In addition to shifting locales, Adam Waugh will swap sides of the ball in his first season on the Northwestern State staff.
A longtime defensive backs coach at the FBS and FCS level, Waugh will coach the Demons’ tight ends after joining the staff in the spring.
Waugh’s lineage as a defensive backs coach includes stops at ULM, Cal Poly, Army and Pittsburgh. Along the way, Waugh produced numerous all-conference players at both safety and cornerback.
In his final season at ULM, Waugh was promoted to co-defensive coordinator after spending his first five seasons with the Warhawks as the team’s safeties coach.
At ULM, Waugh mentored an All-Sun Belt Conference safety in each of his first five seasons (Mitch Lane, 2014; Isaiah Newsome, 2013, 2012; Darius Prelow, 2011, 2010).
Individually, Waugh helped Lane finish seventh in the Sun Belt in interceptions and 12th in tackles in 2014. In 2013, Newsome returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns in a game at Texas State, becoming the fourth FBS player to do so. Each of Newsome’s scoring returns were longer than 70 yards.
His 2012 secondary helped the Warhawks keep seven of its 13 opponents to less than 300 passing yards, including holding Auburn to 163 yards through the air and limiting Tulane to 160 passing yards.
In 2010, Waugh’s safeties helped the Warhawks lead the Sun Belt Conference in rush defense (159.1 yards per game) and finish second in total defense (378.3). In games against Auburn and Arkansas that season, ULM limited the SEC pair to an average of 353.5 yards per game.
Working with the defensive backs at Cal Poly in 2009, Waugh produced another first-team all-conference selection in sophomore cornerback Asa Jackson. Safety David Fullerton earned second-team all-conference acclaim under Waugh’s tutelage.
Waugh spent the first six seasons of his full-time coaching career at Army, working with the Black Knights’ safeties. Waugh helped develop NFL draftee Caleb Campbell into one of the top-10 tacklers in Army football history.
Campbell became Army’s first NFL Draft pick in 10 years when Detroit selected him in the seventh round of the 2007 draft.
Waugh helped lift the Black Knights’ pass defense as high as seventh nationally (2006) while also producing a top-20 national season (16th) in 2007. In 2005, Army ranked 37th nationally in total defense.
Waugh spent the 2002 season as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh, helping the Panthers defeat Oregon State in the Insight.com Bowl.
Waugh was a four-year starter at Illinois State and finished his career with 320 tackles, which ranked eighth on the Redbirds career list at the end of his career. In each of his final two seasons, Waugh tallied 184 total tackles, ranking second on the team each season.
A Libertyville, Ill., native, Waugh maintained a 4.0 grade point average while starting every game of his career.
He was named a Bone Scholar, Illinois State’s highest academic honor, and was one of 16 player selected to the National College Scholar-Athletes 2001 class and was a two-time first-team Verizon Academic All-America selection.
Waugh is married to the former Kristina Duzan and the couple has two daughters, Avery and Emma, and a son, Cooper.
