• Served as co-offensive coordinator in 2018 and 2019
• Works with Bearcats running backs and tight ends/hybrids.
• Former Northwest quarterback (2005-08)
• Only quarterback in Northwest history to start two national championship games (2007 & 2008)
Joel Osborn enters his 10th season as the running backs and tight ends coach at his alma mater. Osborn has been at Northwest since 2004 as a player, graduate assistant and now coaching the wide receivers. In the last seven years, the Bearcats have gone 86-10 overall and 68-6 in MIAA play, capturing six league titles and three national championships.
Since arriving at Northwest, the offensive side of the ball has seen unparalleled heights including a school record for points in a season in 2009 and breaking that record in 2011. In nine seasons on the sidelines, 14 wide receivers combined to earn 20 All-MIAA accolades and three All-America honors.
In 2019, Northwest led the nation in red-zone scoring at 97.6%. Northwest scored 40 times in 41 red zone appearances with 33 touchdowns and seven made field goals.
Osborn also oversaw the development of wide receiver Imoni Donadelle. The junior college transfer earned second-team All-MIAA status after leading the team in receptions (40), receiving yards (658) and receiving touchdowns (8). Donadelle scored via rushing (1), receiving (8) and kick return (1) in 2019.
Shawn Bane Jr. earned second-team All-MIAA honors in 2018 for the second straight season. Bane Jr. became only the third Bearcat to ever lead the team in receiving yards in four straight seasons (Jason Melnick, Jamaica Rector). Bane Jr. wrapped up his Bearcat career ranked No. 4 in receiving yards (3,363), No. 5 in receiving touchdowns (31) and No. 6 in receptions (212).
In 2017, Osborn had wide receiver/returner Bane Jr., earn second team All-MIAA honors. Bane Jr. caught 51 receptions for 675 yards and six touchdowns. Bane Jr. tallied a team-best 913 all-purpose yards.
After throwing passes to Jake Soy as a student-athlete, Osborn helped groom Soy into the 2009 National Wide Receiver of the Year after the sophomore led the nation with 27 touchdown catches and 1,559 yards receiving as his position coach. Both of those marks set conference and school records as Soy would go on to earn first-team All-MIAA honors and become the recipient of the Ken B. Jones MIAA Student-Athlete of the Year Award during the 2010-11 school year.
As a player, Osborn was the 2008 MIAA MVP after throwing for 3,249 yards and 24 touchdowns and helping lead the Bearcats to four straight national championship games and four MIAA Championships. He is also the only quarterback in Northwest history to start in two national championship games (2007 and 2008).
A native of Harlan, Iowa, Osborn earned his bachelor’s degree at Northwest in 2008 and received his master’s in 2011. Osborn and his wife, Audrey, a Northwest alum and former Bearcat track and field athlete, have three sons, Jack, Colin and Isaac. The family resides in Maryville.
