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Football

Craig Jersild - Defensive Backs

2011-Craig Jersild is entering his second season as a full-time assistant coach at Chadron State, but it’s actually his seventh year at the school.  
He coached the Eagles’ secondary from 1992 to 1995 as a graduate assistant and he was a volunteer assistant coach during the 2007 season.
Jersild, 42, works with the defensive backs and also handles equipment duties.
His coaching resume is impressive. He was an assistant coach at South Dakota Tech in Rapid City for a year, the defensive coordinator at Butler County Community College for two years, the defensive coordinator at Northwest Mississippi College for three years, and then he was at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas for four years, serving as the head coach for three of those seasons.
While he was the head coach at Hutchinson Community College from 2003-06, he tallied a record of 18-22.
Perhaps his biggest achievement came in 1998 when Butler County was the National Junior College champions
Northwest Mississippi had a 33-3 record during Jersild’s tenure, and Hutchinson advanced to the playoffs the first two years he was head coach.
Jersild’s upbeat personality and football knowledge has followed him wherever he’s coached. That was certainly the case last season.
In 2010, the Eagles’ secondary was solid, especially in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. For the year, CSC’s defensive backfield posted the best passing defense in the conference, allowing just 117.3 yards a game. That mark ranked them sixth in the NCAA.
The Eagles also ranked in the top 10 nationally in pass efficiency defense and total defense.
Jersild, better known as ‘Coach Jersey,’ guided both Jed Herblan and Kevin Berg to all-conference honors in 2010.
Berg, who was also the Eagles’ punter, was an American Football Coaches Association All-American.
Jersild was born in Texas, but graduated from Monte Vista High School in Alamo, Calif., where he was an all-conference player.
He was a starting defensive back at Colorado State University, culminating in 1990 when the Rams were 9-4 and played in the Freedom Bowl.
Jersild, who graduated from Colorado State with a degree in social science in 1992, and his wife Sandy have four children, Jessica, Lane, and twins Beau and Drew.