Jan. 3—Back on Oct. 5, Jordan Hein found himself in an unfamiliar position. He stood on the sideline opposite the Bemidji State football team.
Hein had spent his collegiate career with the Beavers, both as a player and a coach. He played quarterback for BSU from 2014-17, racking up a collection of accolades, including an All-NSIC First Team nod and a nomination for the 2016 Harlon Hill Trophy, etc.
Hein etched his name into the program’s record books and guided the Beavers to their first-ever postseason victory in the Mineral Water Bowl.
Transitioning to his career as a coach, Hein worked with the wide receivers and was eventually named the special teams coordinator in 2021.
But last spring, an opportunity came knocking. Hein accepted a job with Northern State, heading over to Aberdeen, S.D. to become the Wolves’ offensive coordinator.
That set up a tilt against his alma mater in early October.
For Hein, though, it was business as usual — after all, “football is football.”
“It wasn’t very weird for me,” Hein said. “People on the outside probably tried to make it a bigger deal than it was. It was a little bit different being on the sideline, having coached with a lot of the guys on staff. And a lot of those guys on Bemidji’s team are guys that I either helped recruit or were part of their visits, or whatever it may be, so it was a little different.”
NSU came out on top in that matchup, beating the Beavers 14-13 to collect its second win of the season.
Despite a 0-4 start to the year, the Wolves won six of their last seven games — including that win over Bemidji State — and wound up with a 6-5 record. With Hein at the helm, the offense averaged 20 points per game with 167.3 rushing yards and 131.82 passing yards per game.
“It was something that was a big learning experience for me as a first-year play caller,” Hein said. “I have nothing but good things to say about Northern State. It was an incredible experience. I want to thank Coach (Mike) Schmidt, the head coach there, for giving me an opportunity and believing in me. It was a learning experience, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
After spending the 2024 season calling plays for Northern State, another prime opportunity opened up for Hein. Karson Pike, BSU’s offensive coordinator,
stepped away from the program
in December.
With his history as a Beaver and a year of calling plays for a different program under his belt, Hein seemed like a natural fit for the vacancy.
“I talked to (head coach Brent Bolte), and I think (there) wasn’t anything in his mind that he was second-guessing,” Pike said. ” We kind of all knew who the target would be to replace me and (Bolte) was able to make that happen. … I’m excited to watch him get his opportunities, excited this last year just to see what he’s done at Northern. I mean, for him to finally be in the control center, I think it’s perfect.”
Shortly after Pike’s resignation was public, BSU announced that Hein would return to his alma mater as the new offensive coordinator.
“It’s one of those things where it’s just too good of an opportunity to pass up,” Hein said. “The first case when I left Bemidji last year, it was an opportunity for me to kind of branch out and have an opportunity to call plays, learn something new from a different program, different staff, and when this came available it was just too tough to pass up. … I’m very excited, I know my family is pretty excited as well.”
Hein will have big shoes to fill guiding BSU’s offense. Pike leaves the program with a sparkling resume, coaching program legends like quarterback Brandon Alt and helping the program reach new heights under Bolte.
However, the Beavers’ former OC played a major role in Hein’s development as a coach.
“I learned basically just about everything about the coaching world from him,” Hein said. “He was my mentor, not only from a football aspect but from a coaching aspect, a recruiting aspect. He kind of showed me the ropes and how to do things and as you get older in the profession, he’s not only my boss, so to speak, but also a good friend. I learned more about the game of football from that guy than probably anyone else.”
Pike and Hein would often work closely together on the offense while coaching for Bemidji State.
“He’s an extremely football-smart guy,” Pike said. “It’s fun to kind of throw stuff on the board with him and go back and forth and talk about how they fit., and if it works it and if it doesn’t, and experiment. He’s certainly as much a part of the success of the program here in the last few years as anybody on the team. That guy recruits extremely well, extremely personable, the guys absolutely love him.”
In terms of coaching philosophy, Hein is honed in on calling plays leaning into the strengths that a given roster provides.
“I think it just depends on what you have in-house,” Hein said. “At the end of the day, in my opinion, my philosophy is it’s players, not plays. You can drop whatever you want on the whiteboard, but none of that matters unless you’ve got players. So that’s why it’s pivotal and important for us to recruit talented kids, retain talented kids, develop talented kids.”
Naturally, Hein is already well acquainted with Bemidji State’s roster, as well as its coaches and culture.
He’s known Bolte since his sophomore year of high school, when his brother, Jesse Hein, was recruited by the Beavers. Bolte eventually became Hein’s head coach in 2017.
Coaching with the program up until last spring, Hein also knows many of the players currently on the roster.
“I left end of spring, so I would have at least known, been around on campus when everyone on the roster, minus a couple of guys they brought in probably this summer, (was there),” Hein said. “Excited to get back to a place where it’s kind of an easy transition, kind of knowing the ropes, knowing how we do everything here and knowing a lot of the guys on the team already.”
Hein has a long offseason ahead, offering plenty of time to dive in and reacquaint himself with BSU and his players.
For now, though, Hein can relish the fact that the college football coaching carousel has brought him back to northern Minnesota.
“Bemidji is home to me,” Hein said. “My family is two hours away. I played quarterback here, obviously, then had an opportunity to coach on staff for a handful of years. … It’s one of those things where you never know in this profession what’s going to happen, when jobs are going to open up, where your buddies or coworkers get hired at, you kind of have no idea until it does finally open up.”
