Upset-Authoring NIU Staff Littered with South Dakota Connections

Northern Illinois authored one of the all-time upsets in College Football this past Saturday, taking down 5th-rated Notre Dame in South Bend.

NIU Head Coach Thomas Hammock has a few local connections, having coached at both Wisconsin and Minnesota as an assistant.

A few of his Assistant Coaches are heavily tied to South Dakota and the tri-state area, including the Offensive Coordinator Eric Eidsness.

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Eidsness served as the Offensive Coordinator at SDSU from 1999-2003 and was back with the Jackrabbits again from 2010 to 2018. Eidsness is a Sioux Falls native that graduated from Sioux Falls Lincoln in 1988.

Here is the full list of South Dakota connections on the staff of NIU football currently:

Eric Eidsness - Assistant Coach/Quarterbacks/Offensive Coordinator

• SDSU (1999-2003, 2010-2018), Southwest Minnesota State HC (2004-2009)

Nick Benedetto - Defensive Coordinator/Safeties

• USD (2010-2011), Grandview (2012), USF (2017-2019)

Wesley Beschorner - Offensive Coordinator/Running backs

• USD (2006-2015)

Adam Breske - Assistant Coach/Linebackers/Special Teams Coordinator

• USD (2007-2015), USF (2017)

Luke Meadows - Assistant Coach/Offensive Line

• Hot Springs SD Native, Wartburg (2001), SDSU (2002-2011)

Did you miss the upset that shook the college football world on Saturday, here's the final sequence from South Bend:

NIU (2-0) now takes a much-deserved week off before taking on Buffalo at home in DeKalb, Illinois on Saturday, September 21st.

Sources: NIU Huskies - Football Staff Directory and NIU Huskies on Twitter