UND football announces two hires
GRAND FORKS – The University of North Dakota (UND) head football coach Eric Schmidt announced the additions of Markell Pete and Jon Anderson to the 2025 UND football staff on Friday.
“We are excited to have Markell and Jon join our staff at North Dakota,” said coach Schmidt.
Markell Pete
Pete will serve as the Director of Player Personnel & Office Operations for the Fighting Hawks in 2025. He comes to Grand Forks after spending the 2024 season as the running backs coach and pro liaison at Minnesota State and the 2023 season as the running backs coach and pro liaison at the University of Mary in 2023.
Prior to his time with the Mavericks and Marauders, he spent from 2020-23 in an internship role with the Minnesota Vikings as a development coach for the Black Jacket Team. Before that, he was an assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis from 2019-22 and a running backs coach and college recruiting liaison at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in California from 2017-18.
UND fans are familiar with Pete because he served as a running backs analyst/pro liaison and recruiting assistant for North Dakota from 2015-17. During his time at UND, he helped coach All-American running back John Santiago and All-Big Sky performer Brady Oliveira. During his time in Grand Forks, North Dakota won the Big Sky Conference title in 2016.
He began his coaching career as a running backs coach and pro-liaison at Dickinson State from 2012-15.
Pete graduated from Dickinson State with a bachelor’s degree in social science in 2013.
“Markell boasts a wealth of knowledge and experience in the recruiting industry. He has a strong reputation for building relationships and trust in the recruiting process,” said Schmidt.
Jon Anderson
Anderson will coach the edge position on defense and arrives in North Dakota after spending the 2023 and 2024 seasons at Old Dominion as the defensive line coach and senior defensive analyst. With the help of his coaching, the Monarchs ranked in the top-half of the Sun Belt in both tackles-for-loss per game (6.3) and sacks per game (2.2) in 2024. He also assisted with all special teams units in both his seasons at Old Dominion.
Before coaching at ODU, Anderson compiled a record of 40-17 as the head coach at Sioux Falls from December of 2016 until 2022. Over his six seasons, he led the Cougars to a pair of NCAA Division II playoff appearances (2017, 2019) and coached 45 All-NSIC players and six All-Americans. He also coached Trey Pipkins and Dennis Gardeck, who both reached the NFL.
Anderson began his coaching career at Buena Vista in 1999-2000 as the secondary coach. In 2001, he coached the linebackers at Dakota State before moving to Sioux Falls in 2002. He then coached in Sioux Falls for over a decade, serving as the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator (2002-09) before being elevated to defensive coordinator (2010-12). He then spent the 2013-16 seasons as the head coach at West Virginia State before moving back to Sioux Falls as the head coach in 2016.
Prior to coaching, he played college football for four years at Buena Vista, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 2000. He also graduated with a master’s degree in sports pedagogy at South Dakota State in 2003.
“Jon brings both head coaching experience and an established record of success coaching and developing players on defense,” said Schmidt.
The remaining open positions will be announced at a later date and will follow UND hiring procedures.