Rutgers tabs South Dakota's Eric Finney as Cornerbacks Coach
Rutgers Football is set to hire South Dakota assistant coach Eric Finney to be the Scarlet Knights next cornerbacks coach, a source confirms to the The Knight Report.
The now former South Dakota cornerbacks coach coach spent one season with the Coyotes, where he helped to develop cornerbacks Mikey Munn and RJ Stewart into lockdown defensive backs.
This past season, Munn finished the year tied for an FCS best five interceptions, a team-high 10 pass breakups to go along with 59 tackles, three tackles for loss and a forced fumble, while being named a Second Team FCS All-American. On the other hand, Stewart was named a Freshman All-American after posting 54 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, five pass breakups, three interceptions and a forced fumble on the year.
Prior to South Dakota, Finney spent time at Cincinnati as a quality control coach, Iowa Western Community College, and Concordia University in Chicago. Before coaching, Finney played his college ball at Illinois from 2013-15, where he played in 35 career games and was named a team captain his senior season in 2015.
Bio from South Dakota Coyotes…
Eric Finney was named the cornerbacks coach at South Dakota in March 2025 after spending the 2024 season at the University of Cincinnati in the Big 12.
While at Cincinnati, Finney served as a Quality Control coach and assisted with the defensive backs for the Bearcats. In his lone season with the Bearcats, he assisted in overall operations and in positional meetings for the Bearcat defensive backs.
He spent six seasons at Iowa Western Community College (2018-23) where he was the defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator. He was the pass game coordinator for the Reivers and was a part of three national championship game appearances with two national titles with IWCC.
Finney began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Concordia University, Chicago (2016-17) where he coached two all-conference selections and helped to orchestrate the top pass defense in the NACC in 2016 (193.9 yards per game).
Finney played three seasons at the University of Illinois (2013-15) where he played in 35 career games and was named a team captain his senior season in 2015. His senior season saw him make eight starts and recorded 35 tackles (7.5 TFL), along with three pass break-ups and one quarterback hurry. In his Illini career, he recorded 70 tackles (11.0 TFL) and had four pass break-ups.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2015. In 2017, he earned his master’s degree in Sports Leadership from Concordia University, Chicago.
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