When Kevin Johns, Northwestern’s wide receiver coach, left the school this off-season to take on the same role at Indiana, the Wildcats quickly struck back at their Big Ten foe. They hired Dennis Springer, Hoosier assistant head coach, to fill the void.
Springer, who had been at Indiana for the past three season (two as assistant head coach), was drawn to the job after asking Mick McCall, Northwestern offensive coordinator, about the job opening. The two coached together for four years at Bowling Green from 2003 to 2006. Springer was immediately drawn to Northwestern.
“There’s an attraction to being at a place where excellence is expected and there is a passion for teaching,” he says.
A native of Fort Wayne, Ind., Springer admired Northwestern from afar while coaching against them over the past three seasons. Springer is now in the process of relocating his family from the Bloomington to the Evanston area. Springer’s wife is from the Chicagoland area and his four-year-old daughter, Sophia, has already dubbed herself a Wildcat.
“We’re all in,” he says.
Springer comes to Northwestern in the wake of the firing of his long-time associate, Bill Lynch. Lynch, who had been the head coach at Indiana since 2007, was let go Nov. 28 with one year left in his contract. Springer played for Lynch as a defensive back at Butler from 1988 to 1989 and then coached under him from 1995 to 2002 at Ball State and for the past three seasons at Indiana.
“Obviously, the first reaction is disappointment,” Springer says of Lynch’s firing. “Bill Lynch is one of my mentors in college football and in life. He’s a great person, a lot like Coach Fitz.”
Despite Springer’s great admiration and affection for Lynch, he admitted that Indiana was not as successful on the field as either man had hoped. Lynch’s record was 19-30 in his four years at the helm and the team was 12-24 in Springer’s three years on the staff. Even at a basketball school like Indiana, those numbers were not enough to keep their jobs.
“As a program, we didn’t win enough football games,” he says. “So there are a lot of things we could have done better.”
But Springer refused to call his time in Bloomington a failure, citing the impact he and the coaching staff had on their players. “The thing about it, is we’re in this business to educate,” he says. “We’re in this business to mold and shape the lives of young people. And I think we did that. We did a very good job of that. That’s first and foremost.”
With Springer’s and his mentor’s unceremonious exits from Indiana, some would expect that Springer would have some added motivation when Northwestern heads to Bloomington on Oct. 29, but he denied that to be the case.
“Is that the date?” Springer asks, laughing. “My big thing is that day is definitely not about me. It’s going to be about how well I get my kids to play on that day to help Northwestern win a football game.”
One player who might help Springer win that game is junior wide receiver Jeremy Ebert, who the Big Ten media selected first team all-conference in 2010. The two have communicated multiple times since Springer was hired in January.
“He’s a heck of a football player now,” he says. “And getting to know him over the last couple weeks, he’s got a confidence about him that I think, at that position, you have to have.”
When the Wildcats made the trek to Indiana’s Memorial Stadium in 2010, Ebert torched the Hoosier defense with five catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns en route to a 20-17 Northwestern victory.
“I’m glad I’m coaching him and not playing against him right now,” Springer adds.
In over 15 years as a college football coach, Springer has been in charge of defensive backs, outside linebackers, receivers, running backs and special teams. While he will be taking on a new position in Evanston, he believes that his experience in other facets of the game has improved his overall abilities as a coach.
“I think what it’s allowed me to do is to learn football from a big picture standpoint,” he says. “Having coached on both sides of the ball, you understand defensive philosophy and what defenses are trying to do. And coaching the offensive side of the ball, you know how to attack that defense. I think it’s done nothing but help me grow as a coach and help my knowledge base of the game.”
It should come as a shock to no one that Springer hopes to one day become a head football coach, no matter what the level.
“I love coaching football. I love teaching. I love doing what I’m doing,” he says. “If opportunities come, as they come, we’ll determine what we do with that. But my job now is to help Northwestern win football games and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
For now, Springer says he will focus on having his players perform at the highest level, not only on the football field on Saturdays, but as young men in their daily lives. Though he downplays the match-up with rival Indiana, one thing is for certain: his success will be determined not by wins or losses, but rather his work on and off the field. If victories come with that, the coach swap could be considered successful.