It was only six years ago that Nate Scheelhaase was carrying the ball as an Illinois player, now he’ll be teaching others to do the same outside of Champaign as the new running backs coach at Iowa State.
“Nate will be a valuable addition to our staff,” Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell said in a statement. “I feel Nate is a rising star in this profession. He is energetic, has a high football I.Q., and will fit in perfectly with our current staff. We can’t wait for Nate to get started here at Iowa State.”
Scheelhaase was a four-year starter at quarterback for the Illini and finished as the program’s all-time leader in total offense. He is familiar with coaching the other position in the backfield however, having served as running backs coach on Bill Cubit’s interim staff in 2015. Lovie Smith retained him after the coaching transition at the school and he’s been working the past two seasons in the off-the-field role of offensive analyst.
It’s a little bit of a state of Illinois swap for Campbell as Scheelhaase replaces Louis Ayeni on ISU’s staff after he left for a spot at his alma mater of Northwestern a few weeks ago. The new Cyclones coach will walk into a good situation in 2018 with junior tailback David Montgomery likely vying for All-Big 12 honors again during the upcoming season.
