Illinois State Football Names Nowinski Defensive Line Coach

NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State head football coach Brock Spack continued to solidify his coaching staff Wednesday with the hiring of Spence Nowinski as the Redbird football team's defensive line coach. Nowinski comes to Illinois State following two years as the associate head coach and defensive line coach at NCAA Division II member Emporia State.

Continuing a trend that has been present with every hiring Spack has made thus far at Illinois State, Nowinski has prior experience coaching at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. He has held previous assistant coaching positions at Western Athletic Conference (WAC) member Idaho (2003) and Big Ten Conference school Wisconsin (1999-2002).

"Spence is a guy that can recruit in the state of Wisconsin and coached under (Illinois State defensive coordinator) Coach Elmassian when they both were at Wisconsin the year that the Badgers won the Rose Bowl (2000)," said Spack. "Spence also played for one of the best defensive line coaches in the country at Minnesota State, so he definitely knows what it takes to play the position and the type of student-athletes we are looking for on our defensive line."

Nowinski is appreciative of the opportunity Spack has given him to again coach at the NCAA Division I level.

"I'm overjoyed to be a member of Coach Spack's coaching staff," said Nowinski. "He has put together a tremendously talented coaching staff, and I'm thrilled to be a member of the Illinois State Athletics community. From the time I interviewed here, to now being on campus, I have continually been impressed with the facilities, the coaching staff and the athletics and University administration. It's truly an honor to be coaching at Illinois State."

Prior to coaching at Emporia State, Nowinski spent three seasons at his alma mater, Minnesota State, where he coached the defensive line during the 2004 and 2006 seasons. In 2005, Nowinski coached the Mavericks' offensive line.

Nowinsky spent the 2003 season as a defensive line coach for Idaho. He began his collegiate coaching career as a defensive graduate assistant at Wisconsin from 1999-2002. The Badgers won the 2000 Rose Bowl with a 17-9 victory over Stanford..raisedquote {font-family:arial, helvetica; font-size:14px; font-weight:700;} .raisedquotesig {font-family:arial, helvetica; font-size:12px; font-style: italic;}

Spence is a guy that can recruit in the state of Wisconsin. He knows what it takes to play the defensive line position and the type of student-athletes we are looking for on our defensive line. Illinois State head football coach Brock Spack

Nowinsky was an assistant coach at Wittenberg-Birnamwood (Wis.) High School from 1997-99 and began his coaching career in 1995-97 as an assistant at Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (Minn.) High School.

Nowinsky was a four-year letterwinner for Minnesota State from 1991-94 as a defensive lineman.

NOWINSKI COACHING FILE

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