EDINBORO — Networking never hurts. Neither does perseverance.

Both have benefited Nate Hartung.

The 2005 Butler graduate and former Golden Tornado football and basketball standout has settled into his role as tight ends coach and assistant recruiting coordinator for Edinboro University’s football program.

“It pays to meet people and know people,” Hartung said. “It’s by pure chance that I’m here, but I’m so happy this has worked out.”

One of Hartung’s Butler classmates — former track and field star Annessa Schnur Steele — taught at Edinboro and steered him in that direction. So, too, did former Slippery Rock University defensive lineman Tony Papley, who lined up against Hartung in the NCAA Division II playoffs when the latter was an offensive lineman at Winston-Salem State.

Papley became defensive coordinator at Edinboro two years ago and helped get Hartung on staff.

“I never knew Tony Papley until we played Slippery Rock that day,” Hartung said. “Who knew we’d wind up networking the way we did?”

Hartung is a volunteer coach at Edinboro. He works full-time as a trucker, hauling freight on a route from West Middlesex to Massachusetts twice a week, then a partial route to Wilkes-Barre each Friday.

He finds a way to be on the sidelines for Edinboro each Saturday.

“Those weekends are tough,” Hartung admitted. “When the game starts each Saturday, I’ve been awake for the last 26 hours already. But it’s well worth it to me.

“I’m still involved in football. It’s where I want to be.”

He’s taken quite the route to get there.

After graduating from Butler and serving his two-year Mormon mission, Hartung began his college football playing career at Brigham Young. An ankle injury resulted in him going to Eastern Arizona, then winding up his playing career at Winston-Salem State.

He applied at 200 schools in an effort to attain a graduate assistant’s position and slide into the coaching ranks.

“NAIA, Division II, the big boys ... I looked all over,” he said. “I thought I was in at The Citadel, Southeastern Oklahoma, Northern Arizona, but none of them panned out.”

Hartung has worked in finance, on an oil field and got into trucking, always hoping for a chance to get back into football.

Now Edinboro is thrilled to have him.

“Nate is outstanding,” Fighting Scots coach Jake Nulph said. “He’s selfless. He’s a volunteer coach filled with energy and enthusiasm. You see him on our sidelines and would never guess he hasn’t slept in more than 24 hours. He never stops.

“He’s such a people person. It was only natural to get him involved in recruiting. The impact he’s had there has been remarkable.”

Offensive line coach Travis Tislaretz is the Scots’ recruiting coordinator. Hartung coaches with him a lot during practice and on game days.

“I’ve gotten to know him well and we really get along,” Hartung said. “It was easy for me to help in recruiting since my dad (longtime Butler County Community College basketball coach Dick Hartung) coached at the college level. I watched him recruit. I know the game.

“I’ve probably called 300 to 400 prospective recruits this year.”

A number of them have shown up on Edinboro’s sidelines for home games this season.

“We had five home games and probably had 50 high school kids down there for each one ... That’s 50 different kids each game,” Nulph said. “I don’t know if another team in the country can match that volume. A lot of that is the result of Nate Hartung.”

Hartung and his family recently bought a house in Edinboro and are moving there from Erie. He believes his football life has come full circle.

“I remember when I was playing at Butler,” Hartung said. “We had guys like Hank Leyland and Ralph McElhaney work in the mill all day, then come over and volunteer their time helping to coach our team. They were integral parts of that staff.

“I learned the value and dedication of that from watching them. Division II football teams need guys like that, too. I’m proud to follow in their footsteps that way.”

Nulph said Edinboro has a winning football tradition and he just wants to return that pride and success to the program. Hartung is on board with that.

“We want kids to come here out of high school, commit to the program for four or five years, so we can help develop them as football players and young men,” Hartung said. “We want them to come back for homecoming in future years and pass along pride in the program.

“Life is an adventure. I love where it’s taken me right now.”