Horan Announces Coaching Hires And Positional Change

MOORHEAD, Minn. (7/29/22)---Head Coach Terry Horan announced the addition of new coaches to the Cobber football staff, as well as a positional change.

Derek Bakken has been hired as the new full-time assistant coach. He replaces Luke Peterson who resigned in the spring. Bakken had been on the staff as a part-time coach since the spring. Horan also announced that longtime USFL, NFL and NCAA Division I coach Rick Courtright has been added as a part-time assistant. Finally, current assistant Darrell Olson has been named as the Assistant to the Head Coach.

Bakken has had a successful career as a college and high school coach. Before coming to Concordia, he was the defensive line coach at Division II Minn.-Crookston. Prior to his stint at Minn.-Crookston, Bakken was on the football staff at Mayville State University for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He started as the defensive line coach in 2017, and was named the Assistant Head Coach for the 2018 season.     

Bakken started his coaching career in 1997 at Oak Grove Lutheran High School in Fargo. He became the head coach at Oak Grove in 2011 and continued in that role through the 2015 season.    

Courtright will be in charge of the defensive backs for the Cobbers as well as help with special teams. He brings a storied resume to the position that includes stops in the NFL, NCAA Division I as well as his current position as Defensive Line Coach with the Pittsburgh Maulers in the USFL.

Courtright has had coaching positions at the University of Southern California where he was the Senior Analyst from 2016-18. His time in the NFL included stops with the Arizona Cardinals where he was an assistant defensive backs coach as well as an assistant special teams coach. He also worked as a scout for the St. Louis Rams and New York Jets.   

Olson has been an assistant coach with the Cobbers since the spring of 2018. Olson, who played for Concordia during his college days, has been the wide receivers coach for the past four seasons. In his new role as Assistant to the Head Coach, Olson will be in charge of our character development as well as overseeing student-athlete academic enhancement and mental health wellness.

The Cobbers are scheduled to open preseason camp on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Concordia will begin the 2022 season with a pair of non-conference road games. They will play at Valley City State on Thursday, Sept. 1 and then head to South Dakota to take on Presentation on Saturday, Sept. 10. The Cobbers' first MIAC contest will be on Saturday, Sept. 24 when they host Gustavus at 1 p.m.