Sam King, a Grand Forks native, was announced as the wide receivers coach for the Fighting Hawks entering the 2019 season. The 2024 season will be his sixth year on staff as the coach of the wide receivers.
Coach King’s receivers played a key role in North Dakota’s success throughout the 2023 season, helping the Fighting Hawks finish the year with a completion percentage of 70.3 percent, a mark which ranked No. 2 in the MVFC and No. 3 nationally. With the help of the receivers, NoDak also recorded a team passing efficiency rating of 153.02, which ranked No. 14 in the entire country. The Fighting Hawk receiving corps hauled in 225 grabs for 2,484 yards and 20 touchdowns, averaging 207.0 yards receiving per contest. Bo Belquist led the group with 66 receptions for 772 yards and six touchdowns and was named to the All-MVFC Team. Belquist also ranked No. 25 in the nation in receptions per game with 5.5 and led UND in chunk plays with 12 plays going for 20 yards or more.
UND’s receivers hauled in 253 catches for 2,738 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2022. The group finished the season as the No. 4 passing offense in the MVFC, racking up 228.2 yards receiving per game. In addition to this, the UND receivers helped quarterback Tommy Schuster average 20-or-more completions per game for the second consecutive season. Belquist paced the talented group with 63 receptions for 811 yards and six receiving touchdowns, finishing the year No. 3 in the conference in receptions per game with 5.2. Fifth-year receiver Garett Maag also helped bolster the receiving corps with 36 catches for 477 yards and five touchdowns.
In 2021, King helped his group of wide receivers finish with over 1,800 yards and 13 touchdowns. Led by Belquist's 52 catches for 535 yards and five touchdowns, the sophomore finished seventh in the conference in touchdown catches and fourth in receptions per contest. The return of Brock Boltmann also boosted the offense, as the redshirt senior finished second on the team in catches (38), yards (377) and four scores.Â
With nearly an entire new group of pass catchers at his disposal in 2020-21, King helped his receivers finish with over 1,400 total yards and 11 touchdowns in a seven-game slate. Maag led the way with 523 yards and finished second in the league with nearly 21 yards per catch. True freshman Belquist exploded on the scene by matching the team lead with 25 catches for 255 yards and a team-best three touchdowns to earn MVFC All-Newcomer Team honors and HERO Sports Freshman All-America status.Â
In 2019, King and the wide receivers pieced together spectacular seasons, led by senior Noah Wanzek. The senior broke UND's Division I record for catches in a single season as well as etched his spot near the top of the all-time record book for career catches, touchdowns, and yards. Fellow senior Travis Toivonen joined Wanzek to become the first duo in UND's DI history with at least 10 touchdown catches each in their careers.Â
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King spent the previous two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Minnesota Duluth where he primarily worked with the running backs. While at UMD, King helped the Bulldogs rush for over 5,000 combined yards over those two years, cumulating in a perfect 11-0 regular season and appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs in 2018.
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Prior to that, the Grand Forks native served as the quality control coach for Schweigert at North Dakota for two seasons, including the 2016 Big Sky Championship season and program's first appearance in the FCS playoffs.
King was a four-time letterwinner at Bemidji State where he played quarterback. He graduated from BSU in 2015 with a degree in physical education and completed his Master of Education at Minnesota Duluth in the spring of 2019.
King and his wife, Chelsea, have two daughters, Landry and Brooklyn.
