BEMIDJI - Only two years removed from his Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference playing days at the University of Mary, Craig Bagnell could easily be mistaken for one of his Bemidji State players.
In all likelihood Bagnell, 25, could come in and take some snaps for the Beaver football team without being behind a step. After all, a few current BSU players that were on the team when Bagnell last suited up for U-Mary against the Beavers in 2013.
“It’s kinda funny, a few of the older guys have joked with me about it this year,” Bagnell said with a smile. “I don’t think any of them sacked me or anything. I think I played pretty well against them.”
Bagnell threw for 311 yards and ran for 41 more in U-Mary’s 26-17 win. It was his senior season of college football.
Now, less than two years after finishing his college football career, Bagnell is already making a name for himself in the college football coaching world. In May, he was named BSU’s offensive coordinator.
BSU head coach Jeff Tesch said Bagnell’s football knowledge is impressive for such a relatively young coach.
“When you just sit down and listen to him talk football, you just go, ‘Wow I can understand why we hired him as a coordinator,’” Tesch said. “Everybody has told me, ‘Wow that’s a sharp football coach.’”
Born to coach
Bagnell has had the coaching bug ever since his first season at U-Mary.
“Ever since, I told my head coach Myron Schultz that I wanted to coach,” Bagnell said. “So he threw every possible thing at me, and whatever else he could get his hands on. I worked with three different coordinators there too. They were all different but they were all awesome. So I just tried to absorb as much as I possibly could.”
By the time he stopped playing in 2013, Bagnell was likely already better-prepared than many graduate assistants.
“When I look at it, I look at this as my seventh year in the NSIC conference,” he said. “So I don’t really consider myself a second-year coach. I’ve had a lot of experience, and I know a lot of coaches in the conference.
“But can’t say I expected (to be offensive coordinator this early in my career). But I’m very happy and excited about the opportunity and I’m grateful for coach Tesch for giving me the chance.”
Tesch said a big reason for hiring Bagnell was to bring some youthful energy to the coaching staff. This will be Tesch’s 20th season as head coach, while associate head coach Rich Jahner is also entering his 20th year.
Defensive coordinator Brent Bolte is entering his 16th season.
“One of the strengths of our staff and our program is the continuity we have with the coaching staff, but I think he brings some fresh new ideas,” Tesch said. “And with his age, he’s able to relate real well to the players. And that said, he has the ability to get good relationships with the players and not cross the line and still be their coach. Some younger guys will be more worried about being their friend than their coach and I think Craig does a great job of that balance.”
Big promotion
Bagnell was BSU’s wide receivers coach last season but was given the promotion this season after former offensive coordinator Eric Medberry stepped down to pursue other opportunities.
The Beavers have struggled some on offense recently, going 3-8 in each of the past two seasons and never really finding any consistency. And ever since star dual-threat quarterback Lance Rongstad graduated in 2012, there hasn’t been much stability under center, either.
Bagnell doesn’t anticipate blowing the entire playbook up and starting from scratch as the Beavers’ coordinator, but thinks there are some tweaks he can make.
“I think we’re going to be able to do a lot more than what we’ve possibly done,” he said. “But really the, schemes aren’t changing, the systems aren’t changing. The biggest thing is making sure the guys understand what their job is.
“Not necessarily saying, you need to do this or that exactly right, or you need to do this differently, it’s all about making sure the guys can execute it.”
And although the Beaver players don’t think what Bagnell is doing is much different than in seasons past, he brings some fresh takes to the team.
“There’s some change to what he’s bringing but I think it’s all good change,” senior offensive line captain Jesse Hein said. “Everybody’s on board with it. We just need to execute and see what happens.”
Quarterback Ryan Shields, who has been working extensively with Bagnell, said he didn’t see a drastic change but likes his coach’s intensity.
“What we’re doing, we’re doing. It’s all stuff we’ve done in the past, just variations,” Shields said. “It’s different a little bit but not a whole lot since he was here last fall as well. But he’s a great coach. He’s high-intensity and really passionate about what he does and that really carries over to the players.”
“He knows our system already and he was here last year as a receivers coach, so it’s always good when you can hire someone in staff already,” BSU wideout Blake Holder agreed.
The Beavers still have some major kinks to work out offensively this season, but the main one is imperative: Deciding on a quarterback. Shields and sophomore transfer Jordan Hein both played and started last season and both struggled somewhat, although both also played well at times.
As a former quarterback who recently played in the league, Bagnell said he’s noticed big improvements from both candidates this season.
“You can tell they’ve got a better understanding of what’s happening,” he said. “They know what’s going on around them. Not only their job, but where their receivers are supposed to be, they know who the O-line is taking, they know their calls.
“They both have more game experience. That’s something you can’t exchange. There’s nothing like the real bullets flying, and they both have that now.”
