After finishing the season 9-3 overall and 5-3 in ACC play, head coach Manny Diaz has begun new hires to his staff, adding Northwestern running backs coach Chris Foster as the program's new running backs coach.
Duke is expected to hire Northwestern’s Chris Foster as its new running backs coach, sources tell @CBSSports/@247Sports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 5, 2025
Before Northwestern, Foster worked at ECU and Georgia Southern and has coached future NFL players like Keaton Mitchell and Matt Breida. Helped ECU rank No. 2… pic.twitter.com/eHvIZA103e
Foster spent this past season at Northwestern after previously coaching at East Carolina and Georgia Southern.
He spent five years at Georgia Southern as the running backs coach, recruiting coordinator, and associate head coach.
In his final season at Georgia Southern, Foster was named a nominee for the Broyles Award, given to the best assistant coach in college football. That year, his running backs averaged 267.1 rushing yards per game, totaling 2,427 yards and 17 touchdowns on the season.
Then during his two-year term with East Carolina, he led the Pirates running backs to a 5.2 yards per carry average, second-best in the AAC. His backs totaled 2,218 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2022 as well.
This hire comes after Duke lost its previous running backs coach, Willie Simmons, after Simmons was hired as the next head coach at Florida International University.
Also read: Duke football running backs coach hired as next head coach at FIU
Diaz has already brought in a group of talented transfers to the program for next season, and now has gone to the coaching side with an experienced Foster to take over a run game that was lackluster in 2024.