Carpenter Hired As Redbird Football Running Backs Coach

NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State head coach Brock Spack has completed his coaching staff for the upcoming 2026 season, as he has announced the hiring of KeyShawn Carpenter as the team's new running backs coach. He replaces Mike Grant, who left for a position on the coaching staff at Iowa.

"KeyShawn was highly recommended to us during our search and brings a strong recruiting knowledge with him as a Chicago native," Spack stated. "Bob (Dunn) coached against him at Duluth and was always impressed with him and the way he coached. Having spent last year at NDSU, he knows our league well and what it takes to build a competitive team. Our running game is a vital component of our offensive attack, so having an energetic and knowledgeable coach to lead that experienced group will be very important to our success moving forward and we believe we have that in KeyShawn."

Carpenter joins the Redbird staff after spending the 2025 season as an offensive quality control assistant at North Dakota State.

"I am extremely excited to be joining a program with such prestige as Illinois State," Carpenter said. "I have been fortunate in my career to learn from great coaches and even better people. My family and I are beyond grateful to Coach Spack and the offensive staff for the opportunity to be a part of the Redbird family."

Prior to working with the Bison, Carpenter spent five seasons at Wisconsin-Stout, working with the team's wide receivers and running backs. In 2023, the Stout offense averaged 430.8 yards per game and 293.9 per game passing (third in the WIAC) and had three receivers in the top-10 of the WIAC in yards per game. During the 2022 campaign, the Blue Devils offensive averaged 424.9 yards of offense (second in the WIAC) and scored 32.2 points a game (fourth in the WIAC). 

During the 2021 season, Carpenter was a member of the Minnesota-Duluth staff that led the Bulldogs to the NSIC conference title and to the NCAA DII Playoffs. Prior to that, he began his coaching career with UW-Stout during the 2019 season and worked there through 2020, working with the Blue Devil running backs.
 
Carpenter was team captain and a first-team All-WIAC running back during his playing career at UW-Stout (2014-18). He finished his career with 1,044 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns and had a career-high 182-yard, three touchdown game against UW-Stevens Point his senior year. During his high school prep career at Evergreen Park High School, Carpenter earned all-conference, all-area and all-state honors and his teams were conference champions (2013) and state semifinalists (2012).

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