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South Dakota State University Athletics
McLIN, BENGTSON ROUND OUT COACHING STAFF
1/24/2025 1:30:00 PM | Football
South Dakota State football coach Dan Jackson announced Friday the completion of assembling his inaugural coaching staff with the additions of Luke Bengtson as wide receivers coach and Marcus McLin to the role of cornerbacks coach.
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Bengtson has coached at various levels of college football for nearly 15 years, most recently serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Virginia Union for three seasons. From 2022-24, the Panthers compiled a 29-7 record and averaged 43 points per game while setting more than 20 school and conference records on offense. Virginia Union made three NCAA Division II playoff appearances and won back-to-back CIAA championships the past two seasons.
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"Luke had one of the most successful and prolific offenses in all of college football last season," Jackson said. "He's going to come in and provide ideas while also bringing a lot of experience in developing players."
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Prior to his tenure at Virginia Union, Bengtson was offensive coordinator and coached both the quarterbacks and wide receivers at Millikin University for two seasons.
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A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Bengtson played wide receiver collegiately at both Northwest Missouri State (2004-05) and St. Cloud State (2006-07) before embarking on his coaching career as a student assistant at St. Cloud State during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He continued his coaching path as a graduate assistant at Central Missouri in 2010 before moving on to the Football Bowl Subdivision as a graduate assistant and offensive quality control assistant at Connecticut (2012-13) and Arkansas (2014).
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Following a brief stint as an assistant high school coach, Bengtson returned to the collegiate ranks as quarterbacks coach at Greensboro College (2016), followed by stops with passing game responsibilities at Fairmont State (2017), Wisconsin-La Crosse (2018) and Chadron State (2019).
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McLin spent the past two seasons at his alma mater, Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he directed a unit that led the conference in scoring and total defense in both 2023 (16.4 points per game, 284 yards per game) and 2024 (14.0 ppg, 289 ypg). Besides being the defensive coordinator, he served as the program's associate head coach and defensive backs coach.
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"Marcus has been a really successful coordinator and sees the game in a big-picture way so he's going to be a huge help to Coach (Brian) Bergstrom in game-planning and mentoring our players," Jackson said. "He has great personality and the ability to connect with the players."
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As a player, McLin served as team captain on the Warhawks' 2014 NCAA Division III national championship team. After coaching for four seasons at the high school level, he moved to the collegiate ranks in 2018 as an intern coach in charge of cornerbacks and return specialists at Minnesota Duluth. He later was promoted to a full-time coaching position at UMD as defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator before returning to Wisconsin Whitewater as wide receivers coach in 2021.
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McLin became a defensive coordinator for the first time in 2022, when he moved to Bemidji State. In his lone season with the Beavers, BSU won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship and led the league in scoring defense (15.2 ppg), sacks (45) and turnovers gained (23).
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ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
South Dakota State finished the 2024 season with a 12-3 overall record and earned a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title. The Jackrabbits won back-to-back Football Championship Subdivision national titles in 2022 and 2023 and bring a streak of 13 consecutive postseason appearances into the 2025 campaign.
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Bengtson has coached at various levels of college football for nearly 15 years, most recently serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Virginia Union for three seasons. From 2022-24, the Panthers compiled a 29-7 record and averaged 43 points per game while setting more than 20 school and conference records on offense. Virginia Union made three NCAA Division II playoff appearances and won back-to-back CIAA championships the past two seasons.
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"Luke had one of the most successful and prolific offenses in all of college football last season," Jackson said. "He's going to come in and provide ideas while also bringing a lot of experience in developing players."
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Prior to his tenure at Virginia Union, Bengtson was offensive coordinator and coached both the quarterbacks and wide receivers at Millikin University for two seasons.
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A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Bengtson played wide receiver collegiately at both Northwest Missouri State (2004-05) and St. Cloud State (2006-07) before embarking on his coaching career as a student assistant at St. Cloud State during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He continued his coaching path as a graduate assistant at Central Missouri in 2010 before moving on to the Football Bowl Subdivision as a graduate assistant and offensive quality control assistant at Connecticut (2012-13) and Arkansas (2014).
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Following a brief stint as an assistant high school coach, Bengtson returned to the collegiate ranks as quarterbacks coach at Greensboro College (2016), followed by stops with passing game responsibilities at Fairmont State (2017), Wisconsin-La Crosse (2018) and Chadron State (2019).
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McLin spent the past two seasons at his alma mater, Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he directed a unit that led the conference in scoring and total defense in both 2023 (16.4 points per game, 284 yards per game) and 2024 (14.0 ppg, 289 ypg). Besides being the defensive coordinator, he served as the program's associate head coach and defensive backs coach.
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"Marcus has been a really successful coordinator and sees the game in a big-picture way so he's going to be a huge help to Coach (Brian) Bergstrom in game-planning and mentoring our players," Jackson said. "He has great personality and the ability to connect with the players."
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As a player, McLin served as team captain on the Warhawks' 2014 NCAA Division III national championship team. After coaching for four seasons at the high school level, he moved to the collegiate ranks in 2018 as an intern coach in charge of cornerbacks and return specialists at Minnesota Duluth. He later was promoted to a full-time coaching position at UMD as defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator before returning to Wisconsin Whitewater as wide receivers coach in 2021.
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McLin became a defensive coordinator for the first time in 2022, when he moved to Bemidji State. In his lone season with the Beavers, BSU won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship and led the league in scoring defense (15.2 ppg), sacks (45) and turnovers gained (23).
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ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
South Dakota State finished the 2024 season with a 12-3 overall record and earned a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title. The Jackrabbits won back-to-back Football Championship Subdivision national titles in 2022 and 2023 and bring a streak of 13 consecutive postseason appearances into the 2025 campaign.
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