South Dakota State Announces Staff Hires Under Coach Jackson

Coach Dan Jackson will be formally introduced as the next head coach of South Dakota State Jackrabbit football on Friday, but he's already begun assembling his coaching staff.

There are a lot of familiar faces on the new staff, including a few that are making a return to Brookings.

One of those is Vince Benedetto, who recently stepped down as the Head Football Coach at Sioux Falls Jefferson High School. Benedetto will serve as the Tight Ends Coach at SDSU next season.

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Per GoJacks.com:

Joining Jackson's first Jackrabbit coaching staff are:

Eric Eidsness, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach;
Vince Benedetto, tight ends coach, and
Deontae Cooper, running backs coach.

"The great thing about these guys from an offensive standpoint that they will bring a high level of creativity and some unique approaches while still keeping a lot of the same scheme and verbiage for our players." Jackson said. "We're not going to skip a beat."

The trio of hires mark the first for Jackson, who was named the 22^nd head coach in program history on Dec. 31.

ERIC EIDSNESS
Eidsness served as the Jackrabbits' offensive coordinator on two previous occasions — from 1999 until 2003 while SDSU competed at the NCAA Division II level and again from 2010-18. The Jackrabbits made seven consecutive appearances in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs to close out his second go-around, including back-to-back semifinal berths in 2017 and 2018. He also held the title of associate head coach under John Stiegelmeier from 2015-18.

Most recently, Eidsness worked in similar coaching roles for six seasons at Northern Illinois. The Huskies played in three bowl games, including posting wins in the Camilla Bowl in 2023 and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl this past season.

A Sioux Falls native, Eidsness was head coach at Southwest Minnesota State from 2004-09.

VINCE BENEDETTO
A former Jackrabbit tight end, Benedetto returns to Brookings after a successful tenure as a high school coach in South Dakota.

For the past four seasons, Benedetto led Sioux Falls Jefferson High School to a 29-14 record, highlighted by winning the 2022 Class 11AAA state championship in only the program's second year of existence. He also served as head coach for two seasons at West Central High School, leading the Trojans to a pair of state semifinal appearances.

A native of Crystal Lake, Illinois, Benedetto lettered for the Jackrabbits from 2010-13, then began his coaching career at SDSU as a graduate assistant/quality control coach in the spring of 2014.

DEONTAE COOPER
Cooper will work with the Jackrabbit running backs after serving in a similar role at Idaho during the 2024 season.

From 2019-23, Cooper was head coach at Highline High School in Burien, Washington, where his squads went undefeated in league play three consecutive seasons and advanced to the Class 2A state semifinals in 2022 and quarterfinals in 2023.

In addition to those three announced hires, Matt Zimmer posted the following in regard to the defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator positions:

The Jackrabbits will introduce Jackson on Friday officially as the team's next Head Coach. Follow along for the latest video and news on Jackrabbit football at GoJacks.com.

Source: Matt Zimmer Twitter