Charger football family traditions to continue building on foundation left by Otterbein

HILLSDALE — Last week, Charger football head coach Keith Otterbein announced his retirement after 22 years at the helm. In his 22 years with the program, Otterbein built a CLIAC and G-MAC conference contender that made two NCAA DII playoff appearances and won four conference titles.

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Otterbein - like many of the Charger football staff - came from a long line of Charger alumni who came back to the program to help usher in a new era of Hillsdale College football. Otterbein himself was a linebacker for the Chargers starting back in 1975 before he began his coaching career after graduation.

Otterbein ends his tenure a part of a long list of coaches and former players that have added to and became a part of the Charger football family tradition. That family legacy and tradition includes his own two sons - Brad and Steve - who both played for the Chargers under their father.

Brad Otterbein is in his 12th season as the quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator. Steve is in his 14th season with the Charger coaching staff, serving as the Charger's defensive coordinator.

This family legacy and tradition of Charger football isn't unique to just their program. It has been a part of Hillsdale College's legacy that has continued to be built upon under current Athletic Director John Tharp. Tharp - the former men's basketball coach - says that all of Charger athletics sees themselves as one large family.

"We all look at Hillsdale College Athletics as a family,” Tharp said. “That’s first-and-foremost. As a family, we support each other. Then – from individual teams – when we have a student athlete, their families are so involved with our programs that they feel like they are a part of the football program and basketball program.

“Because of that, we get little brothers and little sisters coming here because they know the way their older siblings have been treated and the education they are getting. The cultural programs here are so good and they understand and appreciate the value of Charger athletics. It really demonstrates how positive and great the culture of our programs is. We foster the virtue of true friendships. We have the idea that we are fostering relationships with the people that came from the past. We bring generations of programs and teams together.”

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Building off of those foundations, Keith Otterbein was able to bring in several groups of player families that had been with him at Ferris State and Ball State before taking over the Charger program in 2002.

"It’s a very gratifying situation when even my former players from Ferris have sent a couple guys,” Otterbein said. “We got a couple guys who played for me at Ferris that now have kids on our team here.”

In his 22 years as a head coach at Hillsdale College, Otterbein brought together 25 different sets of siblings to play for the Chargers, including three sets of three siblings. This includes Steve (’14), Matt (’21) and Michael Harding; Ben, Nick and Zac Affholter, and Matt (’16), John and Chris VanOpstall.

“The last count we had something like 25 sets of brothers in my tenure here that have been through,” Otterbein said. “It’s very rewarding to know we must have done something right with brother one for the parents to trust us. It speaks highly of the staff, school and program and the culture we built that those siblings are wanting to be a part of it.”

That family culture that has influenced the program through the decades becomes an influence that turns each generation of Chargers into their own family, and in turn that influences at every facet of the game on and off the field. As a part of the family, players take on responsibilities that benefit not just themselves but the whole team.

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Otterbein's own family connections to the Charger program are an example to the rest of the team about how important that culture is to the team functioning as one unit and not the sum of its parts.

“It is an example of how important that is,” Otterbein said. “I was shocked earlier this year to read Deion Sanders talking about the unimportance of culture. That is totally against everything I believe. Culture is everything. Playing for your buddies is the unique thing about football. Everyone’s got a role and responsibility. This football team – and some of those seniors we honored on Sunday – assumed a role as scout team guys and embraced that challenge.

“Having my family here, I’ve gotten many texts and emails that mention my guys recognizing that my dad would be in there listening to the pregame speech. That’s showing – by example – what a close family is supposed to look like.”

That family culture helped keep Team 131 together this past season as things turned sour at the beginning of their 2023 season. The Charger lost all three of their road games to start the season, and then took a tough home opener loss to Findlay.

The Chargers were able to rally together and win six of their last seven games to end Otterbein's tenure with another winning season. He finishes his run as the Charger's head coach with a 133-107 overall record. Those 133 wins put him third-all time in program history. He finishes his career 193-146-3 overall in his 31 seasons as a head coach.

“It’s capped off – with icing on the cake – with the way our football team finished,” Otterbein said. “That’s a great reflection of everything we stand for: the character, the hard work, the discipline of our guys to get better and to be unselfish. That finish to the 2023 season was so gratifying to watch our players and coaches fight through a tough time.”

Otterbein says that he is fortunate and blessed to have been a part of the Charger family going back 45 years and is grateful to have been a member of the players and coaches that have built the program into what it is.

“My time at Hillsdale – because Hillsdale has that atmosphere – has changed me. As much as my mission as a coach is to make our players better men, I think my time at Hillsdale College as made me a better man. It’s changed me in a very positive way to affect other people.”

Future of Charger football

Keith Otterbein is looking forward to the next legacy and era of Charger football under new head coach Nate Shreffler. Like Otterbein, Shreffler is a former player and Hillsdale alumnus who has been a part of the coaching staff since 1998, 13 of those years recently as the offensive coordinator.

Otterbein believes the biggest challenge for the new staff will be to paint the picture of the culture and to get the team to buy into whatever changes may come in the new era of Charger football.

“Moving forward, the challenge for the new staff is for Nate to paint that picture and for the staff and the team to buy into whatever changes are going to be made,” Otterbein said.

The foundation of the Charger's rich culture of family and tradition will help pave the way for Hillsdale College football into the future. Helping continue on the legacy are several pairs of siblings that currently play for the Chargers.

On the offensive line, twin brothers Nick Affholter and Benjamin Affholter (Quincy, MI/Reading) hold down interior line spots on offense. This past recruiting class, they were joined on the roster by younger brother Zac Affholter, a true freshman lineman. All three are sons of Brad Affholter, a multi-year starter on the Charger offensive line in the mid-90s and an assistant coach with the team in 2023.

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There are several other sibling duos on the team – twin brothers Josh Lee and Sam Lee (Toledo, OH/Central Catholic) returned as sophomores for this season, as did junior tight end Ben Hinrichs and his younger brother, Christian (Escondido, CA/Classical Academy).

Hillsdale sophomore wide receiver Corban Creason (Coppell, TX/Founders Classical Academy) was joined by his younger brother, Christian, and sophomore offensive lineman John VanOpstall (Jenison, MI/Jenison) was joined by his younger brother, Chris.

With a new era comes changes with each generation of college football coaches and players. The Chargers have built a strong reputation as one of the more consistent programs in the G-MAC, and before that in the GLIAC.

It will remain to be seen how the Chargers continue to build and add on to the foundations already present with the program, but the family legacies that carry on at Muddy Waters Stadium will surely put the team into a strong position to continue their success on and off the field.

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This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Charger football's family traditions carry on after Otterbein's retirement