Eastern Washington defensive coordinator Eric Sanders, a man who spent nine seasons working in the NFL and four more seasons at Stanford, has been hired as the new defensive coordinator for the Montana Grizzlies, multiple sources close to the situation confirmed to Skyline Sports.
Tim Hauck and Roger Cooper, the co-defensive coordinators for the Griz the last two seasons, were part of a defensive staff shakeup after former UM head coach Bobby Hauck retired on February 4. Hauck, a Griz Hall of Famer, elected to retire according to multiple sources. Cooper, who also coached linebackers, was hired to coach inside LBs at Illinois on Friday. Bobby Hauck was hired as the Illinois defensive coordinator five days after “retiring” after 15 years and 14 seasons as the head coach at Montana.
When Bobby Kennedy was announced as Montana’s new head football coach, part of the motivation behind an internal hire was to maintain the continuity of the Griz football staff.
But the dominoes have fallen rapidly to ensure that won’t be the case entering next season. And the restructuring will mean that Montana’s defense will have a new look, not just because of the personnel on the field. UM loses nine starters from last season’s 13-2 squad.
Bobby Hauck “retired” on February 4. The following day, Kennedy was introduced as the new head coach with the initial indication being that he would need to hire a new wide receivers coach (Kennedy coached Griz WRs in 2025), a new special teams coordinator (Hauck led the Griz ST in 2025) and a new running backs coach after veteran Justin Green left for Washington State in December.
Five days after “retiring”, Hauck took the defensive coordinator position at Illinois. That triggered a chain reaction. Tim Hauck, a former Griz All-American football player who was Montana’s co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach in 2025, told his position group that he will retire, per multiple sources. Cooper, the 2004 Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Montana State who served as co-defensive coordinator alongside Hauck the last two seasons while also coaching UM linebackers, has been confirmed as the new inside linebackers coach at Illinois.
Mike Linehan, who coached defensive line at Montana the last two seasons, is also reportedly interviewing for an assistant job on Bret Bielema’s staff with the Illini and is expected to be hired. Ronnie Bradford, who coached at UM from 2021 until 2023, has also been announced as Illinois’ new secondary coach.
Those departures mean Kennedy has just one defensive assistant remaining: cornerbacks coach Kim McCleod.
Friday, Skyline Sports confirmed that Sanders has been hired as the defensive coordinator and Jaylen Johnson has been hired as the defensive line coach for the Griz.
Here's a little bit more on new #GrizFB defensive coordinator Eric Sanders #BigSkyFB #FCS pic.twitter.com/AaMVjUntJv
— Skyline Sports (@SkylineSportsMT) February 13, 2026
Sanders, a UC Davis alum, spent the last three seasons at Eastern Washington, including the last two as the defensive coordinator. Before his time at EWU, Sanders was the inside linebackers coach at Stanford (2020-2022). He started his career as the tight ends coach at UC Davis, his alma mater, in 2006 and coached linebackers there in 2008 and 2009. From 2010 until 20155, he worked as a quality control coach for the Oakland Raiders. He returned to the college ranks at Stanford as a defensive assistant in 2016 before spending 2016-2018 with the Clevaland Browns and 2019 with the New York Jets.
During his most recent stint at Stanford, Sanders crossed paths with Kennedy, who coached wide receivers on David Shaw’s staff from 2018 to 2022 for the Cardinal.
Johnson, a former University of Washington defensive lineman (2014-2018), started his coaching career as a grad assistant at his alma mater, where he spent three seasons. He spent the 2023 season coaching defensive tackles at Weber State. He coached Eastern Washignton’s defensive front each of the last two seasons.
