Football: A great run for New London-Spicer coach

Jan. 26—NEW LONDON

— After a long coaching career with the

New London-Spicer football team

, Chad Gustafson is hanging up his headset.

The decision comes as an "extremely difficult" one for Gustafson, who is retiring after 35 years of coaching to spend time with his growing family.

"There is never a good time to retire from something you love and I truly love Wildcat football, but it is just the right time for me now," Gustafson said. "To be very successful (at coaching), you have to put your everything into it.

"When I put it all together, it is just more time to spend with my wife and our family doing other adventures."

Gustafson, 58, and his wife, Carol, met in a math class at Minnesota State University-Moorhead and both retired from teaching in 2022. He taught fifth and seventh grade for 34 years at NLS and she taught first and fourth grade for 32 years at Kennedy Elementary School in Willmar.

"She was extremely supportive of me and my passion, which is loving football," Gustafson said.

There were videotapes, DVDs, play-sheets and pieces of paper full of ideas that were scattered around their house. He would try to clean it all up at the end of the season, but there always seemed to be a pile that would remain as he formed ideas for the season ahead.

"Anybody that coaches in sports, your spouse truly has got to be pretty supportive about your love, and she definitely was," Gustafson said.

The couple has two daughters: Courtney Ridley, 33, of Edina, and Alyssa Nimmo, 31, of Plymouth. Between Ridley and Nimmo, the Gustafson's have three grandchildren with a fourth on the way. All of them are 2 years old or younger.

Ridley has one daughter, June, and is expecting a newborn girl on Groundhog Day (Feb. 2). Nimmo has one daughter, Rhea, and one son, Jack, who is a recent newborn.

"We're so excited," Gustafson said. "We're fortunate that we have those kids still close to us. We like to try to support them."

Gustafson is looking forward to more of the "life balance" and "freedom" that will come with the headset tucked away and an open schedule for travel with his wife and watching his grandchildren grow. He also wants to improve his golf game and deer hunting abilities.

"When you're locked into football or any sport when you're coaching, it's not just the coaching season," Gustafson said. "You dedicate a lot of time, and sometimes, you have to say, 'we can't go do that or I can't go' because you have certain things going on."

Gustafson's coaching career at NLS started in the fall of 1989. He had coaching stints with the ninth-grade and junior varsity teams and then served as the Wildcats' offensive coordinator under head coach Dan Essler from 2000-2020.

Gustafson knew right away he wanted the head coaching job when Essler retired after 21 seasons

. He would go on to finish his final three years at the helm of NLS.

As head coach, Gustafson had a 23-12 overall record and led the Wildcats to back-to-back state tournament appearances (2021, 2022).

NLS won the Class AAA title the latter of the two years in miracle fashion against Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton

.

"It was tremendous to lead the team the last three years," Gustafson said. "I am going to truly miss coaching with the assistant coaches: Jeff Gabrielson, Jeff Boonstra, Paul Beuning, Joey Dreier and Matt Quade as well as the volunteer coaches: Chad Powers, Bryan Caffin, Jacob Beranek and Mike Williamson.

"We have a great camaraderie. Just a great group of guys."

Also part of the reason why Gustafson is stepping away is because he believes program is in good shape.

"I would like to retire and give somebody else a chance when I think we will still be good," Gustafson said.

The varsity finished 6-4 in a season riddled with injuries, the junior varsity was 6-1 and the ninth-grade team was 7-1.

"I just think that it is a great way for somebody else to start where they will have some talent and great kids," Gustafson said. "They can probably have success right away, I hope."

Over his 35 years with the Wildcats, Gustafson was on the coaching staff for all seven of the school's state tournament appearances. Alongside the 2022 state championship, he helped the Wildcats win their first state title in 2009.

"The seven times were absolutely wonderful," Gustafson said of the state appearances.

Besides the two state titles, one of Gustafson's favorite memories was when the Wildcats beat Albany for the first time in program history in 2006.

"(Dan and I) told the kids, 'if you guys beat Albany, you can shave our heads,'" Gustafson said.

The Wildcats' captains Joey Shearer, Justin Hanson and Blake Williamson made sure it happened after the 22-19 victory on Sept. 15, 2006.

"Dan and I were at the back-end of a pickup, (the kids) shaved our heads," Gustafson said. "It was pretty fun."

Gustafson believes that year has created sustained success at NLS. The Wildcats have not had a losing season since 2006 when they finished 8-3.

"It was really our first group of kids that Dan and I were able to convince that they had to weight train," Gustafson said. "We were able to get those kids to believe it.

"I think the other kids saw like, 'OK. If we want to be successful, we got to put in the work.' And from 2006, it just kept rolling."

Gustafson is going to miss the kids the most.

"I got some great buddies that are coaches. We've got the NLS grounds crew, which is tremendous," Gustafson said. "Those guys are amazing, but I'll miss the kids the most.

"We have great kids at New London-Spicer."

Although the Wildcats had plenty of winning seasons, Gustafson looked at the bigger picture.

"After the wins and losses are gone, you just think about all the working with young men and just trying to teach them to work together as a team and how to work towards a goal," Gustafson said. "You spend a lot of time with kids that aren't your own kids, and hopefully, you've made a positive influence on them."

Gustafson began his coaching career at NLS in his early 20s. Here is the advice he had for up-and-coming coaches:

"Try to give every kid a fair chance and do what you can to make the experience fun for the kids because at the end of the day, football is awesome, but it's a really small slice of life."

Gustafson was not short on what the community has meant to the NLS football program.

"Everybody has been so supportive over the years," Gustafson said. "We have had very supportive parents, community. It's always been a great experience."

Gustafson hopes he is remembered through his hard work and the way he gave his athletes opportunities to have fun and be successful.

"It's been a great run," Gustafson said.