- Mike Ekeler
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Mike Ekeler Sport(s) College football Current position Title Defensive Coordinator
Linebackers CoachTeam Indiana Conference Big Ten Biographical details Born October 4, 1971 Place of birth David City, Nebraska Playing career 1991-1994 Kansas State Position(s) Linebacker Coaching career (HC unless noted) 1999-2001
2002
2003-2004
2005-2006
2007
2008-2010
2011-presentOmaha Skutt HS (AC)
Manhattan (KS) HS (AC)
Oklahoma (GA)
LSU (GA)
LSU (Intern)
Nebraska (LB)
Indiana (DC)Accomplishments and honors Awards George Michael Sports Machine Special Teams Player of the Year (1994) Mike Ekeler (born October 4, 1971) will be a Co-Defensive Coordinator and the Linebackers Coach for the Indiana University Bloomington football team beginning in 2011. He previously served as Linebackers Coach for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team.
Contents
Biography
Early life
Mike Ekeler was born in David City, Nebraska, a small city in east central Nebraska and graduated from Blair High School in Blair, Nebraska in 1990.
Playing career
Ekeler played both sides of the ball at Blair High School, as a wide receiver and linebacker. The Blair High School team won the Class B Nebraska State Championship in 1988, his junior year.
After the conclusion of his high school playing career, Ekeler played for Kansas State as a linebacker under Bill Snyder from 1991 to 1994, lettering in three of his four years there. Ekeler was appointed as a team captain by Snyder in 1994, and was the only player ever appointed captain by Snyder during the coach's entire seventeen-year head coaching career at Kansas State. Coincidentally, during Ekeler's first year playing at Kansas State, future fellow Nebraska Assistant Carl Pelini was early into his coaching career, putting in his third and final year on the Kansas State coaching staff.
Ekeler concluded his time at Kansas State by obtaining his Bachelor's degree in Social sciences in 1995.[1]
Coaching career
High Schools
After seven years in private business for himself, Ekeler returned to the game when he began volunteer coaching for V. J. and Angela Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha, Nebraska from 1999 to 2001, and as an assistant coach at Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kansas in 2002, back in the town where he had played for Kansas State almost a decade before.
Oklahoma
In 2003, Ekeler's first opportunity to rise to the college ranks presented itself when he was invited by Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops to join the staff as a Graduate Assistant, working under Co-Defensive Coordinator Bo Pelini. Oklahoma played for the BCS Championship in both of Ekeler's seasons at Oklahoma, while posting a two-year record of 24-3.
LSU
When Bo Pelini moved to LSU to work under Les Miles beginning in 2005, Ekeler followed and continued working under Pelini as a Graduate Assistant, and success followed. In their first year, LSU finished with national top ten rankings in all defensive categories. In 2006, the LSU squad bested defensive records set in 1976 as LSU led their conference in six defensive categories and ranked nationally in four. 2007 brought even greater success, as Ekeler moved into a position as a coaching intern, and LSU rolled to a 12-2 record and won the BCS Championship, marking the third time in five years that Ekeler had been part of a team playing for the BCS title.
Nebraska
At the conclusion of the 2007 season, Pelini was hired to replace Head Coach Bill Callahan at Nebraska. Many former Nebraska assistants who were let go upon Callahan's hire four years prior were brought back into the program, and being a Nebraska native and also a valued team member at LSU, Pelini brought Ekeler back to his home state of Nebraska, along with a promotion to Linebackers Coach, for the 2008 season. During his three seasons in Lincoln, Nebraska's defensive units consistently ranked in the top ten nationally, and won or shared the Big 12 Conference North Division Title all three years. Nebraska played for the league championship in 2009 and 2010, losing both by a total of only four points, and holding the opponents to a combined 36 points.
Indiana
Following Nebraska's 10-3 regular 2010 season, Ekeler was hired to serve as Linebackers Coach and Co-Defensive Coordinator at Indiana by new Hoosier head football coach Kevin R. Wilson. Ekeler will work alongside former New Mexico Defensive Coordinator Doug Mallory, who will serve as the other Indiana Co-Defensive Coordinator while also coaching the Safeties. Ekeler had previously worked with Wilson at Oklahoma for 2003 and 2004, when Wilson was the Offensive Line Coach for the Sooners.[2][3]
References
- ^ "University of Nebraska Coach Profile: Mike Ekeler". University of Nebraska. http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=2&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=1354991&Q_SEASON=2008. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
- ^ "Ekeler takes Indiana coordinator job". University of Nebraska. http://huskerextra.com/sports/football/article_fadf3a7b-3866-5aaa-901f-cd2e0ecd874a.html. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
- ^ "Report: Doug Mallory, Mike Ekeler to be named IU defensive coordinators". Herald Times Online. http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/?brm=128&p=11813. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
Indiana Hoosiers football Teams 1900 • 1901 • 1902 • 1903 • 1904 • 1905 • 1906 • 1907 • 1908 • 1909 • 1910 • 1911 • 1912 • 1913 • 1914 • 1915 • 1916 • 1917 • 1918 • 1919 • 1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1924 • 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1928 • 1929 • 1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 • 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939 • 1940 • 1941 • 1942 • 1943 • 1944 • 1945 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949 • 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011Rivalries Key Personnel Head Coach: Kevin Wilson • Offensive Coordinator: (vacant) • Co-Defensive Coordinators: Mike Ekeler, Doug MalloryBowl Game Victories Prominent players Zora Clevinger • Vaughn Dunbar • Trent Green • James Hardy • Bill Ingram • Pete Pihos • Antwaan Randle El • Pete Stoyanovich • George Taliaferro • John Tavener • Anthony ThompsonBig Ten Championships 1945 • 1967Award Winners Chuck Bennett: Chicago Tribune Silver Football 1928, Vernon Huffman: Chicago Tribune Silver Football 1936, Corbett Davis: Chicago Tribune Silver Football 1937, John Pont: Paul "Bear" Bryant Award 1967, Bill Mallory: Dave McClain Coach of the Year 1986, Bill Mallory: Dave McClain Coach of the Year 1987, Tim Clifford: Chicago Tribune Silver Football 1979, Anthony Thompson: Big Ten Player of the Year 1988, Anthony Thompson: Chicago Tribune Silver Football 1988, Anthony Thompson: Chicago Tribune Silver Football 1989, Anthony Thompson: Big Ten Player of the Year 1989, Anthony Thompson: Maxwell Award 1989, Anthony Thompson: Walter Camp Award 1989, Antwaan Randle El: Big Ten Freshman of the Year 1998, Antwaan Randle El: Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year 2001, Antwaan Randle El: Chicago Tribune Silver Football 2001Trophy Games Home Fields Categories:- 1971 births
- Living people
- People from David City, Nebraska
- Indiana Hoosiers football coaches
- Nebraska Cornhuskers football coaches
- Oklahoma Sooners football coaches
- LSU Tigers football coaches
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