Hendrickson takes over
Bill Welt
Issue date: 9/30/09 Section: Sports
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Hendrickson had been acquainted with Patterson since being an Iowa Hawkeye assistant from 1994-1998.
He traveled to Western Illinois to become the offensive coordinator for the 'Necks in 1999 when Patterson accepted the head coaching role.
Hendrickson served as an assistant head coach beginning in 2000 for Western.
During his role under Patterson, Hendrickson developed some of the school's best offenses in the program's history.
In 2001, he saw his offensive squad break the top passing mark with quarterback Russ Michna, throwing for an average of 285.5 yards a game.
He led three other squads with modern-era records for scoring offense in 2003 with 36.3 points per game, total offense in 2005 with 418.2 yards a game and rushing offense in 2007.
Running backs Herb Donaldson and 4,000-yard rusher Travis Glaford succeeded under Hendrickson's watch.
He will take the lead role as the 'Necks (1-2) enter into their fourth game this Saturday against Southern Illinois (2-1).
"The best thing I can do and the staff and the players can do is honor Coach Patterson by practicing well and playing well the remainder of the season and even into the future," Hendrickson said. "What he wants us to do is focus on ourselves, focus on the team. That's our plan is to really focus on the upcoming game and each game one at a time."
Hendrickson had previous experience as the head coach from last season.
Patterson was forced to stay away from the program for the first seven games last fall due to his battle with tonsillar cancer.
"This is a unique situation, there is no question about it," Hendrickson said. "We wish he hadn't had to go through this situation but we got to. We will do it to the best of our ability. There is some confidence that we go into it this time because things went well for us last year."
Hendrickson will still call the shots on offense despite taking the head coach position because it was an unexpected event.
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