Photos by Joe Kerlin and Brent Tehven
You have heard from the players about their recruiting experience, now it’s time to talk to the coaches who find these young men and guide them to North Dakota State. Defensive Tackles Coach Nick Goeser and now former Special Teams Coordinator And Wide Receivers Coach Atif Austin give us their insights from what they’ve seen recruiting football players to North Dakota State.
Nick Goeser
Nick Goeser joined the Bison football program in 2010 and eight years later, he has six championship rings to his name. The Scandinavia, Wisconsin, native has recruited his home state for more than 15 years and has been vital to bringing top Wisconsin talent to NDSU. He gives us an idea of what recruiting for the football program is all about.
Coaches Helping Coaches
According to Goeser, the recruiting process begins by gathering a database of names of potential players who can play for the Bison from the state of Wisconsin. He then categorizes them into positions before ranking each player in the position groups. He passes along the top guys in each category to the corresponding NDSU position coaches. He gets a group of defensive linemen from the other coaches in different recruiting areas and he ranks who he believes are the top targets. For example, if the top-ranked defensive tackle is from Florida, Atif Austin knows how hard he will recruit the player. And if one of the top running backs is located in Wisconsin, Goeser will make that recruit one of his priorities while he continues to recruit the state.
Coach Goeser Info
- Defensive Tackles Coach
- Recruiting area: Wisconsin
- Years at NDSU: 9
- Players from Wisconsin: 14
- Incoming players: 3
Coaching Staff Continuity Helps
“For the most part, I know what Coach (Conor) Riley is looking for, I know what Coach (Randy) Hedberg is looking for, I know what (Courtney) Messingham wants. We all have a good understanding. We spend a lot of time in the offseason saying ‘Boy, next year we have to find three offensive tackles.’ Well, now if we’re going through the recruiting process and I’m looking at three guards who are 6-foot kids, that’s probably not what we’re looking for, so we try to narrow it down, and every year it’s going to be different.”
