Galesburg, IL – A former Knox College football standout and coach has helped a second school win a national championship.
John Wozniak, a 1999 Knox graduate and all-conference wide receiver and quarterback during his playing days, served this past football season as an off-the-field administrator and assistant for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama defeated Notre Dame 42-14 in the BCS title game on January 7 in Miami, the Tide’s second straight championship and third in the last four years.
Wozniak, who began his coaching career at Knox in 1999 and was the offensive coordinator between 2000 and 2003, was also on the staff at Louisiana State University when the Tigers won the 2007 championship. His other coaching stops include Oklahoma State, Georgia Southern, Montana State, Memphis, West Georgia, and Alabama-Birmingham.
Todd Monken, an All-American quarterback at Knox who was inducted into the Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998, was named the new head football coach at the University of Southern Mississippi on December 11. A 1989 Knox graduate, Monken announced on January 4 the hiring of six assistant coaches, including Wozniak, who will be the special teams coordinator and inside receivers coach for the Golden Eagles in 2013.
Monken and Wozniak, besides sharing an alma mater, have worked together in the past. They were both on the staff at LSU in 2005 when Monken was the pass game coordinator and Wozniak served as a quality control assistant. The Tigers finished with an 11-2 record and played in the Peach Bowl that season.
Monken’s job at Southern Mississippi is his first as a college football head coach. He spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, leading the Cowboys to one of the best offenses in the country.
Wozniak owns 13 all-time top 10 Knox College football marks – two as a receiver in 1997 and 11 as a quarterback in 1998. He was a second team All-Midwest Conference selection in 1997 and was named to the honorable mention All-MWC team the following season, when he was also a co-captain under coach Andy Gibbons.
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