MONROE,
La. -- ULM head football coach Todd Berry announced Tuesday the hiring of Travis
Niekamp as the new tight ends coach for the Warhawks. His hire is pending final
approval by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.
Niekamp,
who played and coached for Berry at Illinois State and Army, brings 14 years of
collegiate coaching experience to ULM. He spent the previous four seasons on the
staff at Washington State, where he was the linebackers coach for three seasons
and most recently served as the coordinator of football development for the
Cougars.
"Travis
was my first choice for this job," Berry said. "He coached tight ends for me at
Army and was involved with the special teams. I am excited about the history
that we have together and I am confident that he will do a great job for us. We
look forward to his wife Tracy and their three kids joining this community."
"I am
awfully excited about joining this staff at ULM," Niekamp said. "Coach Berry
has a great vision for this program and I look forward to being here and
helping move this program forward."
In his
first season as linebackers coach at Washington State, Niekamp coached Louis
Bland to Phil Steele's Freshman All-America Third Team and Greg Trent to his second
mention on the All-Pac-10 Conference Team.
Prior
to his stint at Washington State, Niekamp served as linebackers coach for Eastern
Washington from 2004-07. He coached eight different players to 10 All-Big Sky
Conference honors during his tenure, including 2005 Big Sky Defensive Player of
the Year Joey Cwik.
Niekamp
joined Berry's staff at Army as the tight ends coach in 2000 and spent four
seasons with the Black Knights. He tutored Clint Dodson, who was named to the
ECAC All-Star Team in 2000 and also earned second team All-Conference USA
honors the following season.
He
began his coaching career under Berry at Illinois State, coaching defensive
tackles in 1998 and outside linebackers in 1999.
Niekamp
earned All-Gateway Conference honors twice as a defensive lineman for Berry and
Illinois State. He finished his career with 170 tackles, eight sacks and 22
tackles-for-loss. Niekamp earned his
bachelor's degree in exercise science from Illinois State in 1998.
A
native of Stevens Point, Wisc., Niekamp and his wife, Tracy, have three kids -- Tye Dalton, Dexter Kole and Brooke Ryan.
