Sports

ISU head coach Brock Spack has filled a vacancy on his coaching staff with the hiring of Dru Richardson, who joins the Redbird Football staff as an assistant coach working with the defensive backs. Richardson will work alongside veteran Redbird assistant coach Cody Deti to mentor the ISU defensive backfield.

With games against FBS opponents already scheduled through 2029, Illinois State has added an in-state Big Ten Conference foe to its schedule in 2030 in the form Northwestern, the teams announced on Friday. The game will be played on August 31, 2030, in Evanston at the new Ryan Field which is set to open in 2026.

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) honored nine Illinois State football student-athletes among a record number of members for the 2025 NFF Hampshire Honor Society, which comprises college football players from all divisions of the NCAA, NAIA and sprint football who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college careers.

It was a perfect day for football on Saturday at Hancock Stadium, as the Redbird football team enjoyed one of the nicest days of late and capped off their spring workouts with the annual spring scrimmage in front of Redbird fans, family and alumni.

The action was crisp on Saturday morning, as were the temperatures as the Redbirds worked through an 8-plus play scrimmage in just over an hour at Hancock Stadium.

Illinois State football head coach Brock Spack has built a consistent, winning program in his 16 seasons at ISU and has committed to continuing that success, as Illinois State Director of Athletics Dr. Jeri Beggs has announced a contract extension Thursday that will keep Spack at the helm of the program through the 2027 season.

As rainy weathers quickly approached and later caused delay for the Redbird softball and baseball teams, the ISU football team was able to get its first scrimmage of Spring Camp completed before things got wet at Hancock Stadium on Saturday morning.