Energetic and charismatic head coach Jed Stugart begins his third season at the helm of the University of Sioux Falls football program. Stugart was introduced as USF’s 20th head coach on February 20, 2010.

Since taking over in 2010, Stugart has guided the Cougars to consecutive winning seasons that were highlighted by 18 victories and an NAIA national championship appearance. 



In his first season at USF, Stugart led the Cougars to a 13-1 record, fifth straight Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) crown and fifth consecutive appearance in the NAIA National Championship Game.

Stugart coached his first game for the Cougars on September 4, 2010, a 41-24 victory at No. 23 Northwestern College. The Cougars trailed their longtime rival 14-10 at the half, but outscored the Red Raiders 31-10 in the second half to secure the victory. USF ran the table in the GPAC and capped off a 10-0 regular season with a 44-7 win over Concordia University (Neb.) to capture its fifth straight (ninth overall) GPAC championship.

The Cougars stormed through their first two playoff contests, a 33-14 win over No. 16 Northwestern Oklahoma State University and a 27-7 victory against No. 12 McKendree University. The wins advanced the Cougars to a semifinal matchup versus No. 4 MidAmerica Nazarene University. The game was a homecoming of sorts for Stugart; he had previously served as the Pioneers’ head coach from 2006-08. USF shutout MNU 38-0, thereby extending the nation’s longest winning streak to 42 games and clinching the Cougar’s fifth straight trip to the NAIA national title game in Rome, Ga.

USF came up just short in the championship game, falling 10-7 in a defensive struggle to No. 2 Carroll College. Cougar linebacker Eric Anderson recorded 17 tackles and was honored as the game’s defensive player of the game for his standout performance.

Several other USF football student-athletes collected hardware in 2011. Senior receiver Jon Ryan captured the program’s fourth NAIA Player of the Year award and was also named the 2011 GPAC Player of the Year. Ryan was one of 22 players to receive GPAC all-conference recognition, with six Cougars picking up first team accolades.

Coach Stugart came back with a 5-4 mark in 2011, a year that also served as the Cougars’ NCAA D-II provisional season. Even though the squad was ineligible to compete for a conference championship or spot in the postseason, the Cougars tallied several memorable moments and learned firsthand what it takes to compete and win at the NCAA D-II level. Under Stugart’s guidance, the Cougars proved not only that they could compete at the D-II level, but they could put a scare into NCAA Division I opponents. The Cougars put forth a valiant effort on the road in a 31-17 loss to FCS No. 23-ranked McNeese State University. 

After starting the 2011 campaign 0-3, the Cougars rolled off five straight victories and concluded the season with a heartbreaking 15-13 near-upset loss at then FCS No. 25 University of North Dakota. All four of USF’s 2011 losses came against nationally ranked NCAA DI FCS and NCAA DII programs. 



Prior to USF, Stugart served as the linebackers coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) and guided all three starting Rebel linebackers to top 20 finishes in total tackles in the conference. UNLV just missed qualifying for a bowl with a 5-7 record in Mountain West Conference, one of the top mid-major conferences in the country at the NCAA Division I-FBS level.

Before UNLV, Stugart spent three seasons as the head coach at MidAmerica Nazarene University (MNU), compiling a 26-7 record at the NAIA school located in Olathe, Kansas.

After leading the Pioneers to an undefeated regular season, a Heart of America Conference title and second consecutive trip to the playoffs, Stugart was named 2008 NAIA Region 3 Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.

Previous to MNU, he was on the staff at Northern Colorado from 1999-2006. Stugart was the defensive line coach before taking over the linebackers as defensive coordinator in 2003, the same year that the UNC defense ranked 16th in the nation in total defense and 13th in scoring defense. With the Bears he produced three defensive All-Americans and was part of two North Central Conference championship teams and two postseason appearances.

A native of Greeley, Colo., Stugart played three seasons at Azusa (Calif.) Pacific University, where he later began his coaching career. He earned a bachelor's degree in communications in 1994 from APU and a master's degree in communications from UNC in 2003. 

Stugart and his wife, Angie, have one son, Gunner, and one daughter, Gracie.