RESPONSIBILITIES:
Dan Korn, the longest-tenured football operations administrator in the Southland Conference, returns for his 18th season overall as a member of the Northwestern State football staff as Director of Football Operations. Korn serves as a key member of the management team in organizing, planning, managing, supervising, and providing administrative oversight of the program as well as providing valuable insight and direct support to Head Coach Blaine McCorkle.
Korn, who has a well-earned reputation as one of the SLC’s and FCS’s finest football administrators, is responsible for coordinating all facets of the team’s daily operations and implementing the administration, management and execution of strategies in support of the goals and objectives of the football program. He is one of the athletic department’s longest-tenured staff members, joining the Demons in 2001 as Director of Football Operations after previously serving three other athletic program stints in women’s basketball, sports information and athletic administration.
Korn has handled a wide variety of responsibilities over the years, including budgetary management, team travel logistics and accommodations, pre-season training camp organization and arrangements, practice planning, game day organization, summer camps and coaching clinics, and fundraising projects, as well as daily administration and assisting with the planning of team events and other football program projects.
In his role, he works closely with numerous campus offices and staff as well as with all athletic department support units that assist football: athletic training and sports medicine, strength and conditioning, facilities, compliance, marketing, media relations, development, admissions, campus housing, and campus dining services. He also serves as the pro liaison to NFL, UFL, CFL and Arena League scouts and player personnel, handles sports agent relations and player education, and organizes and coordinates NSU’s yearly Pro Day for Draft-eligible prospects.
One of Korn’s most impactful contributions at NSU is his daily work with student-athletes in preparing them for life after college. His efforts have assisted in making the football program one of NSU’s most active and enthusiastic teams when it comes to community service.
Korn also plays a key role in assisting in the overall recruiting process as well as with the planning and execution of official and unofficial visits, recruiting budget oversight, development of marketing messages, strategic planning, organization and evaluation of the recruiting prospect board and video database, and ensuring that the recruiting and evaluation plan stays on track. He is charged with monitoring staff efforts and providing direction and consistency throughout the recruiting process while keeping the staff abreast of the latest trends in recruiting.
As an essential component of the staff’s recruiting efforts, he helped land NSU a 2010 signing class rated No. 4 nationally among FCS schools, according to the Rivals.com Recruiting Service rankings, while the 2007 and 2005 recruiting classes ranked No. 9 and No. 4 nationally respectively, providing the Demons with a foundation that was lauded among the nation’s finest.
COACHING/OPERATIONAL ADMINISTRATION EXPERIENCE:
In 17 seasons with Korn on staff the Demons: Beat bowl-bound TCU (27-24 in OT) in 2001 and recorded a last-second 30-27 win at 2014 Conference USA West Division Champion and Heart of Dallas Bowl participant Louisiana Tech as time expired; Captured a Southland Conference Championship title (2004); Made three NCAA Football Championship (FCS)/Division I-AA post-season playoff appearances (2011, 2002, 2004); Ranked as high as No. 11 nationally (2001-2004), while climbing to No. 3 in the Nation in 2002; Had four separate teams crack the FCS Top 10 at some point of the season during the 2001-2004 campaigns; Set 30 offensive and special teams records in 2014; Broke or tied four NCAA Division I-AA records, 10 Southland Conference records and 35 school records, including the single-season and single-game scoring records and seven defensive records (2001-2007); 2004 Southland Conference championship team broke 13 school offensive records, including season records for total offense (4,905 yards), first downs (241), rushing yards (2,981), rushing touchdowns (34) and total touchdowns (53); Posted four straight games with 40 or more points, an all-time school best.
In 2018, the Demon offense, which finished in the top five in the FCS in passing offense, passing yards and passing touchdowns, broke or tied 20 school records, including passing yards in a season (3,530), passing touchdowns in a season (32) and passing touchdowns in a game (6, twice). The up-tempo, explosive attack produced the 2018 Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year in All-American and All-SLC wide receiver Jazz Ferguson (FA signee of the Seattle Seahawks), who set five school records, including: receiving Yards (1,117), receiving touchdowns (13) and six 100-yard receiving games. Junior All-SLC quarterback Shelton Eppler also etched his name in the Demon record book, shattering six season and game records including: passing yards per Game (293.2), passing efficiency (148.32), consecutive passes thrown without an interception (143) and passing touchdowns in a game (6, twice).
HKorn has assisted in the development of 14 All-American selections and six NFL Draft picks: Craig Nall, Green Bay Packers; Terrence McGee, Buffalo Bills; David Pittman, Baltimore Ravens; Demetress Bell, Buffalo Bills; Super Bowl XLVIII champion Jeremy Lane, Seattle Seahawks; Deon Simon, New York Jets; Seven undrafted NFL free agents: Ed Eagan, New York Giants; Pace Murphy, Kansas City Chiefs; Shakeir Ryan, Los Angeles Rams; De’Mard Llorens, Indianapolis Colts; Bryant Mitchell, Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Jazz Ferguson, Seattle Seahawks and William Hooper, Green Bay Packers; 2016 Grey Cup champion Imoan Claiborne, Ottawa Redblacks, as well as three Senior Bowl invites: David Pittman, Imoan Claiborne and Ed Eagan, and three NFL Combine participants: Terrence McGee, Deon Simon and Jazz Ferguson.
ATHLETIC ADMINISTRATION EXPERIENCE:
Korn previously spent six years in college athletics at NSU and served in various positions, including sports information, women’s basketball operations, sports broadcasting, and ticket operations. As an undergraduate he was a recipient of the Ace Higgins Award, presented by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association to the state’s top sports information student assistant. His women’s basketball media guides ranked as the best in the Southland Conference, second in the state of Louisiana, and top 30 nationally as the Lady Demons posted a 65-24 (.730) mark and a WNIT appearance under Head Coach James Smith. As the secondary contact for baseball for two seasons, the Demons went 78-34 (.696) and captured an SLC title under Head Coach Jim Wells. Korn also served on the Demon Sports Radio Network as a color analyst, sideline reporter and studio host (football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball) before being named Director of Athletic Ticket Operations. Prior to his return as Director of Football Operations, Korn was the Sports Director & Anchor at KNTS-TV in Natchitoches where he also hosted weekly highlight shows for NSU and area high school football and basketball teams. He broke into the coaching and operations ranks as a graduate assistant in the role of Director of Basketball Operations as the Lady Demons recorded a 25-7 (.781) record and captured another WNIT appearance.
PERSONAL:
A native of Bunker Hill/Grissom AFB, Indiana, Korn received his bachelor’s degree in Broadcast-Journalism from Northwestern State in 1994. Married to the former Melissa Antilley (NSU graduate in Education) of Natchitoches, they are the proud parents of three daughters and a son, twins Amber and Ashley, Stephanie (NSU graduate in Nursing) and Patrick (NSU graduate in Criminal Justice), as well as 10 grandchildren: Aubree, Grayson, Alec, Valerie, Abram, Braylee, James, Michael, Lillian and Jackson.
He enjoys spending time with his family, collecting sports memorabilia, watching movies, and is a voracious reader of books on football strategy, management and organization, NFL scouting and player evaluation processes, leadership management, coaching biographies, and military history, strategy and tactics.
A rabid “Cheesehead” and die-hard fan of the Green Bay Packers (his father, a highly decorated 25-year veteran of the United States Air Force and recipient of numerous Air Medals, was born and raised in Green Bay, WI), Korn is a life-long “shareholding” owner of the Super Bowl XLV Champions and NFL record 13-time NFL World Champions.
