Northern Illinois University Athletics

Jake Landry, a former player for Head Coach Rod Carey at North Dakota who then spent three years on staff with the Huskies from 2013-15, returned to NIU as an assistant coach in February 2018, and will coach the running backs.

Landry spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as the offensive coordinator at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, where he led the offense to two of the most productive season in program history. With Landry at the helm, the Eagles posted two of the top five yardage totals in school history, while the passing attack led the WIAC both years. He was named the 2017 WIAC Co-Assistant Coach of the Year following the 2017 season when UW-L finished 8-2 to record its most wins since 2006. Following the 2017 season, Landry accepted the job as offensive coordinator at UW-Whitewater before the opportunity at NIU became available.

"We had the opportunity to bring Jake back, which I couldn't be more excited about,” Carey said in announcing Landry’s return. “I coached him at North Dakota, he spent time as a GA [graduate assistant] at Minnesota-Duluth and here. He was successful as the coordinator at La Crosse and had started at Whitewater in that role when the opening came up here. I'm super excited about what he's going to bring to the offense and to the running backs room."

Landry spent three seasons with the Huskies (2013-2015), the final two as a graduate assistant. During that time, he worked with the linebackers (2014) and quarterbacks (2013, 2015), helping NIU reach three bowl games, and average 31.1 points per game in 2015. 

Landry went to NIU after spending two seasons as the wide receivers coach while a graduate assistant at Minnesota-Duluth. During his tenure with Minnesota-Duluth, the Bulldogs won two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North divisional titles and won 21 games. They also averaged a school record 46 points per game in 2012.

A four-year letterwinner at North Dakota from 2007-10, Landry was the team’s starting quarterback and served as team captain his last two seasons. As a junior and senior, he threw 26 total touchdowns and 3,296 yards in 29 games while recording a passing efficiency rating of 186.86.

A native of Grand Forks, N.D., Landry received his bachelor’s degree in communications from North Dakota in 2011 and earned his master’s degree from Minnesota-Duluth in 2015.

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