Northwestern on Tuesday hired former Mullen and Douglas County high school coach Mick McCall as its offensive coordinator and tabbed former Colorado assistant Mike Hankwitz its defensive coordinator, head coach Pat Fitzgerald said.
McCall arrives in Evanston, Ill., after coaching the offense at Bowling Green in 2007. He led Mullen to a Class 5A state title in 1998 and left after seven seasons to become an assistant at Wyoming. McCall also was a two-time all-RMAC running back at Southern Colorado, where he played from 1975-78.
“Mick’s specialty is coaching quarterbacks, and with him leading our offense, we expect to continue to have one of the nation’s most productive spread attacks,” Fitzgerald said.
Under McCall, Bowling Green last season averaged more than 400 yards per game in a spread offense.
With Hankwitz, Northwestern adds a two-time Colorado assistant. He was defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach with the Buffs and helped lead them to Big 12 North Division titles in 2004-05. He served as interim head coach in the 2005 Champs Sports Bowl against Clemson.
“Mike is one of the most experienced defensive minds in college football,” Fitzgerald said. “He has coached in nearly 450 games while winning over 300 of them — just an outstanding record.”
Hankwitz most recently was the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin.
CC, DU in prime position for No. 1 seeds in NCAAs
College hockey’s Pairwise Rankings (PWR) came out Wednesday, and Colorado College and Denver are in excellent position to get No. 1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament, which culminates April 10-12 with the Frozen Four at the Pepsi Center. The Tigers are No. 1 (tied with Michigan) and the Pioneers are third.
The PWR mirrors how the NCAA selection committee fields its 16-team tournament, and the top four teams get No. 1 seeds at the regionals. This year’s regionals are in Colorado Springs (West), Madison, Wis. (Midwest), Albany, N.Y. (East) and Worcester, Mass. (Northeast).
Rapids acquire defender Burciaga Jr
The Rapids used a second-round pick in the 2009 draft to trade for Kansas City Wizards defender Jose Burciaga Jr., the team said.
– Mike Chambers
