https://twitter.com/petethamel/status/16...tfCCEcq1Yw

Nic McKissic-Luke to Minnesota.

In brighter news, I’m told Derrick Jackson is no longer with the program. Not sure if they’ll announce it as a firing or wait until he gets another job to say anything, but he’s gone.

Interesting, wonder if the five or so RB transfers was because they knew the RB coach was leaving.

We absolutely had to make a change at DC position. Three years of terrible defense required it.

Thanks god Derrick Jackson is out, need a fresh defensive mind on campus ASAP.

(01-12-2023 11:22 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Thanks god Derrick Jackson is out, need a fresh defensive mind on campus ASAP.

Reading twitter tea leaves, i think (hope?) they’re looking at South Dakota State’s defensive coordinator who was just the FCS coordinator of the year.

But I have no actual info there

Nick Benedetto is co-DC/cornerbacks with Jackson (Associate Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties). So if Jackson is gone, NIU already has a DC (or 1/2 a DC). More staff shuffling coming? Certainly needs to be done before spring practice. And reportedly more incoming players to be announced Jan, 17 (? ... thought that was the plan).

(01-12-2023 11:44 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  Nick Benedetto is co-DC/cornerbacks with Jackson (Associate Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties). So if Jackson is gone, NIU already has a DC (or 1/2 a DC). More staff shuffling coming?

Let’s hope not. I did not really see much improvement since this move was made.

(01-12-2023 11:44 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  Nick Benedetto is co-DC/cornerbacks with Jackson (Associate Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties). So if Jackson is gone, NIU already has a DC (or 1/2 a DC). More staff shuffling coming? Certainly needs to be done before spring practice. And reportedly more incoming players to be announced Jan, 17 (? ... thought that was the plan).

I think we’ll officially hear about staff changes sometime next week after spring semester starts

(01-12-2023 11:07 AM)7 Wrote:  https://twitter.com/petethamel/status/16...tfCCEcq1Yw

Nic McKissic-Luke to Minnesota.

In brighter news, I’m told Derrick Jackson is no longer with the program. Not sure if they’ll announce it as a firing or wait until he gets another job to say anything, but he’s gone.

Damn that hurts, but the strength in RB coaching is Hammock himself. No doubt he can coach up a coach to coach up the kids.

Crossing my fingers for the outside chance that Jeff Knowles comes home lol.

The problem with losing coach nic is his recruiting ties and connections are gone. (Coach Nic was in a lot of those family visit pictures with the kids from GA)

Kind of makes sense for Brown to stay now - pure speculation, but he didn’t seem to be a huge fan of coach Nic…

As for coach Jackson, he has been pretty awful as a DC. The rumor was he was a great “teacher” as a coach, at least when he was at Purdue and prior, but the Safeties were the most undisciplined and out of position group on the field most of the time. So he wasn’t great at that either. It had to happen.

The South Dakota stuff makes sense - that seems to be the tie that binds most of Hammock’s staff together. But who knows on the DC. Hopefully when it’s announced we can be pleased with it.

You are going to have a staff shuffle…hopefully it is enough to make a change out there.

Would love for TH to reach back out to his Wisconsin connection and see if their RB coach who I believe wasn't retained under Fickell would be interested.

McKissic is a loss for sure, but he seemed to have alot of friction in the running back room ie Ducker, Waylee, and Brown. A change there won’t necessarily be a bad thing. The defense needs a revamp. Our D-line exceeded expectations, but we were weak at Linebacker and the secondary . Excited for this fresh start.

Corner is a position where technique matters a lot. If Benedetto does one or the other I would rather he be D-Coordinator, where he's had success, and bring in a real technician to coach corners.

(01-12-2023 02:51 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  Corner is a position where technique matters a lot. If Benedetto does one or the other I would rather he be D-Coordinator, where he's had success, and bring in a real technician to coach corners.

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Agree

Do NOT want the Wisconsin RB coach, we need a recruiter aa a RB coach that will be here 2,3 years. Get a young guy off a Southern staff who can recruit GA.

I think the winds of change might be blowing this team back to the ol’ “attack” 4-3…

At least that’s a rumor. We shall see…but that rumor + hammock bringing in transfer backers makes a ton of sense to me.

What did SDSU run?