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Jan. 11—FRISCO, Texas — Zach Lujan, who was South Dakota State’s starting quarterback what feels like five minutes ago (it was actually seven years), is soon going to be officially named the new offensive coordinator at Northwestern. The one in the Big Ten.
(Well, that was the plan prior to the national championship. Maybe it hasn’t been announced yet because other teams have jumped into the fray trying to hire him?)
It’s a major jump for the 28-year-old coach, who spent just two seasons as the Jackrabbits’ primary playcaller and won national championships in both. And it marks the third time since 2019 that the Jacks offensive coordinator has bounced for a promotion. Eric Eidsness left after the 2018 season to take the same role at FBS Northern Illinois, Jason Eck left after the 2021 season to be the head coach at Idaho and now Lujan is making the jump to the FBS level himself.
North Dakota coach Bubba Schweigert has confirmed that Fighting Hawks offensive coordinator Danny Freund is coming to Brookings to replace Lujan, but we don’t know yet who will be calling the plays for the Jacks — Freund, offensive line coach Ryan Olson or some combination of the two. Head coach Jimmy Rogers declined to comment when asked. Stay tuned on that.
For Jacks fans, it’s a bittersweet moment. Lujan has quickly become one of the brightest up-and-coming young coaches in America. He’ll be a head coach one day soon, assuming he wants to. But it feels like he just got here (as a coach, that is) and now a bigger program is already swooping in to steal him before he’s even turned 30, before he’s even fully developed as a coach.
Well, Jacks fans, I hate to tell you this, but get used to it.
The days of having a South Dakota farm boy coach the team until his retirement are over. We’re in a new era now. John Stiegelmeier built an incredible…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/matt-zimmer-zach-lujan-wont-004800322.html
Author : The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
Publish date : 2024-01-12 00:48:00
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