Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Scott Bostwick, the 2007 AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year, joins head coach Mel Tjeerdsma in entering his 17th season at Northwest Missouri State. Since the duo's arrival in 1994, the Bearcats have won 11 MIAA championships, three NCAA championships and made seven title game appearances in the last 12 seasons.

Along with team success has come numerous individual accolades for Northwest defenders. Bostwick has coached 18 defensive players who have combined to appear on numerous All-America teams. The 2009 national championship squad featured two All-Americans in defensive lineman Tyler Roach and safety Myles Burnsides. Sean Paddock was a 2008 All-American, who broke the program's all-time sack and tackles-for-loss records in 2009.

Burnsides was named the 2009-10 Ken B. Jones Award Winner as the MIAA's top male student-athlete. Following his junior season in 2008, Burnsides became the first Bearcat to be named the Division II National Defensive Player of the Year. He also became the fifth Bearcat to be named MIAA Defensive Player of the Year under Bostwick.

Year-in and year-out, Bostwick continuously produces one of the top defenses in the nation. The Bearcats have the led the MIAA in scoring defense in each of the last four seasons and in total defense in each of the last two. Northwest ranked 10th nationally in run defense, 11th in sacks and 18th in scoring defense in 2009.

The Bearcats have finished in the top 10 nationally in stopping the run three times in the last four years, including 2006 when the team set a program record by allowing just 75 rushing yards per game. Only five individuals have posted 100 yards rushing against Northwest in the last 63 games heading into the 2010 season.

In 2005, Dave Tollefson became the first defensive player under Bostwick to be drafted into the NFL when the Packers made him a seventh-round draft pick (253rd overall). Tollefson set a Northwest record by registering 12.5 sacks that year. He earned a championship ring as a member of the New York Giants at the conclusion of the 2007 season.

Bostwick mentored four first-team All-MIAA selections in 2005, the highest number in one season under his regime. He matched that total in both 2007 and 2009. Bostwick has coached 50 Bearcats who have combined to earn 77 All-MIAA honors.

Bostwick's defenses dominated during the Bearcats' championship seasons of 1998 and 1999 - the momentum gained in 1997, when Northwest led the MIAA in virtually every defensive category.

Prior to joining the staff at Northwest, Bostwick spent four years at Western Washington University in Mt. Vernon, Wash. He served as defensive coordinator at Nebraska Wesleyan, his alma mater, from 1986-1990.

Bostwick holds a bachelor's degree from Nebraska Wesleyan, where he was a four-year letterwinner and was named all-conference and all-district on the gridiron. He was inducted into the University's Athletic Hall of Fame in October of 2006 and is the program's third-leading tackler.

Bostwick and his wife, Sue, reside in Maryville with their two children, Leah and Eric. Leah will be a first-year student at Northwest during the 2010-11 academic year and will be a member of the Bearcat volleyball team.