OFFENSIVE COACHING STAFF

Ted Schlafke | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks

Ted Schlafke made the move to Vermillion alongside Coyote head coach Bob Nielson in December of 2015. Schlafke is the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at South Dakota, a position he held for Nielson at Western Illinois from 2013-15.
 
Schlafke was Nielson’s quarterback at Minnesota Duluth during the Bulldogs’ undefeated championship season in 2008, the first national title in program history. Schlafke was a four-time team Most Valuable Player award winner, three-year team captain and led the Bulldogs to a 33-14 record while not missing a start in his four-year career.
 
Schlafke set UMD records for passes attempted (1,692), completion percentage (.624), passing yards (11,587) and touchdowns (106). His 1,055 career completions set an NCAA Division II record. Schlafke passed for 3,018 yards and accounted for 42 touchdowns as a senior when he was a consensus first-team All-American and finished fourth in the voting for Division II Player of the Year.
 
Schlafke graduated from Minnesota Duluth in 2008 with a degree in finance and a minor in psychology. He began his coaching career as an assistant offensive line coach at Southern Illinois in 2009, a year the Salukis finished 11-2 while winning the MVFC title and earning a spot in the FCS playoffs. SIU averaged 219 yards rushing that season, the third-best average in the nation.
 
Former Coyote defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell hired Schlafke to be his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Montana Tech in 2011. In year two under Schlafke and Morrell, the Orediggers improved to 8-3, won a conference championship and secured an NAIA playoff berth.
 
Schlafke joined Western Illinois’ staff when Nielson became head coach there in 2013 and immediately the move paid dividends. The Leathernecks, which ranked last nationally in total offense and next-to-last in scoring in 2012, jumped nearly 30 spots among the national leaders in rushing, passing and total offense in Schlafke’s first season. In year three, Western Illinois returned to the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2010 and advanced to the second round to culminate a seven-win season.

Schlafke's first year in Vermillion was highly successful. The Coyotes averaged 30 points per game, which ranked third in the Valley. In addition, quarterback Chris Streveler was named MVFC Newcomer of the Year and was an all-MVFC honoree. Streveler, the team's leading passer and rusher, accounted for 31 of the team's 41 touchdowns (22 pass, 9 rush).

Schlafke is originally from Stevens Point, Wis., where he was an all-conference football, basketball and baseball player at Stevens Point High School.

Phil Ockinga | Recruiting Coordinator/WRs

Add special teams coordinator to the list of positions Phil Ockinga has excelled at throughout a coaching career that dates back to the early 2000s. Ockinga has been an offensive coordinator, recruiting coordinator and director of player personnel. He has coached nearly every position group including wide receivers with head coach Bob Nielson at Western Illinois and now running backs under Nielson at South Dakota.

Ockinga helped guide one of the top special teams performers in the nation in 2016 in punter/place kicker Miles Bergner, a unanimous All-American, who graduated as the program's all-time leading scorer and top punter. Bergner led the nation in punting with a 47.5-yard average and became the first Valley player to earn first-team honors as both a place kicker and punter in the same season. The Coyotes ranked second nationally in net punting with a 41.3-yard average.
 
Ockinga began his collegiate career as a football player at Wyoming before transferring to Hastings College in Nebraska where he earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education. Ockinga spent two years as a graduate assistant for his alma mater before moving three hours south to Hays, Kan., where he joined the staff at Fort Hays State.
 
Ockinga spent five years at Fort Hays State before taking a job at Florida International. He worked four years there starting as a graduate assistant coach and worked into the role of linebackers coach and director of player personnel.
 
Hutchinson Community College named Ockinga its defensive line coach ahead of the 2013 season and promoted him to offensive coordinator and in charge of running backs and tight ends to set up a magical 2014 campaign. With Ockinga controlling the offense, the Blue Dragons averaged 43 points, finished with an 11-1 record and a final NJCAA national ranking of No. 4 – highest in program history. HCC ranked sixth nationally in total offense (502.2 ypg) and ran for 274 yards per game while winning a conference title.
 
Ockinga joined Nielson in Macomb, Ill., in March of 2015. In one year at Western Illinois, Ockinga helped the Leathernecks reach the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2010. Western Illinois advanced to the second round to culminate a seven-win season. Within his set of wide receivers, Okinga coached two of the top-five receivers in the Missouri Valley including all-MVFC performer Lance Lenoir, who led the conference with 83 catches and had 1,184 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
 
In addition to his bachelor’s degree, Ockinga earned a master’s degree in health and human performance at Fort Hays State. He and his wife, Kelsie, have three children, Miles, Claire and Elle.

Andrew Prevost | Offensive Line

South Dakota tight ends coach Andrew Prevost joined Nielson on the Coyotes’ coaching staff in December of 2015 and has worked with Nielson since 2011.

Prevost began his coaching career in 2010 working as a student assistant coach at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, his alma mater, where he lettered two years on the offensive line for the Blugolds. Prevost graduated with a degree in organizational communication/information systems in 2011.

Prevost continued his career at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2011 and worked there for two years under Nielson as the linebackers coach. While at UMD, Prevost received a master’s degree in education. He helped tutor NSIC North Division All-Conference First Team athletes Rob Huberty and Derrick Zappa in 2011 and did the same for All-NSIC honoree Nate Zuk in 2012.

In 2013, Prevost took the defensive lineman job at Western Illinois. That year the Leathernecks finished seventh in the nation in total defense, 14th in first downs defense and 31st in third down conversion defense.

For 2014, Prevost switched to the offensive side of the ball and was the tight ends coach. In 2015, he helped WIU return to the Division I FCS playoffs where the team went to the second round and finished the season with seven wins.

Prevost is a native of Galesville, Wis., and was a 2005 graduate of Gale-Ettrick-Tremplealeau High School. He and his wife, Cortney, have a son, Brooks.

Tyler Paopao | Tight Ends

Tyler Paopao joined the Coyote staff in February of 2018. He will coach tight ends throughout the upcoming season.

Paopao has served as offensive coordinator at Eastern Oregon University since 2012 and as assistant head coach since 2015. Since arriving in La Grande, Paopao has led the Mountaineers to three winning seasons including eight wins in 2014 and to a national semifinal appearance in 2016 when Eastern Oregon finished 10-3. The Mountaineers’ offense averaged 36.5 points in 2014 and 31.5 in 2016. Twice, the team has averaged better than 210 yards per game on the ground.
 
Prior to Eastern Oregon, Paopao spent five seasons at Southeastern Louisiana University where he produced multiple all-conference performers while working with tight ends, running backs and receivers.
 
Paopao earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Occidental College where he was a two-time all-SCIAC quarterback (2001, 2002) and led the team to a conference title and an 8-1 record in 2001. He was drafted by the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League in 2002. His coaching career began in 2006 for the Lazio Marines in Italy. He earned a master’s degree in kinesiology from Southeastern Louisiana in 2009.

Dante Warren | Offensive GA/RBs