Former UMD Wide Receiver Jason Balts Transitioning Well To Coaching Staff

The former Bulldog standout is now serving as the running backs coach.

DULUTH, Minn. – Former UMD wide receiver Jason Balts is officially making the transition from player to coach.

He will serve as the running backs coach this season. Balts was a three–year starter and two-time captain for the Bulldogs and his familiarity with the team is helping him make the transition in his first year coaching.

“It’s a different dynamic but I think it actually helps quite a bit is that I’ve been in the program for four or five years. I have a relationship with them. They know I care about them and I hope so at least and so I’m able to come across in such a way that I want them to get better. I’m here for them. I’m here to help them do what they want to do and ultimately, our program, get it where we want it to be,” Balts said.

“We had a really good relationship together, talking on bus rides or just personal stuff. It’s really nice having him, someone to go to, someone to learn the game together and help push me,” said running back Wade Sullivan.

Last season, Balts wrapped up his UMD career last season with the fifth-most receiving yards in program history. And while he had a lot of success as a wide receiver, the team decided to give him a new challenge and work with the running backs.

“We did that intentionally. Jason knew our offense extremely well and he still has some learning to do at the running back position. But sometimes, for a former player to come back and coach the same position, the guys you were just playing alongside, can be a challenging thing. So we moved him to running back because of that and also gave him the opportunity to learn another facet of our offense,” head coach Curt Wiese said.

“It’s tough. It’s learning a new position, trying to change your mindset from ‘OK I’m a wide receiver, this is how I think’, to now ‘I’m at running back’. It’s a little different perspective but I love it though,” said Balts.