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.

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.

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