NAU Football Finalizes Coaching Staff

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Feb. 5, 2019) – Boasting a total of 74 postseason appearances and nearly 200 years of collegiate experience, Northern Arizona University football head coach Chris Ball officially announced his full coaching staff on Tuesday. 
 
"I am excited to get to work with this coaching staff," Ball said.  "The search for this group of professionals was intensive.  I am very pleased with the amount of experience and expertise that these talented coaches bring to NAU Football.  Each member of the staff brings specific skills and knowledge with them that will only elevate the program to new levels.  I strongly feel we have built a tremendous foundation for sustained success."
 
The Lumberjacks' coaching staff features eight new members and three coaches who were previously part of the NAU program.
 
"We anticipated Coach Ball would assemble an outstanding staff to effectively build upon the foundation laid by Jerome Souers as well as all past NAU coaches and players," NAU Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Marlow said.  "He has certainly done so.  I have every confidence this staff will develop a championship mentality, based on character, in our football program.  I also believe they will foster an unmatched work ethic and dedication to the fields of competition, recruiting and well-being for all our football student-athletes in a way that will make every alum and fan proud to call themselves Lumberjacks."

 

Staying on as offensive coordinator is Aaron Pflugrad, who will be entering his fifth season and his second overseeing the offense with 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.  He has been influential in the development of recent NAU standouts Emmanuel Butler, Elijah Marks and Case Cookus.
 
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. 
 
Cookus returns to the 'Jacks more than halfway to the FCS record of 140 career passing touchdowns, currently held by Grambling State's Bruce Eugene (2001-05).  His 74 passing TDs currently rank as the third-highest total in Lumberjack history and are 20 shy of tying the program's all-time leader Jason Murrietta's total of 94 (2003-06).
 
Bringing a wealth of experience to the Lumberjacks is defensive coordinator Jerry Partridge.  Partridge, who spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons as the defensive coordinator at Delta State (Miss.), was the head coach at NCAA Division II Missouri Western State for 20 seasons (1997-2016) and is the winningest coach in program history with 149 career victories.

 

Partridge guided Missouri Western to 11 straight winning seasons, four NCAA Division II playoff berths, two conference titles and six bowl game appearances.  His 2012 team advanced to the NCAA National Quarterfinals after finishing with a 12-2 record and were ranked as high as No. 4 nationally – one of his 12 nationally ranked squads.
 
He was honored as Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Coach of the Year on two occasions (2000, 2012) and has had more than 15 of his players invited to NFL camps.  Partridge was inducted into the Missouri Western Hall of Fame in 2011.
 
Prior to Missouri Western, Partridge spent a season as defensive backs coach at Murray State (1996), where he helped lead the Racers to the Ohio Valley Conference Championship with an 11-2 record.  Murray State advanced to the national quarterfinals of the NCAA I-AA Playoffs and ranked sixth nationally in pass defense and seventh in overall defense.
 
Partridge had a previous stint at Missouri Western (1991-95) as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.  He also spent one year as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Austin Peay (1990) and was a graduate assistant on the Notre Dame squad that captured the 1988 National Championship.  He began his career as a graduate assistant at Missouri in 1986.

 

Returning to the fold for the Lumberjacks is Robin Pflugrad, who has been elevated to assistant head coach and will work primarily with the tight ends.  Pflugrad, joined the NAU staff last season as the wide receivers coach and brought with him over three decades of coaching experience, including many previous seasons within the Big Sky Conference.
 
Before his appointment at NAU, Pflugrad was the head coach at Phoenix College, after being initially hired as the offensive coordinator for the Bears in 2015.  Prior to his time at Phoenix College, Pflugrad served as the offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Weber State in 2013.
 
He was formerly the head coach at the University of Montana during the 2010 and 2011 seasons, where he led the Grizzlies to an 18-7 record over two seasons.  Pflugrad was also recognized as a semifinalist for the Eddie Robinson Award in 2011, which is presented annually to the nation's top FCS Football coach.
 
Pflugrad started his extensive collegiate coaching career at Portland State in 1980 as an assistant and also spent time at Arizona State (wide receivers/recruiting coordinator/1995-00), Washington State (tight ends/assistant head coach/recruiting coordinator/2001-05) and Oregon (wide receivers/2006-08).

 

He also had an earlier stint in Missoula where he was an assistant for the Grizzlies from 1986-94 and worked with the quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.  He was promoted to assistant head coach in 1994.
 
Overseeing the offensive line and coordinating the running game for the Lumberjacks is veteran coach Bob Connelly.  Connelly owns 20 seasons of collegiate experience at nine different NCAA FBS programs including Southern California, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, UTEP, UCLA, Alabama, Washington State, San Jose State and Texas A&M.
 
Connelly most recently coached collegiately at USC where he served as the Trojans' offensive line coach and run game coordinator during the 2015 season, which saw Southern Cal capture the Pac-12 South Championship.  He held the title of offensive line coach at Oklahoma State in 2014 and was the associate head coach/offensive line coach at Arizona State in 2012.
 
Connelly spent four seasons (2008-11) at UTEP as the associate head coach/co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.  During the 2009 season, the Miners ranked 18^th among all FBS programs in total offense and 20^th in passing offense.
 
Overall, Connolly has coached in a total of 10 Bowl Games including the 2003 Rose Bowl and the 1999 Sugar Bowl.

 

Aaron Price, who will take charge of the Lumberjacks' special teams and running backs, boasts over 20 years of collegiate coaching experience at nine different universities.  Price has been part of seven bowl teams as a coach or player, including three at UTEP and four at his alma mater Washington State.
 
Price's most recent stop within the collegiate coaching ranks came as the offensive coordinator at Humboldt State University (Calif.) in 2016.  He directed a prolific Humboldt State offense that saw individual players break the program's single-season passing and career rushing records.
 
Prior to Humboldt State, he spent the previous three seasons as the quarterbacks coach at Tulane (2013-15) after spending nine years at UTEP (2004-12) working with his father, legendary head coach Mike Price.  Price

served his final four seasons as the Miners' offensive coordinator after his initial four as the wide receivers/quarterbacks and kickers coach.
 
Price also spent time on the coaching staffs at Alabama (2003), Washington State (2001-02, 1995-97), Idaho State (1999-01), Missouri Western State (1998) and Cal Poly (1994).
 
Jesse Thompson has been tabbed as the Lumberjacks' defensive backs coach and arrives in Flagstaff after spending the last two seasons on Partridge's staff at Delta State, where he was in charge of the secondary.
 
Thompson's secondary helped Delta State advance to the second round of the 2017 NCAA Division II Playoffs after ranking among the top 20 teams nationally in a number of categories including interceptions (17^th), red zone defense (4^th) and third down defense (19^th).
 
Before heading to Delta State, Thompson spent a season as the defensive coordinator/secondary coach for Virginia Union University (2016).  He began his coaching career as a student assistant at Northeast Mississippi Community College (2007) before being named as the defensive coordinator at Kemper (Miss.) High School in 2008.
 
Thompson earned his first collegiate coaching position at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in 2009 and spent eight seasons with the Aggies in various roles, including defensive coordinator.

 

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Everrette Thompson returns to the 'Jacks as the defensive line coach after serving the 2018 campaign as a graduate assistant on the NAU staff.  Thompson arrived at NAU after three seasons at Phoenix College (2015-17) where he coached the linebackers, defensive line and special teams. 
 
Thompson enjoyed a solid playing career at the University of Washington and competed in a pair of bowl games.  He played for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals from 2012-14 after signing as an undrafted free agent.
 
Manning the outside linebacker corps for NAU is Junior Tanuvasa, who arrives in Flagstaff after a one-year stop at Dixie State, where he supervised the Trailblazers' linebackers. 

Tanuvasa spent nine seasons at San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., also as linebackers coach.  In addition, Tanuvasa served as co-defensive coordinator for four seasons, helping the Mounties to back-to-back junior college national championships and three state titles.
 
Tanuvasa played one season (2003) for the Mounties and earned All-Mission Conference honors.  Tanuvasa also spent time at San Jose State (2004-05) and later played one season (2007) at New

Mexico Highlands.

 

Junior Taylor joins the NAU staff as wide receivers coach after one season in the same role at Wagner College (N.Y.).  Taylor was a standout player during his career at UCLA as he started 35 games and finished his career among the Bruins' all-time leaders in both receptions and yardage.  He competed in a bowl game during every season of his playing career.
 
Jimmy Beal returns for his 10th season at NAU where he will oversee the cornerbacks and handle the football operations duties for the Lumberjacks.  Beal has been a mainstay for the Lumberjacks since arriving in 2010 and has shown his versatility handling a number of different roles with success. 
 
He has coached a number of 1,000-yard rushers for the 'Jacks in his tenure including Zach Bauman, who is the only NAU running back to rush for 1,000 yards each of his four seasons.
 
Rounding out the NAU football staff is Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting Brennan Ball.  Ball arrives at NAU from Memphis where he spent two seasons as the Tigers' defensive quality control/recruiting assistant (2016-17) before becoming the Director of Player Personnel/Pro Liaison in 2018.
 
Prior to Memphis, Ball served as a recruiting assistant at Arizona State (2014-16).

NAU FOOTBALL COACHING STAFF

Title	Name	Experience	Previous NCAA School (Position)
Head Coach	Chris Ball	35 seasons	Memphis (Defensive Coordinator)
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks	Aaron Pflugrad	7 seasons	NAU (Offensive Coordinator)
Defensive Coordinator	Jerry Partridge	33 seasons	Delta State (Defensive Coordinator)
Offensive Line/Run Game Coordinator	Bob Connelly	20 seasons	Southern California (Offensive Line)
Running Backs/ Special Teams	Aaron Price	23 seasons	Humboldt State (Offensive Coordinator)
Assistant Head Coach/Tight Ends	Robin Pflugrad	37 seasons	NAU (Wide Receivers)
Defensive Backs	Jesse Thompson	10 seasons	Delta State (Secondary)
Defensive Line	Everrette Thompson	4 seasons	NAU (Quality Control)
Outside Linebackers	Junior Tanuvasa	10 seasons	Dixie State (Linebackers)
Wide Receivers	Junior Taylor	1 season	Wagner College (Wide Receivers)
Dir. of Football Operations/Cornerbacks	Jimmy Beal	14 seasons	NAU (Running Backs)
Dir. of Player Personnel/Recruiting	Brennan Ball	5 seasons	Memphis (Player Personnel)