Aaron Pflugrad will be entering his eighth season overall and his fifth overseeing the offense for the Lumberjacks. Pflugrad spent his first three seasons in Flagstaff as the wide receivers coach after a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at Arizona State. Ahead of the 2018 season, he was elevated to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Turning Northern Arizona's offense over to true freshman RJ Martinez, Pflugrad helped the first-year Lumberjack earn Big Sky Freshman of the Year in 2021 after Martinez helped the Lumberjacks beat Arizona for the first time since 1932, as well as retain control of the Grand Canyon Trophy against Southern Utah, and win three road games for the first time since 2014.
Pflugrad has been influential in the development of recent NAU graduates Emmanuel Butler, Elijah Marks and Case Cookus as well as multiple other All-Big Sky honorees.
Cookus finished his career as the program's all-time leader in many passing statistics, including yards (12,802), touchdowns (105), attempts (1,431) and completions (892). Additionally, Cookus' 2019 season landed him second in the voting for the Walter Payton Award as he set single-season records for passing yards (4,114), passing attempts (481) passing completions (290). As an offense, Northern Arizona finished 10th in scoring (37.2 points per game) and 3rd in total offense (484.1 yards) among 124 FCS programs.
Pflugrad aided in the development of Marks' earning All-America status in 2017 and an invite to the Kansas City Chiefs training camp. Butler ended his career as the Lumberjacks' career leader in touchdowns receptions and receiving yards and joined the New Orleans Saints roster for the 2019-20 season.
In 2016, the NAU receivers racked up 3,507 receiving yards at an average of 318.8 per game. Thirty-four touchdown receptions were recorded for the second most in school history. In Pflugrad’s first season with NAU, he coached wide receiver Butler to All-American and All-Big Sky First Team accolades.
Under Pflugrad’s guidance, Butler broke the 16-year old school record in all-time receiving yards in a season with 1,208 and tied the school record for touchdown receptions with 15. Butler became the ninth player in school history to reach the 1,000-yard receiving mark in a season, while finishing Top 10 in the FCS in receiving touchdowns (2nd), receiving yards per game (4th), and receiving yards (6th).
NAU players tallied 3,335 receiving yards in 2015; the most since 2009 for the Lumberjacks. NAU’s 39 touchdown receptions set a new school record, breaking the previous mark of 32 set back in 1999.
Pflugrad arrived at NAU after spending the previous two seasons as a graduate assistant with Arizona State University. While with the Sun Devils, Pflugrad worked with the wide receivers and helped develop Jaelen Strong into a First Team All-America honoree.
Pflugrad began his collegiate playing career at the University of Oregon, where he was a two-year letterman and honorable mention All-Pac-10 Academic Team member. He finished the final two years of his college career at Arizona State where he was a William V. Campbell Trophy semifinalist, two-time All-Pac-12 Academic Team member, Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal of Honor winner, CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District VII honoree, 2011 ASU Male Student-Athlete of the Year, and was named to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List for the top wide receiver in college football.
Out of ASU, Pflugrad signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He went on to play in the United Football League with the Omaha Nighthawks for the 2012 season.
Pflugrad graduated from Arizona State with a degree in business marketing. He also earned a master’s degree in liberal studies with a focus in sports leadership from ASU.
Coaching Accolades
All-Conference Honorees - Emmanuel Butler (2015, 1st; 2016, 2nd; 2018, 2nd), Stacy Chukwumezie (2020, 2nd), Case Cookus (2019, 2nd), Kevin Daniels (2021, 2nd), Hendrix Johnson (2021, HM), Matthew Kempton (2020, 2nd), Joe Logan (2019, 2nd), Elijah Marks (2016, 3rd; 2017, 1st), William Morehand (2016, HM), Coleman Owen (2021, HM), Brandon Porter (2019, 2nd), Dejzon Walker (2015, HM), Keondre Wudtee (2020, HM), Cory Young (2018, HM)
All-American Honorees - Emmanuel Butler (2015), Brandon Porter (2019), Hendrix Johnson (2019), Kevin Daniels (2021), Coleman Owen (2021)
THE AARON PFLUGRAD FILE
College: Arizona State University, 2011
Playing Experience: University of Oregon (2007-09), Arizona State University (2010-11)
COACHING EXPERIENCE
2012-15, Arizona State University, Graduate Assistant
2015-17, Northern Arizona University, Wide Receivers
2018-present, Northern Arizona, Offensive Coordinator
