South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers announced Tuesday the addition of Danny Freund to the Jackrabbit football coaching staff as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Freund spent the last dozen years coaching at the University of North Dakota, including serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach since 2018. He helped lead the Fighting Hawks to five Football Championship Subdivision playoff appearances, as well as a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title during the 2020-21 spring season.
Prior to his role as offensive coordinator, Freund had stints coaching UNDs running backs, fullbacks and wide receivers. He also held the title of associate head coach during the 2023 season, when the Fighting Hawks averaged 34.1 points per game en route to a postseason berth.
Freund was a two-year team captain (2007, 2008) as UND made the transition from NCAA Division II, compiling a 16-6 record as the starting quarterback. He set multiple school passing records before embarking on his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2010. Freund returned to Grand Forks and UND in 2011.
Freund joins a Jackrabbit program that has won back-to-back FCS national titles. He will work alongside Ryan Olson, who has been promoted to offensive coordinator after serving the past two seasons as offensive line coach.
Olson joined the SDSU coaching staff in January 2021, filling the role of tight ends coach for two seasons before moving to the role of run game coordinator and offensive line coach in 2022. He oversaw the development of All-America linemen Garret Greenfield and Mason McCormick, as well as mentored 2023 Rimington Award winner Gus Miller.
During his football career, Olson has been a part of five national championship teams – three as a player at Wisconsin-Whitewater (NCAA Division III titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011) and two as a coach at SDSU (FCS titles in 2022 and 2023).
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