Northwest Missouri State University head football coach Rich Wright reached into his coaching past to tab Todd Sturdy as the new offensive coordinator for the Bearcats.
Sturdy and Wright worked together on the same coaching staff at St. Ambrose from 2000-2004 before Wright made the move to Northwest. Wright served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at St. Ambrose during Sturdy's head coaching tenure.
Sturdy will serve as the offensive coordinator at Northwest and he brings a wealth of coaching experience with him to Maryville. Sturdy has coached football at the FBS, FCS and NAIA levels for 28 years. He has served as an offensive coordinator in 20 seasons. In 14 seasons as a head coach at the collegiate level, Sturdy has compiled a record of 96-51.
Sturdy served as the head coach at MidAmerica Nazarene in 2018 and 2019. He guided the Pioneers to a 7-4 mark in the Heart of America Conference this past season.
He is a native of Tipton, Iowa, and produced a mark of 85-40 in 12 seasons as a head coach at his alma mater, St. Ambrose in Davenport, Iowa from 1995-2006. Sturdy guided the Fighting Bees to six conference championships and six NAIA playoff appearances. He coached 64 first-team all-conference performers and 28 All-America picks while his players rewrote the offensive school records in virtually every category.
Sturdy gained assistant coaching and coordinator experience at the FBS and FCS levels following his time at St. Ambrose. Sturdy worked at Eastern Washington (OC, 2007, Washington State (OC, 2008-2011, Iowa State (assistant/OC, 2012-2015, Northern Iowa (OC, 2016).
He began his coaching endeavors as a graduate assistant in 1990 at St. Ambrose.
As a student-athlete at St. Ambrose from 1987-1990, Sturdy earned his bachelor's degree in history education. In 1988, he was named the team MVP. In 1989, he served as team captain.
He and his wife, Gina, are the parents of sons Keegan, Carson and a daughter, Kenzington.
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