After a stellar playing career as a wide receiver for the Cardinals, Brad Spencer joined the North Central College coaching staff as a wide receivers/tight ends coach in 2004. After 11 seasons as the wide receivers coach, Spencer was promoted to assistant head coach and offensive coordinator prior to the 2015 season. In January 2022, he was appointed the 26th head coach in the history of the Cardinals' program.
The 2022 season saw the Cardinals post the program's first undefeated season, a 15-0 campaign which resulted in the program's second NCAA Division III National Championship. North Central won the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, 28-21, over the University of Mount Union (Ohio) at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. The Cardinals returned to the Stagg Bowl in 2023 at Salem Stadium in Salem, Virginia, losing by a 38-37 count to the State University of New York at Cortland before another 15-0 national title run in 2024.
The Cardinals won the largest playoff in college football history in 2024, the first year of Division III's expansion to a 40-team field. North Central advanced to the Stagg Bowl for the fifth consecutive season, prevailing over Mount Union, 41-25, at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas. Spencer was named the D3football.com National Coach of the Year following the victory and is the second coach in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) history to receive three straight Coach of the Year awards.
Spencer was named the
FootballScoop NCAA Division III Coordinator of the Year following the 2019 season, which saw the Cardinals win their first Division III national championship over the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 41-14, in Shenandoah, Texas.
Wide Receivers Coach 2004-2019
- Six All-America selections
- Nine All-Region selections
- 2014 CCIW Art Keller Offensive Player of the Year Award
- 22 All-CCIW selections
- NCAA Division III single-season record for touchdown receptions (31, Andrew Kamienski '21, 2019)
- Established new school career and single-season records in every receiving category
Offensive Coordinator 2015-2021
- 2019 D3football.com National Offensive Player of the Year and Gagliardi Trophy winner
- Four CCIW Art Keller Offensive Player of the Year Awards
- Broc Rutter '20, 2016, 2018, 2019; Austin Breunig '18, 2017
- Five-time CCIW leaders, total offensive yards in conference play
- 2015 (451.6 yards per game), 2016 (420.6 ypg), 2017 (463.8 ypg), 2018 (504.4 ypg), 2019 (576.4 ypg)
- Three-time CCIW leaders, scoring offense in conference play
- 2015 (37.4 points per game), 2016 (42.9 ppg), 2019 (56.3 ppg)
- CCIW team single-season records set in 2019 (conference play only)
- Points (507)
- Average points scored (56.3)
- Total touchdowns (69)
- Total offensive yards (5,188)
- Offensive yards per game (576.4)
- Passing touchdowns (41)
Head Coach 2022-present
- 44-1 record in three seasons
- 2022 - undefeated 15-0 record and the program's second Division III national championship
- 2023 - 14-1 record, national runner-up finish in program's fourth straight trip to national title game
- 2024 - undefeated 15-0 record and the program's third Division III national championship
- 2022 - Division III national record for rushing yards (5,330) and national leaders in scoring offense (52.4 ppg), total offense (541.5 ypg) and rushing offense (355.3 ypg)
- individual national leader in rushing yards (1,997) and rushing touchdowns (26)
- 2023 - Division III national records for yards per play (9.5), yards per pass (13.59), passing efficiency (249.0) and points scored (879); national leaders in scoring offense (58.6 ppg) and total offense (567.5 ypg)
- individual national records in passing efficiency (263.2), yards per pass (14.7), yards per completion (20.0), percentage of passes completed for touchdowns (20.7) and yards per rushing attempt (9.77)
- CCIW records for points scored (576), points per game (64.0), touchdowns (83), total yards (5,504) and yards per game (611.6) in conference play
- 2024 - Division III national leaders in passing efficiency (200.9), first downs (374) red-zone defense (52.6%) and third-down defense (25.0%)
- CCIW Championships: 2022, 2023, 2024
- 2022, 2023, 2024 Gagliardi Trophy winners
- 2022, 2023, 2024 D3football.com National Offensive Players of the Year
- 46 All-America selections
- 2022, 2023, 2024 D3football.com Region 5 Offensive Players of the Year
- 2024 D3football.com Region 5 Defensive Player of the Year
- 33 All-Region selections
- Five CCIW Players of the Year
- 35 First Team All-CCIW selections
- Five College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America selections
- 21 CSC Academic All-District selections
- 2025 Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame Inductee - Ray Meyer Coaching Excellence Award
- Four-year letter winner as a player at North Central
- Graduated as Cardinals' all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown receptions
- Earned bachelor of arts degree from North Central (2004)
- Resides in Naperville
