The North Park athletic department introduced Bill Lund as its new Academic Coordinator and Defensive Coordinator for the football team Wednesday afternoon. He succeeds Eric Rausch, who served for three years in the same position.

“Today is an exciting day for North Park football,” said head coach Scott Pethtel, who enters his seventh year at the helm for the Vikings in 2012. “Bill brings a lot of experience to our program and we know he will fit in right away and help us become a better football program.”

Lund has over 15 years of coaching experience, including a two-year tenure at NCAA Division I University of Buffalo from 2008-10 where he served as a defensive assistant with the linebackers and defensive line. While at Buffalo, Lund helped lead the program to its first-ever Mid-American Conference championship. He also coached the defense to lead the nation in fumbles recovered, and a top-20 ranking in both takeaways and red zone defense.

“I am very excited about this opportunity,” said Lund, a native of New York. “North Park will offer the challenges I'm seeking to help the program only to continue to improve.”

In addition to his success at Buffalo, Lund has also had successful coaching positions at St. Anselm College, Colby College, Carleton College, Columbia University in New York, and St. Nobert College in De Pere, Wisconsin where he led the Green Knights to a conference title and top-three conference rankings in red zone defense, third down defense and scoring defense.

North Park finished the season with its best record in the last six years, opening the year with a 3-0 record, including victories over former playoff contenders Benedictine and Aurora University, not to mention a 13-10 win over nationally-ranked Washington University-St. Louis in the third week of the season.