North Park University Men's Football

North Park Head Coach Kyle Rooker, the 2023 D3football.com Region 5 Coach of the Year, completed his eighth year at the helm of the Viking Football program in 2025. Under Rooker’s leadership, the Vikings have shown marked improvement on and off the field, highlighted by the 2023 and 2024 teams finishing with 5-5 records, the best seasons at North Park since 1968. Rooker’s #TheRightWay philosophy emphasizes recruiting, retaining, and developing young men who succeed in the classroom, have success on the field, and make a positive impact on the campus community. This philosophy has led to one of the most successful periods in Viking football history. Academically speaking, the Vikings cumulative team GPA has improved by .8 during Rooker’s tenure, reaching 3.24 in the spring of 2025. The 2023 season saw five Vikings named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team and the 2024 season saw eight players making the team, the most in school history. Additionally, Jereme Ombogo became the program’s first CSC Academic All-American since 1987. These academic improvements have led to two of the largest graduating classes in school history, with thirty-one seniors in 2024 and twenty-one seniors in 2025. The visibility of the North Park Football program has increased significantly since Rooker’s arrival, as the Vikings have been featured on D3Football.com during the 2021, 2023 and 2024 seasons. Fifteen different Vikings have earned All College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) recognition for a total of twenty-six selections, highlighted by Juan Nieves becoming the first ever Viking to earn All-CCIW recognition five times. Viking players have been recognized as the CCIW Player of the Week fifteen times and have made the D3Football.com Team of the Week on thirteen occasions. The eight All-CCIW selections and three All-Region selections in 2024 are both program records. Under Rooker’s guidance, Quarterback Matt Eck graduated as the North Park’s all-time leader in passing yards, completion percentage, TD passes and TD’s responsible for and led the 2024 Vikings to the highest scoring offense in program history.  Other significant accomplishments include beating Illinois Wesleyan for the first time ever in back-to-back seasons (2023, 2024), winning at Augustana for only the second time in program history, and beating Carthage at Carthage for the first time since 1992 (2021, 2023). Finally, the 2023 and 2024 seasons saw the Vikings end the season with the highest CCIW finish since 1972. Before North Park, Rooker had a six-year stint (2012-2018) as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator of College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) rival Carthage College. Rooker helped Carthage steadily improve from 1-9 in 2013 to consecutive seasons of 7-3 (2016 & 2017). Working primarily with the offensive line, quarterbacks, and tight ends, Rooker directed an O-line that allowed the fewest sacks in the CCIW for the 2015 season (11), coached his quarterbacks to a combined 4:1 touchdown to interception ratio in 2016-2017, and helped lead his offense to the fewest turnovers in league action for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The 2017 Carthage College team was the NCAA Division III leader in turnover margin. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Rooker was also the Firebird's academic coordinator. From 2013-2018, he helped improve the team's cumulative grade point average by .57 points while mentoring 2 CoSIDA Academic All-District selections. Prior to his time at Carthage College, Rooker was the offensive, defensive, special teams, and recruiting coordinator of his alma mater, The College of Wooster (OH) from July 2001 until December 2012. The 2004 Fighting Scots posted the best finish in school history at 11-1, captured a North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship, and finalized their season with a national ranking of 10th in NCAA Division III football. Rooker, a native of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, graduated from The College of Wooster in 2001, earning his BA in History. While a part of the Fighting Scots' football team, Rooker was a 3-year varsity letterman, a 2-year varsity starter at linebacker, and a member of the 1997 NCAC championship team. He also holds a Master's degree in Leadership from Carthage College. Coach Rooker's family includes his wife Jennifer, and his daughters Piper and Kendall. Coaching Career, Season-by-Season (2019-) Season Record (CCIW) CCIW Finish  Notes / Awards 2019 1-9 (1-8) 9th 2020 - - no official season played due to COVID 2021 2-8 (2-7) 9th 2022 1-9 (1-8) 9th 2023 5-5 (4-5) 6th Most wins for NPU Football since '68 D3football.com Region 5 COY 2024 5-5 (4-5) 5th First consecutive 5-win seasons since '68 2025 3-7 (2-7) 9th Career 17-43 (14-40)

North Park University Director of Athletics John Born announced Women's Flag Football as the Vikings' 20th sponsored sport and named Ramon Palma (C '22) as the program's inaugural Head Coach. Palma was named the head coach on Dec. 23, 2024. Palma enjoyed a four-year career with the North Park Football team, earning Academic All-CCIW honors in each of his four seasons. After graduating in 2022, Palma joined the NPU Admissions office while continuing to be a part of NPU Football as the team's Social Media Manager. He created and published content in various formats across NPU Football's ever-growing social media pages and built a team of that also assisted in content creation. As an Admissions Counselor at North Park, Palma initiated, recruited, counseled, and supported over 900 prospective students and families from 80+ high schools across six target states.  Coaching Career, Season-by-Season Season Record (CCIW) CCIW Finish Postseason Finish  2026 1-9 (-) - - Career 1-9

Nieves joined the North Park coaching staff in 2025 after a decorated playing career for the Vikings. The defensive back and returner is the only North Park player to earn five all-conference awards as a football player and just the second all-time to earn an all-conference honor in each of his four seasons. In his career, he returned three touchdowns and recorded nearly 2,000 return yards, averaging 20.1 kick return yards per attempt. He totaled 105 tackles, 18.5 for loss, 6 sacks, 7 interceptions, and 40 pass breakups. He also forced 4 fumbles, blocked three kicks, and added a pair of fumble recoveries.

The 2026 season will be the eighth with the Vikings for Coach Jason Stapf. Stapf was promoted to Assistant Head Coach in the spring of 2023 and currently oversees academic success and specializes in the development of the defensive line. Prior to joining the Vikings, Stapf served at a variety of positions at Concordia Lutheran High School (TX), including: special teams coordinator, offensive/defensive line coach, strength & conditioning coach, and head softball coach. During his time at Concordia Lutheran, Stapf assisted in developing an increase of 108% in passing yards and 32% in running yards. Additionally, he guided 42 All-District selections, 11 All-State selections, and 32 All-Academic recipients. Prior to Concordia Lutheran, Stapf was the head football coach at first-year program Salem Lutheran School (TX).  Stapf holds a degree in Kinesiology from Sam Houston State University.

The 2025 season will be the first for coach Egan Bender who will develop the Linebackers for North Park Football. The Vikings’ top tackler from 2024 was quickly promoted from Defensive Graduate Assistant in the spring to the Blue & Gold’s full-time Linebackers Coach. Bender led NPU with 80 tackles last season, the second-best mark in the CCIW, posting double-digit tackles across five different games to earn first team All-CCIW status.

The 2025 season will be the first year on staff for coach Josh De Luca, who will serve as the Vikings' Offensive Line Coach. Josh De Luca will bolster Coach Rooker’s staff, using his thorough experience on the North Park offensive line to coach that same position. Coach Rooker said “the OL gained tremendous growth this spring” and that’s no surprise with the addition of De Luca. The second-team All-CCIW pick helped he Vikings obtain123 first downs through the pass and averaged 25.10 points per game in 2024. De Luca and the NPU line did not allow a sack against Millikin and they surrendered just one in the Vikings' OT win at Augustana.

Gyanni Kanellakis joined North Park in the spring of 2026, serving as the Strength and Speed Coordinator as well as developing the defensive backs. Before joining the Vikings, Kanellakis worked as a Strength and Performance intern at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He assisted the Strength and Conditioning staff by collection performance data, acted as a position liaison for linebackers, and worked directly on the floor with the Division I athletes. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Kanellakis holds a B.S. in Exercise Science from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, with an emphasis in strength and conditioning and a minor in coaching. He was a five-year member of the Blugolds, earning All-Conference honors in 2023 and serving as a two-time team captain. In his career, he totaled 127 tackles, including 7.5 for loss, was credited with 3 sacks, and picked off a pair of passes. Additionally, he had 2 pass breakups anda  fumble recover. His 2023 all-conference season showcased 77 tackles (46 solo).

After four years as the starting quarterback for NPU Football, Coach Matt Eck will stay on the sidelines to develop the Quarterbacks in 2025. Eck led the league’s 2024 QB’s in Passing Yards with 2,403 and Passing Yards per Game with 267.0. He was 3rd in Passing Touchdowns with 21, 3rd in Completion Percentage at 64%, and 4th in Quarterback Efficiency (144.5).  His 2,732 passing yards last season established a new all-time mark for North Park Football and his 26 passing TD's tied TD Conway's 2014 record for the top spot as well. He holds NPU’s all-time spot in Passing TD’s with 71 across his four seasons.