By ISU Sports Information
NORMAL – Illinois State football head coach Brock Spack rounded out his coaching staff Wednesday as he announced the hiring of Brian Hendricks as the team’s new defensive line coach.
Hendricks comes to Illinois State, after serving as an assistant coach at Montana for the past three seasons. There, he worked alongside new ISU defensive coordinator Travis Niekamp, who will now coach the inside linebackers for the Redbirds following Jake Schoonover’s resignation.
“We are excited to add Brian to the staff to work with our defensive linemen,” Spack said. “He and Travis worked together at Montana and Travis was high on adding Brian to the staff. I feel it’s very important for the coordinator to have a say in who he will be working with, so that prior experience with those two should only help aid in the transition. The coaches I have talked to about Brian have raved about him and his work ethic. He’s tough, smart and someone our players will gravitate to because he’s played and coached at a high level.”
The Burlington, Colo., native spent the last two seasons as the Grizzlies’ defensive line coach, after serving as the defensive ends coach in his first season at Montana in 2015. In Hendricks’ first year at UM coaching the defensive ends, he coached the 2015 STATS FCS Defensive Player of the Year Tyrone Holmes to a national-best 18 sacks.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for me to join the coaching staff at Illinois State and coach in the Missouri Valley Football Conference,” Hendricks said. “I played against teams from this league when I was at Wyoming and coached teams when I was at Montana, so I know how tough this league is and I look forward to now coaching in it. I’ve had a chance to meet some of the players and I couldn’t be more excited to work with those men. Spack has established program here at ISU that is tough and plays the game the right way, which is what I try to do as a coach. I look forward to learning as much as I can and helping ISU continue to move forward.”
Before arriving at Montana, Hendricks was an assistant coach for Griz mentor Bob Stitt at the Colorado School of Mines working with the defensive line. In 2014, Mines had an overall record of 10-2 and tied for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title with an 8-1 league mark. The Orediggers participated in the NCAA playoffs, and their 10-2 record was the 13th winning season in 15 years for Coach Stitt, and also added to the program’s record with an eighth consecutive winning season.
Hendricks, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business from Wyoming in 2011, and was married in July 2017 to his wife, Talia.
