Getting to know defensive coordinator Lee Pronschinske
- Tom Weber
- Jul 31
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 15
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Head coach Nick Hill called 28-year-old Lee Pronschinske a “rising star in our profession” when he promoted the team’s safeties coach to defensive coordinator last December.
Pronschinske, who owns a national championship ring from his two-year stint at North Dakota State, has previous DC experience at the Division II level with Western New Mexico and Minot State.
He’s a commanding presence in meetings and on the field, but has also built strong bonds with his players.
“He likes to joke around, but he knows when to be serious,” said linebacker Miles Wash. “He knows how to grab guys' attention. He knows how to pull you aside and not just cuss you up and down the field. He's going to teach you. He's going to walk you through it, show you clips, meet with you one-on-one. He's just going to do what he can to make sure we're all on the same page. We’re all bought in, we all believe in each other, and we can all go win the day.
Defensive end Jake Parrella said he likes how the defensive line has been turned loose to attack.
“Pron’s awesome — he's probably one of the smartest guys I ever heard talk in our meetings,” said Parrella said. “The scheme fits with his personality, as far as he just wants to go get them. Everyone’s doing their 1/11, making sure we're gap sound, everyone knows their job, and if I do my job, I'm trusting the guy next to me that he's going to do his job.”
Pron continues to coach the team’s safeties, and safety Vinny Pierre Jr. has been a key beneficiary of Pron’s tutelage.
“He knows how to connect with us in a way where we feel comfortable,” Pierre said. “He corrects us, but he sees what we see, from our point of view.”
StrongDawgs conversation with Lee Pronschinske
Give us an overview of your defensive philosophy
I believe when it comes to playing defensive football at a high level, it's all about the way you play. So when we get in there and talk, we're talking about a group that's going to play extremely smart, knowing their assignment, alignment, communication, being on the same page, having banked reps of what we do, and have it be second nature to us. A group that plays extremely hard at the point of attack and aggressive. We all know in the Missouri Valley, you've got to be able to play some smash-mouth football, win the line of scrimmage, win money downs, win the takeaway battle.
Then just a group that plays together for one another. I think that's one of the cool things this offseason, this spring ball, this summer, is you're really seeing this group come together, show unconditional love for one another. That just goes such a long way when you're on the field and you've got a group of guys that, when they're out there, they believe everyone around them is going to do their 1/11th.
You often hear the phrase, make the offense earn every inch of real estate on the field.
What does that mean to you?
We're going to be a team that's going to try to limit the explosive plays. It's cliche to say when it comes to the game of football and playing defense, but when you can make teams put together 15, 16-play drives and have to earn it, convert a bunch of third and mediums, third and shorts, hopefully sprinkling some third and longs, but when you can avoid the chunk plays, the explosive pass game, the explosive quarterback run game like DJ (Williams) provides our offense, when you make teams put together those long drives, it's hard to sustain and you have more opportunity to create takeaways and obviously get off the field.
Coach Hill obviously trusts you with this huge responsibility to run the defense. What does that say about him, and how much do you want to make sure that you deliver those goods?
