Arguably the best player in school history is on his way back to the Northern Illinois football program. On Wednesday, the school announced the hiring of former quarterback Jordan Lynch. Lynch will serve the program as a running backs coach. Given Lynch’s production running the football during his time with the Huskies, he should be able to offer a few tips and suggestions to Huskies running backs.
Lynch played quarterback for Northern Illinois from 2010 through 2013 and was instrumental in leading the program to a pair of MAC championships (2011 and 2012) and two additional MAC West championships (2010, 1013). Lynch was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2013 and led the Huskies to its first and only BCS bowl berth in the same season, ending with a 31-10 loss to Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
“Obviously, with Jordan, the name speaks for itself,” NIU head coach Rod Carey said in a released statement. “Heisman Trophy finalist, got us to the Orange Bowl, got us to the cusp of a Fiesta Bowl, and set all sorts of records. He’s probably one of the most beloved players that have come through here in recent history. When you are talking about the greats of Huskie Football, our tradition, you can’t do that without saying the name Jordan Lynch.”
Before graduating from the NIU program, Lynch set a handful of new NCAA records; moist rushing yards by a quarterback in a season (1,920 rushing yards in 2013), most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single game (321 yards vs. Western Michigan in 2013), most 100-yard rushing games by a quarterback in a season (12 in 2012) and most rushing yards per game by a quarterback in a season (137.1 ypg in 2013). Lynch was undrafted in 2014 but signed as a free agent by the Chicago Bears as a running back. He was released before the start of the season and was signed by the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL in January 2015. He was on Edmonton’s Grey Cup championship team in 2015 and scored the game-winning touchdown in the CFL’s championship game.
“I always knew when I got done playing football, I wanted to get into coaching,” Lynch said. “I just love being around the players and being back at NIU. When [Coach Carey] started talking to me about the possibility of a position opening up here, I took some time and thought about it. I felt it was a great opportunity for me and I couldn’t pass it up.”