By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations
NATCHITOCHES – The 2025 Northwestern State football coaching staff is set.
Second-year head coach Blaine McCorkle announced Wednesday the addition of three new coaches while making adjustments with a pair of returning coaches.
Joining the Demon staff are defensive backs coach Kendrick Van Ackeren, defensive line coach Isaac Bails and running backs coach Tylan Martin.
“I am really excited about these additions to our staff,” McCorkle said. “For the first time in history, NSU will have the full allotment of allowed coaches in FCS football. This was a promise President (James) Genovese made upon his arrival and I can’t thank him, and (Director of Athletics) Kevin Bostian enough for making this happen. You can’t do a job if you don’t have the proper tools, and this certainly helps us in our building project.”
Van Ackeren comes to Northwestern after two seasons at Arkansas Tech where he served as the defensive coordinator while coaching defensive backs and linebackers.
While with the Wonder Boys, Van Ackeren coached six all-conference players in the 2024 season, three times as many all-conference honorees as Arkansas Tech had two years prior. Van Ackeren also oversaw a defense that improved statistically in scoring defense (plus-12), total defense (138 fewer yards), third-down conversion rate (nine percent improvement), fourth-down conversion rate (18 percent improvement) and a seven-sack improvement.
In 2024, Van Ackeren’s defense ranked in the top 42 nationally in pass defense (6th), fourth-down conversion rate (T-19th), pass efficiency defense (26th), touchdowns allowed (T-27th) and total defense (42nd).
Van Ackeren spent the 2022 season as the defensive back coach and co-special teams coordinator at Colorado State Pueblo where he coached Daniel Bone to an All-American selection. In addition to Bone, Van Ackeren coached a pair of first-team All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference selections.
The ThunderWolves led the RMAC in interceptions (19), passing yards per game (202.3) and passing defense efficiency (113.8). CSU Pueblo ranked second in the nation in interceptions and was fourth in yards per completion allowed (9.79).
Van Ackeren’s special teams units led the RMAC in net kickoff average (41.5), kick returns (22.6 yards) and punt returns (15 per return).
Prior to his season at CSU Pueblo, Van Ackeren spent five seasons at Oregon State in a variety of positions, including the interim outside linebackers coach. During the 2021 season, Oregon State finished in the top three in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, yards allowed per game, passing yards allowed per game, rushing yards allowed per game and interceptions.
At Oregon State, Van Ackeren coached Hamilcar Rashed Jr. to an All-American season in 2019 while Omar Speights earned Freshman All-American honors with Van Ackeren on staff that season.
A three-year letterman at Montana who began his career at Hawaii, Van Ackeren began his coaching career at Bellevue High School in Bellevue, Washington. As the team’s defensive coordinator, Van Ackeren built the top scoring defense in the state, allowing 10.5 points per game.
Van Ackeren spent the 2017 season at Montana State as a defensive quality control coach working with the linebackers and defensive line, helping coach Big Sky Freshman of the Year Troy Andersen.
“Coach Van Ackeren comes to us having been a coordinator at his last stop, and that really adds a lot of value to the defensive staff room,” McCorkle said. “He has been a lot of places all over the country and played at a top-tier FCS program himself. He will add some much-needed stability and discipline to the secondary, which is an area where we absolutely must improve.”
Joining Van Ackeren on the defensive coaching staff is Bails, who will tutor the Demons’ defensive linemen.
Bails comes to Northwestern after spending the past two seasons as an assistant defensive line coach at North Texas.
Ahead of his time at North Texas, Bails spent one season at Birmingham Southern where his defensive line accounted for 19 sacks to help the Cougars go 7-3 and finish as the conference runner-up. Under Bails’ tutelage, Garrett Smith earned second-team all-conference honors after recording 38 tackles (8.5 for loss) and six sacks.
Bails began his coaching career at Catholic-Baton Rouge High School, spending two seasons with the Bears, including the 2020 season when Catholic won the state championship at Turpin Stadium.
Bails coached the defensive line at West Feliciana High School in 2021.
A 2017 Delta State graduate in health, physical education and recreation, Bails played two seasons for the Statesmen after a two-season career at Itawamba and Northeast Mississippi community colleges.
“Coach Bails was one of a handful of candidates we reached out to about this job,” McCorkle said. “He came in and did an excellent job in his interview and really stood out. He brings with him a solid resume at many levels as well as having been a high school coach in the state of Louisiana, which is a tremendous asset in recruiting as well.”
Martin rounds out the coaching additions, coming to Northwestern from Southland Conference rival Nicholls.
Martin spent the past four seasons at Nicholls as the Colonels’ running backs coach and special teams co-coordinator, helping the Colonels win the 2023 Southland Conference championship.
Martin coached four first-team All-Southland Conference selections, the 2023 Southland Conference Player of the Year (Collin Guggenheim) and the 2024 Southland Freshman of the Year (Miquele Brock).
Before jumping into the Southland, Martin spent three seasons coaching wide receivers and running backs at West Georgia where he tutored a pair of All-Gulf South selections.
Martin had a two-year stint at Millsaps where he coached a pair of all-conference honorable mention honorees. Martin began his coaching career as the wide receivers coach at East Central Community College where he helped the Warriors reach a pair of playoffs and win the 2015 C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl.
While at East Central, Martin helped Kabion Ento earn first-team all-state and first-team All-Region 23 honors.
“Coach Martin comes to us from an in state SLC rival, and I think that will be tremendous to our staff as we are all still very new to this league,” McCorkle said. “He has won a SLC title and coached some premier backs in our league. Several guys on our staff have known coach Martin for a bit, and I had met him several times and was always very impressed by how he carries himself. No doubt, he will be a great coach on the field and mentor off for our running backs”.
In addition to the three newcomers, McCorkle announced the move of Carson Stewart to offensive coordinator while Norman Joseph adds the assistant head coach title to his quarterbacks coach position.
Justin Williamson, Northwestern’s linebackers coach, will slide into the role of recruiting coordinator.
“Coach Joseph did a tremendous job in year one helping us get started offensively, “McCorkle said. “He has a wealth of experience that is invaluable to our program and me as a head coach. The promotion to assistant head coach will allow him to put those experiences to use as we continue to build our program.
“Coach Stewart has been steeped in our offensive system for years. Has held the coordinator title in the past and been wildly successful so this will be a seamless transition for him. With that, we will make Justin Williamson our recruiting coordinator moving forward to free Carson up. All of these moves again are allowed to happen due to the incredible commitment by our administration to bring this once-proud program back to where it belongs and they fully understand the incredible task we all have ahead of us”
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