From volunteer to head coach: Alex Kretzschmar ready to take over DWU football

Feb. 16—MITCHELL — Alex Kretzschmar can hardly believe his new title: Dakota Wesleyan head football coach.

It was just three years ago, after all, that Kretzschmar phoned Ross Cimpl, offering his services as a volunteer staff member for the Tigers.

Fast forward to Monday morning, when Cimpl informed Kretzschmar that after 12 years as DWU's head coach he was taking a promotion to be the Tigers' new athletic director and that he was hiring Kretzschmar to replace him, the Wisconsin native finally had the head coaching job he had long coveted.

"It's still a little surreal," said Kretzschmar, who was officially announced as DWU's football coach on Tuesday afternoon. "I'll wake up in the morning and go about my routine and I'll be like, 'Oh wow, I'm not just the offensive coordinator anymore.'"

According to Kretzschmar, who has spent 12 seasons as an assistant at schools across the country, including the last two at DWU, his promotion to head coach was not a premeditated decision by the university. When athletic director Jon Hart left for his new position at the University of Sioux Falls at the end of last year, the plan was for Cimpl to be the athletic director only in the interim, then return to coaching. However, in recent weeks, Cimpl approached Kretzschmar about potentially taking on the coaching position.

"I had talked with Ross once or twice before and he said, 'Hey, this could go this way, it's nothing for sure, I don't want to get your hopes up or anything like that,'" Kretzschmar said. "He asked me at one point 'I know you have aspirations of potentially being a head coach one day, would this be something you'd be interested in?' And I said 'Yeah, definitely' but it was still to the point that he wasn't sure if he was ready to be done coaching."

Once Cimpl, who was unavailable for comment for this story prior to publication, informed Kretzschmar of his promotion, it was full steam ahead. Kretzschmar has spent the week calling the Tigers' recently signed recruits from the 2024 class, meeting with school administrators and with his current players.

With Cimpl still on campus, and Kretzschmar being promoted from within, the transition is expected to be a smooth one. Kretzschmar respects what Cimpl has built, and does not plan on altering the foundations of the program. But it is his team to run now.

"It's my name on it," he said. "And in order for me to be authentic to the players and people on campus in the community, I have to put my own spin on it, because then that's what makes it mine."

After six years of hustling around the country as a Division III assistant, with stops from the Quad Cities in Iowa to Waterville, Maine, it was a move to Madison, to become Dakota State's offensive coordinator, which helped Kretzschmar lay down his roots.

In the fall of 2018, he met Dr. Katrina Almeida, who had finished residency and was starting her career as a surgeon at Avera Queen of Peace Hospital in Mitchell. They started dating in 2019, and eventually moved in together.

It created a dynamic where Kretzschmar was living in Mitchell, and commuting to Madison everyday to coach football. After the 2020 season, he left Dakota State, and reached out to Cimpl about the prospects of helping coach DWU.

For the spring and summer, he volunteered for the program on the defensive side of the ball, until an opportunity arose at Valley City State in North Dakota to coach wide receivers, which he accepted. After nine months of a long-distance relationship with Almeida, his now wife, Kretzschmar was offered a full-time job as special teams coordinator for DWU.

"'I know it's not on the offensive side,'" Kretzschmar recalls Cimpl telling him, "'But at least you'd get to move back and sleep in your bed on a normal basis again.'"

Kretzschmar jumped on the opportunity, and has been at Dakota Wesleyan since. Last season, he returned to familiar territory as offensive coordinator, helping the Tigers finish above .500 for the first time since 2017. Behind All-American running back Jamin Arend, the Tigers' offense averaged 341.4 yards per game, and 22.8 points per game.

For Kretzschmar, his devotion to coaching has made the past decade feel like a blur.

"It's been weird to think that I've been coaching for over 10 years now. I feel like I'm still getting into this business," he said. "It's been a lot of hard work, and it's still going to continue to be hard work. But what I always tell people is that being a college football coach, you are almost addicted to it."

Like anyone in the industry, Kretzschmar is obsessed with winning, and the process behind it. He believes he has the persistence required to "find an edge" on Saturdays. He enjoys being a part of a team, and wants to help his players achieve their full potential, on and off the field. Those who know him say his actions back up his desires.

"He's got a great work ethic, which I think anybody who's going to move forward in coaching has to have," said Jonathan Michaeles, who was the head coach at Colby College (Maine) while Kretzschmar was the wide receivers/quarterback coach there from 2015-2018. "But the thing that always struck me about Alex is he's extremely genuine. What he says and how he says it is exactly who he is. His players really respect that and appreciate that. He is really just selfless giving of his time and care to both colleagues and players alike."

Though he describes himself as a passionate person, it isn't Kretzschmar's inclination to yell and scream. He has a more meticulous approach in his interactions with his players, unafraid to correct them but approaching those situations in a calm manner.

Above all, from his playing days at St. Norbert College (Wis.) to his various coaching stops at the Division III or NAIA level, his goal is to maximize the experience for the student athlete.

And that's what he'll look to do in Mitchell.

"We're trying to give these guys an experience and put them in the best position possible, whether it's on the field in the classroom, community or after they graduate graduate," Kretzschmar said. " ... It's very much the purest sense of doing it for the love of the game."