North Dakota
Ex-Husky Edge Coach Eric Schmidt Hired as North Dakota Head Coach
As the wins began to pile up for Kalen DeBoer’s University of Washington football team, the then Husky leader was reminded that he might have trouble hanging on to his assistant coaches in the face of all this sudden success.
DeBoer responded that the University of North Dakota surely would take Eric Schmidt from him whenever it could, that his edge-rusher coach someday would return to his alma mater as the head coach.
That was two years ago.
On Wednesday, Schmidt will be introduced in Grand Forks as the 28th head coach of the Fighting Hawks, after serving a one-season stint as San Diego State’s defensive coordinator since DeBoer made his casual observation in 2022.
We got our guy! Excited to welcome Eric Schmidt as the 28th head coach of the North Dakota football program!
RELEASE: https://t.co/0njXgWIb6d#UNDproud | #LGH pic.twitter.com/seAPXr5gyb
— North Dakota Football (@UNDfootball) December 9, 2024
Fast rising through the coaching ranks, Schmidt will receive a hero’s welcome home.
He’s a North Dakota native, born in Mandan in the middle of the state, which is roughly 280 miles from his new place of employment.
Schmidt captained the Fighting Hawks’ 2001 NCAA Division II national championship team, earning All-America honors at linebacker as the most prominent player for a 14-1 team.
That season began with a 17-14 victory over Central Washington in Ellensburg, Washington and concluded with a 17-14 win over Grand Valley State (Michigan) in the title game in Florence, Alabama.
And Schmidt coached six seasons as the North Dakota defensive coordinator (2014-19) for the man he will replace, Bubba Schweigert, taking over a program coming off a 5-7 season.
Schmidt and DeBoer first met as assistant coaches at Southern Illinois, and DeBoer brought Schmidt with him first to Fresno State and then to Washington.
Considered a coach with the ability to motivate and come up with results on the football field, Schmidt had Bralen Trice and Jeremiah Martin become first-team All-Pac-12 picks on his watch, and Zion Tupola-Fetui earn honorable-mention honors.
For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington
North Dakota
North Dakota voters to decide single-subject requirement for future constitutional amendments on June 9
BRECKENRIDGE — Coaches, teammates, friends and family gathered in the south parking lot of Breckenridge High School for another state tournament sendoff.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
This year, it was Troy Berndt taking the ceremonial convertible ride. He is headed to St. Michael-Albertville High School for the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field Meet on June 4-6.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
He will be running in the third heat of the 400-meter prelims, scheduled for 4:52 p.m. June 4. There are seven athletes in each heat, 21 total, and nine will advance to the finals at 6:20 p.m. June 5.
The top two finishers in each heat advance, along with the next three best times. Berndt’s personal best time of 50.67 has him seeded 13th, but the 10th-, 11th- and 12th-seeded runners are less than five hundredths of a second ahead of him. The eighth- and ninth-seeded runners are also close, at 50.33 and 50.39, respectively.
Berndt dropped nearly seven-tenths of a second from his previous personal best at the Section 6A West Subsection Meet on May 21, running 51.35, and shaved another 0.68 seconds off at the Section 6A Championships on May 28 with a time of 50.67. If he keeps lowering his time, he will have a shot at reaching the podium against the best runners in Class A.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
Results and photos will be available online immediately following the race June 4 and in the June 10 print edition of the Wahpeton Daily News.
Corbin Lee is a sports reporter for the Wahpeton Daily News and Richland County News-Monitor. Corbin can be reached by calling (701) 291-3551 or emailing corbin.lee@wahpetondailynews.com.
On this day in 1971, Rugby repeated as North Dakota’s high school sand greens golf champion behind medalist Dwight Stempson’s winning performance.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Rugby Repeats As Sand Greens Golf Champion
RUGBY, N. D. — Rugby repeated as North Dakota high school sand greens golf champion here Wednesday, posting a four-man total of 293 strokes for 18 holes.
Led by medalist Dwight Stempson’s medalist 36-35 — 71, the Panthers were eight strokes ahead of runnerup Stanley, which had a 301. Following were Garrison 311, Beulah 315, Leeds 322, Ashley 323, Bottineau 328, Pembina 329, Tioga 332, Parshall 341 and Hettinger 342.
Stempson and teammate Bruce Carlson each had one-under par 71s, but Carlson was unable to be at the regional and wasn’t qualified for individual honors.
Rounding out the Rugby totals were Delwin Wilson 40-37 — 77 and Dennett Hutchinson 35-39 — 74. Gary Kirchoffner, 41-39 — 80, was Rugby’s fifth entrant with the best four-of-five scores counted.
Runnerup Stanley was led by Steve Springan’s 34-38 — 72 and Joe Springan’s 36-38 — 74. Their two-man total of 146 strokes was good enough for the doubles title. Two strokes back with a 148 was the duo of Stempson and Wilson. Stan Saathoff and Mike Stepina of Garrison each had 76s for a 152 total and the Ashley combo of Steve Maier (76) and Dave Kretschmar (78) was fourth with a 154.
Stempson was the driving contest winner with a distance of 280 yards. Chris Knutson of Garrison headed the pitch and putt competition.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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