HELENA — Following the departure of Carroll College defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Wes Nurse, Fighting Saints head coach Troy Purcell looked to someone on his staff to step up and replace the hole.
Purcell tapped Randy Bandelow to take over the Fighting Saints' defensive coordinator position, after serving as the team's linebackers coach for the last three years and the special teams coordinator for the last two.
It was announced on Tuesday that Nurse will join Eastern Washington's staff as the team's cornerbacks coach.
Welcome to Cheney, @CoachWesNurse! Our cornerback group is in good hands.
📰--> https://t.co/7TVbH8gTMi#GoEags pic.twitter.com/qRLB1c02Pm
— EWU Football (@EWUFootball) April 5, 2022
With Bandelow taking over defensive coordinator duties for the Fighting Saints, Purcell also announced the hiring of Van Cooper to take over coaching defensive backs for Carroll College.
Cooper, a University of Montana football player from 2003-2007, worked as an assistant for the Griz after his time as a football player was up before moving to Arizona to coach at the high school level, before returning to Montana to join Andrew Rolin and the Montana State-Northern Lights staff for the 2021 season as the safeties coach and co-special teams coordinator.
The Fighting Saints open their season at home on August 27th against Montana Western at 1 p.m.
