ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Head baseball coach Brian Wede and head football coach Matt McCarty announced today the joining of former Northwestern baseball and football student-athlete Josh Fakkema as the new graduate assistant for both the Raider baseball and football programs. He began his duties on Monday, January 4.
“We are excited to have Josh become a part of our coaching staff,” noted McCarty. “A captain on our 2020 National Runner Up team, he understands what it takes to compete at a high level and be a very successful student athlete at Northwestern.”
Fakkema joins the Northwestern baseball and football staffs after a stint as a graduate assistant at NCAA Division II Clarion University (Pa.) where he served on the football staff coaching the tight ends.
“We are excited for Josh to rejoin the baseball program, this time as a coach. Josh had a big impact on our team while he was here, not just on the field, but also with the quality of person he is,” noted Wede. “The guys on our team are really fired up and can’t wait to get him back in the dugout. He and Coach Hoff will do a great job with our offense and it will allow me to really focus in on our pitching staff, something I haven’t been able to do since 2016.”
On the baseball field, Fakkema carried a career average of .230 with nine home runs and 55 RBIs, including a .348 on-base percentage. His senior season, he balanced both his baseball duties and the Northwestern football national title game run in the same spring.
“Best game of Josh’s football career was our Quarterfinal win vs. Grand View (2020 season) where he had over 100 yards receiving and was day after competing in a doubleheader for the baseball team,” said McCarty.
On the football field, he had 47 career receptions for 664 yards receiving, including six touchdown receptions. In his senior year, he had a career-high 116 receiving yards in the 2020 (Spring 2021) NAIA Quarterfinal road victory over Grand View.
A native of Blaine, Wash., Fakkema is a 2020 Northwestern College graduate with a degree in physical education and a minor in health.
