In 2021, Northern Illinois University head football coach Thomas Hammock added another Huskie to his coaching staff when he named former NIU offensive lineman Jason Onyebuagu as the Huskies’ tight ends coach.
This is the second time Hammock was able to draw Onyebuagu to NIU. A four-year letterwinner for the Huskies from 2006-09, Onyebuagu was Hammock’s first signee during his tenure as an assistant coach at NIU. A 10-year collegiate coaching veteran, Onyebuagu brought a wealth of coaching experience and success with him to DeKalb.
In his first season on the staff, Onyebuagu led a diverse group of tight ends that contributed to the team’s rushing and passing attacks. During the summer of 2022, Onyebuagu spent a week with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship program.
Onyebuagu returned to his alma mater after spending the 2020 season at Southeast Missouri State where he served as offensive line coach. Prior to his season at SEMO, Onyebuagu was the offensive line coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2019.
During his longest coaching stint at North Carolina Central, Onyebuagu worked as offensive line coach (2014), running game coordinator (2015-16) and co-offensive coordinator (2017-18) over a five-year period. He helped lead the Eagles to four-straight winning seasons (2014-17) in that stretch.
In 2016, NCCU captured the outright MEAC title, received its first national ranking as a Division I FCS program and earned a trip to the Celebration Bowl. The Eagles also defeated then-No. 9 ranked North Carolina A&T and broke the school’s single-season record for total offense with 4,614.
A native of Indianapolis, Onyebuagu began his collegiate coaching career in 2011 as an offensive graduate assistant at the University of North Carolina. In two seasons working with the Tar Heels’ offensive line, UNC earned a bid to the 2011 Independence Bowl. In 2013, Onyebuagu moved on to Syracuse where he spent the 2013 season as an offensive graduate assistant for the Orange. He was a member of a staff that led the Syracuse to a berth in the 2013 Texas Bowl.
The third NIU graduate on staff, joining Hammock and defensive ends coach Travis Moore, Onyebuagu participated in all 51 games of his Huskie career. A first team All-MAC selection in 2009 and member of former NIU head coach Jerry Kill’s Leadership Council, the Warren Central product helped lead the offensive line of the No. 1 rushing team in the league as the Huskies averaged 195.2 rushing yards per game. Onyebuagu, who also earned third team All-MAC honors in 2008, was a member of three bowl teams during his NIU career.
Onyebuagu, who graduated from NIU in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies, began his coaching career in 2010 as an assistant offensive line coach at his alma mater Warren Central High School.
Onyebuagu and his wife, Brittany, welcomed a son, Jasiir, in 2022.
