By Chris Estrada
The football program has added two Division III coaching veterans and a recent graduate from a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) rival to their staff as the countdown to the 2008 season continues. The additions are Ralph Clark, Luke Ewalt and Michael Lichten.
Clark, formerly of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., is the new inside linebacker coach after two years as defensive coordinator and secondary coach for the Division III Engineers.
With Clark as the mastermind, the team placed second in the Heartland College Athletic Conference in rushing defense in 2006 and 2007. Clark also has previous experience with linebackers, serving as an outside linebacker coach at Georgetown in 2005. He is a graduate of Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania.
Ewalt, a graduate of Jacksonville University in Florida, spent the last three seasons coaching at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. After serving dual roles for the Blue Jays as their running backs and tight end coach, he’ll switch to full-time receiving work at Northeastern.
After losing four games by 10 points or fewer last year, Northeastern hopes that Ewalt’s acumen in the red zone at Hopkins will follow him to Brookline.
Under Ewalt, the Blue Jays boasted the best offense inside the opponents’ 20-yard line last year in the Centennial Conference, also a Division III league.
The Blue Jays scored on 25 of 27 red zone drives (17 touchdowns and eight field goals). In games against conference rivals, they were 22-for-23 (14 TDs, 8 FGs) in red zone situations.
Finally, Lichten will serve as a defensive assistant. He is expected to work primarily with the defensive backs.
A 2008 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Lichten was an intern for the Wildcats last season. He took on a variety of tasks, ranging from creating weekly game plans and scouting reports to breaking down opponents’ offenses.
Head coach Rocky Hager announced the additions to the coaching staff for the 2008 season late last month.
The regular season will begin Thursday, Aug. 28, in Muncie, Ind. against the Mid-American Conference’s Ball State Cardinals.
