Todd Auer
(Photo by Alex Helmbrecht)
CHADRON – A week after being introduced as the defensive coordinator at Colorado Mesa University under new head coach Russ Martin, Todd Auer's resignation as a coach and administrative assistant at Chadron State has officially been announced.
Auer was with the
Eagles for 22 years. Athletic director and former head coach Brad Smith
says he appreciates everything Auer has done for the CSC football
program and wishes
him the best of luck in his new endeavor.
Auer says it was
tough to leave after so long because the best thing about Chadron State
and the community was the people, but that "things change and things
happen for a reason."
He says he's had fun and leaves with great memories of football, family, and friends...adding that he's going to miss all of them and all the players but is looking forward to working for Martin, himself a Chadron State graduate
A first-team All-American defensive end at Western Illinois, where Smith was one of his coaches, Auer joined Smith's staff at CSC in 1990 as offensive offensive line and strength and conditioning coach.
He replaced fellow Western Illinois grad Bill O'Boyle, who came to Chadron with Smith in 1987 but returned to his alma mater after 3 seasons.
Auer became defensive coordinator in 1994 when Scott Noble, his college roommate, left CSC to take the same position with Fort Hays State...a move that led O'Boyle come back to take his old spot.
The result was the most successful era of CSC football: 142 victories with Auer as defensive coordinator under first Smith and then O'Boyle.
The Eagles won 5 Rocky
Mountain Athletic Conference titles, made the NCAA D-II playoffs 7 times, and finished in the American
Football Coaches Association Final Top 20 nine time.
Auer’s
defenses led the conference in total defense 11 times, rushing defense
10 times, scoring defense nine times and passing defense five times.
His departure follows O'Boyles in-season suspension and eventual contract non-renewal amid an NCAA investigation into self-reported possible violations of fund raising rules involving the football program.
The application period to be the next head coach closed last Friday, and a 7-member search committee headed by Smith and former CSC and NFL star Don Beebe will begin reviewing the candidates this week.
