UND football turns to Winona State assistant Isaac Fruechte to fill offensive coordinator role
Jan. 28—GRAND FORKS — The UND football program has finally found its next play-caller.
The Fighting Hawks have hired Winona State offensive coordinator Isaac Fruechte to be UND's offensive coordinator, following a strange, short stint as offensive coordinator for Grand Forks native Jake Landry, who accepted the role at UND before pivoting to take the same job at North Dakota State.
The job at UND opened originally after Danny Freund left after five seasons calling plays to join two-time defending national champion South Dakota State. The Herald reported Freund's move on Jan. 9.
Fruechte, 32, has coaching stops at Wisconsin-La Crosse, Northern Iowa, Northern State and Winona State.
"As part of the process of hiring our next offensive coordinator, it came down to two really good finalists," UND head coach Bubba Schweigert said in a release. "I made a decision to go one direction, and now I have an opportunity to hire Coach Fruechte. He will bring incredible expertise, energy and enthusiasm to our offense and to UND football. We are looking forward to his arrival in Grand Forks and his contributions real soon."
Fruechte was offensive coordinator at Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2018, then wide receivers coach at UNI in 2019. He was offensive coordinator at Northern State from 2019 to 2021 before taking the job at Winona State.
"I would just like to say thank you to UND and Coach Schweigert for everything they have done in this process," Coach Fruechte said. "I am looking forward to being a part of a great program and am excited to be a part of North Dakota football. My family and I are grateful to become part of the Fighting Hawks family and I can't wait to get started."
Fruechte, a native of Caledonia, Minn., played college football for the Minnesota Gophers. In his three-year Gophers career, Fruechte started 18 games, caught 50 passes for 702 yards and three touchdowns.
He was on the practice squad and a special teams performer for the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings in 2015 and 2016.
UND is expected to start spring ball at the end of February.
Winona State averaged 25.4 points per game last season. The Warriors, of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in NCAA Division II, finished 5-6 in 2023.
UND moved quickly to fill the position vacated by Landry. The Herald reported Landry's in-state move on Friday night and UND released Fruechte's hiring Sunday mid-afternoon.
