 
Rocky Hager Head Coach First Season: 2004 Alma Mater: Minot State '74 Individual statistics |
| Football 2008 •TEAM PAGE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | TEAM STATS |
 Rocky Hager enters his fifth season at the helm of the Northeastern football team, and under his leadership, the Huskies are poised to make a move up in CAA Football, one of the strongest and most competitive conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision. For 2008, Hager once again has scheduled a difficult non-conference schedule with the hopes that his men will be ready to handle the rigors of CAA Football play and compete for the conference championship. Over his first four seasons, Hager has certainly challenged his team by taking on three Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, and this year will be no different as the Huskies will play two FBS teams in September. While the Huskies’ record is 15-29 over those four seasons, 12 of those losses have come by a mere six points or less, proving that Northeastern is on the verge of achieving the competitive success it strives to attain. Last year, Northeastern knocked off two of its CAA Football rivals that were nationally ranked, topping No. 8 New Hampshire, 31-13, and No. 18 Hofstra, 35-31. That gives the Huskies five wins over ranked opponents in the Hager era. Hager has had tremendous success developing his players into stars on the field and in the classroom. In his four seasons at Northeastern, he has placed 24 Huskies on All-Conference teams, including six on the first team, and had two All-Americans. Last season alone, Maurice Murray was selected first-team All-Conference, Brian Mandeville and Kevin Newhall were named second-team All-Conference and Joe Mele earned third-team All-Conference honors. In addition, 23 players have been named to the Academic All-Conference team on Hager’s watch, including three-time Academic All-Conference selection Anthony Orio, who recently graduated from Northeastern summa cum laude. Hager has also developed players, who have gone on to play at the next level. Three former Hager pupils have gone on to sign contracts with NFL teams, including three-time All-Conference selection Ryan Gibbons, who recently signed with the Dallas Cowboys after seeing action with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Hager, who has 29 years of college coaching experience, was introduced as the 10th head football coach in Northeastern history on March 10, 2004. He has enjoyed enormous success throughout his career, having won four national championships while at North Dakota State – two as a head coach, two as an assistant. He is a man who knows what it takes to compete at college football’s highest level, coming to Northeastern from former Big East member Temple. Noted for his toughness and character, Hager is working tirelessly to build the Huskies into a national power. Hager was an assistant at Temple from 1997-2004, working under head coach Ron Dickerson for one year and spending the last six as a member of Bobby Wallace’s staff. He joined the Owls as the quarterbacks coach in 1997, serving in that capacity for one season, during which he developed and taught a pro-style passing game along with implementing the option. He moved over to the defensive side of the ball the next season, mentoring the linebackers in 1998 and ’99. In that role, Hager had a big hand in the development of Lavar Talley, who went on to be named second-team All-Big East in 2000 and finished his career as Temple’s second all-time leading tackler with 348. From 2000-03, Hager was the Owls’ tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, bringing in some of the best recruits in school history. In 2003, Hank Ives of J.C. Grid-Wire, a weekly newsletter that focuses on junior college football, named Temple’s incoming JUCO transfers “the best in the country.” In addition, Hager assumed the role of slot receivers coach in 2003, a year in which Temple set a school record for passing first downs (135) and racked up the second-most passing yards (2,697) in program history. One of his former players, Terrence Stubbs, signed a rookie free-agent contract with the New York Jets in 2004. Before his tenure at Temple, Hager spent 12 seasons (1985-96) at North Dakota State, the first two as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach and the last 10 as head coach. During that time, the Bison were one of the elite programs in the country, capturing four national championships and seven North Central Conference titles. Hager orchestrated the defense of the 1985 and ’86 squads, both of which won national titles. In 1985, NDSU went 8-2-1 in the regular season, but had to go on the road for its first two NCAA playoff games. After dispatching UC Davis and South Dakota in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, NDSU routed North Alabama, 35-7, to win its fifth national championship. The 1986 team, considered one of the most dominant in NCAA history, allowing its opponents less than 300 total yards and an NCAA-best 6.8 points per game, is Hager’s real masterpiece. It marched through the regular season undefeated, winning all but one game by double digits, then demolished its three playoff opponents by a combined score of 112-19 en route to a 13-0 record and another NCAA crown. Hager was promoted to head coach, as well as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach the following year, beginning a 10-year run over which he compiled a sparkling 91-25-1 record (70-18-1 NCC), good for a .782 winning percentage. The 1988 and ’90 Bison outfits duplicated the feat of the ’86 crew, sweeping through the regular season and post-season without a blemish on their records (both went 14-0), and ultimately claiming North Dakota State’s seventh and eighth national championships. Following both of those seasons, Hager was named National Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association. Hager’s 1988 team was an offensive juggernaut, averaging a school-record 39.6 points per game, which tied for the national lead. The 1990 version was not far behind, putting up 38.7 points a contest. The Bison simply overwhelmed opponents in those years, winning by an average of 20 points a game in 1988 and nearly 25 points in 1990. Conference championships followed in 1991, ’92 and ’94, with North Dakota State reaching the NCAA quarterfinals in the latter two seasons. Hager left NDSU as its all-time winningest coach, amassing 30 more victories than the runner-up. All told as a coordinator and head coach, Hager mentored 58 All-Conference selections, seven conference MVPs and 27 All-Americans. He was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000. From 1981-84, Hager coached at Div. II Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. He oversaw the offensive line his first year, then became the defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator his final three years. In addition, five players garnered Academic All-Conference honors under Hager’s watch. Before going to Augustana, Hager spent a year (1980) in Sioux City, Iowa, as the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at NAIA Morningside College. He started his college coaching career in 1979, serving as a graduate wide receivers assistant at North Dakota State. Hager got his start by spending five years in the high school ranks. He began at Sherwood (N.D.) High School in 1974, serving as the school’s head coach until 1976. In 1977, he took a job as an assistant at Dickinson (N.D.) High School, and held that position for two years. A standout player at Harvey (N.D.) High School, Hager graduated from Minot (N.D.) State College in 1974 with a degree in Physical Education. He received his master’s from NDSU in 1986. He and his wife, Peggy, have three children: Joshua (33), Tiffanee (29) and Rebecca (25). Joshua is currently the linebackers coach at Michigan Tech. |
| Rocky Hager Statistics |
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