The Winona State football team has lost one of its top assistant coaches to Division 1. AJ Blazek, who was in his fourth season at WSU, has been hired by Western Illinois to be their offensive line coach. Western Illinois just hired former Minnesota-Duluth coach Bob Nielson. Blazek was the co-offensive coordinator for Winona State along with being the offensive line and tight ends coach. He was also a very important figure off the field as the liason to community development and community service. He also was the director of the WSU youth football camp.

Winona State head coach Tom Sawyer was sad to see a great coach like Blazek leave but he says that’s the way the coaching industry works, as coaches try to continue to move up the ranks.

Winona State still has co-offensive coordinator Cameron Keller on staff so that position will be covered and Coach Sawyer says the most important thing is to get someone in to coach the offensive line and tight ends. Sawyer says they’ve already been in contact with a bunch of potential candidates and he hopes to be able to have someone in place in the next couple of weeks.