frye's staff at Centre College at the end of his playing career, he coached the wide receivers in 2015 and the tight ends in 2016 before shifting over to the offensive line for three seasons.
"I hope more than anything the guys here understand I'm going to help them in a variety of ways, but particularly in the run game," Letton said. "As you bring guys from the high school level, the majority of elite tight ends have a propensity to want to catch the ball.
"That's what they did in high school. More than likely, they were the best player on the field. Sometimes being in the blocking unit, involved in that element of the game at this level, in this league, is really challenging. It takes a lot of work, a lot of desire to want to do it.
"We're training those guys to do that at a very high level.
"While also in this system, they're going to have a lot of fun catching the football, too."
As a player, Letton's enjoyment came from chasing the ball not catching it. In 2014, he was the second-leading tackler on the Centre College defense and helped spark the Colonels to an undefeated regular season (their first since 1955) and a conference title (Southern Athletic Association).
"Some people might have misconceptions about the talent level," he said. "Obviously, we're not made up anything similarly athletically to what we have here at Wisconsin. But there were some really good players. I wasn't one of them. But we had some really good players on our team.
"What was special for me was the head coach (Frye) I got to play for is a phenomenal person and excellent mentor. He was invested in all the players. All my teammates really loved football and we were all taking on debt to continue to play because we loved it. We had a special group in our class."
Letton has Tight End DNA. It starts with his father, who was a four-year starter at the position for Centre College. Bill Letton set school records for single-game, season and career receptions. All three of his sons played tight end in high school though Nate was better known for playing on defense.
As Cincinnati's tight ends coach last season, Nate Letton had a first-team All-AAC selection in Josh Whyle, a team captain. The 6-7, 257-pound Whyle, who was on Bruce Feldman's 2020 Freaks List, broke the school record for career touchdown catches with 15 (surpassing Brent Celek's mark).
In a Bearcats program that turned out Travis Kelce, the NFL's top tight end, Whyle is among the all-time leaders in TE receptions with 88 for 1,062 yards. Meanwhile, Letton made the most of his promotion to coaching Whyle and the UC position group by parlaying it into a ticket to Wisconsin.
That led to another promotion with Guidugli's departure. Letton owes it all to Fickell.
"What has struck me, what has motivated me to work for him as long as I can remember, he always keeps our players first," Letton said. "Nothing in the landscape of college football will allow him to detract from the experience and the opportunities that he puts our players in."
Like nothing will ever replace those 40-minute post-practice, soul-searching trips back to Paris.
Players Mentioned
Luke Fickell Weekly Media Conference || Wisconsin Football || Nov. 17, 2025
Monday, November 17
Luke Fickell Post-Game Media Conference || Wisconsin Football at Indiana || Nov. 15, 2025
Saturday, November 15
Wisconsin Football: (WI)red with Mason Posa
Wednesday, November 12
Luke Fickell Weekly Media Conference || Wisconsin Football || Nov. 10, 2025
Monday, November 10
