The last club to win a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship under the direction of legendary head coach Jim Malosky will be the University of Minnesota Duluth's guests of honor this Saturday (Oct. 1) during the Bulldogs' afternoon clash with Minnesota State University-Moorhead.

After getting off to their slowest start in program history at 0-3, the 1996 Bulldogs reeled off eight consecutive victories to finish 8-3 overall In addition, captured their second NSIC crown in as many year with a perfect 6-0 mark and established team single-season records for points (372), passing yards (1,821), total yards (4,159) and first downs (206). The Bulldogs ranked second nationally that year in turnover margin (+1.9) and 13th in scoring offense (33.8 points per game) while sophomore quarterback Trevor Theelke finished sixth in passing efficiency witha 163.7. He also became UMD's all-time single-season leader in total offense (2,153 yards), passing yards (1,690) and pass completions (103) and his favorite target, junior wide out Wes Bonine set program marks for both pass reception yardage (668) and touchdown catches (10) in one season.

The Bulldogs were captained by senior offensive guard Kurt King, a three-time All-NSIC first team pick who started the final 39 games of his collegiate career. Malosky would go on to coach the UMD one more year before stepping down after suffering a stroke in the offseason. At the time, he was the winningest head coach in NCAA Division II history, going 255-125-13 in his 40 seasons with the Bulldogs.