UND football introduces new head coach, Eric Schmidt

GRAND FORKS (KVRR) – The North Dakota Fighting Hawks football program introduced their newest head coach, Eric Schmidt, in Grand Forks on Wednesday. Schmidt is replacing Bubba Schweigert, returning to a school where he won a Division II title in 2001 and coached the Fighting Hawks defense in the second half of the 2010s.

“It’s great to be back home. I’ll say it again, man, it’s great to be back home. Honored, humbled to be the head coach here at the University of North Dakota,” said Coach Schmidt. “I wasn’t going to just be a head coach. I want to be a head coach at North Dakota. I think this is a special place, definitely a place, as you can see around here now, that’s committed to excellence, that’s committed to winning. And just looking forward to get in front of our players and helping them develop and have this be the best experience that they’ve had in their lives.”

Schmidt is coming off a season as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs defense gave up an average of 207.3 yards rushing and 214.1 yards passing a game. Schmidt’s side of the ball had struggles against the rush, but they did have the fourth best passing defense in the conference.

Before that, Schmidt spent time on Kalen DeBoer’s coaching staff as the special teams coordinator for the Washington Huskies in 2022-23. He was also in the role with DeBoer in 2020-21 for the Fresno State Bulldogs. He even had the role in 2012-13 with Southern Illinois.

Schmidt was the defensive coordinator with UND from 2014-2019, going full circle with the program that he once played for. Bringing championship experience with him from that 2001 Division II title.

“It was a huge day in my life. I’ll never forget winning the 2001 national championship,” said Coach Schmidt. “And like I said, you go to work every day, you try to put a little bit more wood on the fire than when you got there. You just want to do a good job. You want to pour into those guys, and then you do a good job. And opportunities throughout your career will come up and just really blessed, honored, fortunate to be able to come back to a place that means a heck of a lot to me. And be able to now pour into our players here.”

Schmidt says he plans to have his coaching staff lined up within December.