Adam Siwicki the first to interview for vacant Northern football head coaching position

With the Montana State University-Northern football head coaching position open, several candidates are hoping to fill the spot. One of those candidates is Culver-Stockton College defensive coordinator Adam Siwicki who was introduced at a forum on the MSU-N campus Monday.

“I’m looking forward to hopefully becoming a head coach and I know I’m ready,” Siwicki said at the forum. “I’m excited, I’ve done my research on the community and the university.”

At the forum, Siwicki discussed his playing and coaching experience. From 2008 to 2011, he played linebacker at Aurora University. After graduating in 2012, he coached on several collegiate coaching staffs. Right after college, he served as a defensive intern at Montana Tech for a season under head coach Chuck Morrell. He then served as the defensive backs coach at the University of Saint Francis in Joliet, Illinois.

From 2015-2016, he served as a defensive line/graduate assistant at Northern Illinois University. Since 2017, Siwicki has served as the associate head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at NAIA school Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri.

When Siwicki and head coach Tom Sallay took over in 2017, the Wildcats football program had fewer than 40 athletes on the team. Over a five-year span, Sallay’s coaching staff including Siwicki built the program up to over a hundred athletes on the roster this past season.

During his career as a defensive coordinator, Siwicki’s defenses have finished in the top 20 of several statistical categories such as total defense, scoring defense, passing defense, passing efficiency, rushing defense, third-down conversions and fourth-down conversions. In 2021, the Culver-Stockton defense did not allow a single passing touchdown as the Wildcats went 8-3 and 4-1 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. If he were to take over the Lights, Siwicki hopes to carry over that same defensive effort.

“We’re going to be fast, physical and we’re going to get after the ball,” Siwicki said. “We’re going to keep it simple and let our guys play fast on defense. I think that’s the best way to play defense and we’ve been successful doing it.”

In his five years at Culver-Stockton, Siwicki developed two All-American linebackers. He also signed a three-time NAIA All-American, one Honorable Mention All-American, 10 First Team All-Conference players, four Second-Team All-Conference players and four Honorable Mention All-Conference players. During his time at Culver-Stockton, Siwicki was the Heart of America Conference three-time Assistant Coach of the Year runner up.

If Siwicki is hired as the next MSU-N head coach, he already has a coaching staff in mind to join him including some coaches from Montana. He would need a strong coaching staff to help turn around the Lights who have finished at the bottom of the Frontier Conference standings the past few seasons.

Siwicki noticed many similarities between MSU-N and Culver-Stockton. Both schools have similar student populations and job placement rates and reside within a small town. With the football roster already here, he believes the Lights are already in a better situation than when he joined Culver-Stockton. If he does get the opportunity to coach the Lights, he aims to focus on the little things to eventually build a program.

“My mantra will be that it all matters,” Siwicki said. “Pushing in chairs, cleaning up the weight room and doing your part, that’s all going to translate to wins. Whether people believe it or not, it really does because you got to have self-discipline and control.”

The MSU-N head job is open after Andrew Rolin resigned last month.