Whitworth picks Rod Sandberg as football coach

Whitworth University announced Monday the hiring of Rod Sandberg as its next head football coach to replace John Tully. Whitworth chose Sandberg, a defensive coordinator from Division III Wheaton College, over fellow finalists Chris Tormey, who is from Spokane and has head coaching experience at Idaho and Nevada; and John Sala, who is the head coach at Louisburg (N.C.) College. Whitworth will conduct a press conference at 4 p.m. today to introduce Sandberg. Tormey is scheduled to interview Wednesday for the vacant job at Central Washington University. Sandberg has coached 19 years at the school in Wheaton, Ill., where he has served the last 11 years a defensive coordinator and he also served as linebackers coach and Wheaton’s recruiting coordinator. The successful football program has gone 8-2 the last two years. Since he started coaching linebackers in 1995, Sandberg has coached seven All-Americans and 49 All-Conference honorees. Prior to rejoining Wheaton, where he played defensive back from 1987-90, Sandberg coached at Georgetown (Ky.) College in 1993-94 and Aurora (Ill.) University in 1991. He replaces Tully, who resigned last month after winning his 100th game, which is the most in Whitworth history. Tully coached 19 years and finished with a record of 100-83. Sandberg was unavailable for comment late Monday. He and his wife, Amy, and sons, Derek and Toby, are traveling to Spokane for the news conference today.