Teams

Football - UMD History

"Duluth State Teachers College had its first team in 1930, and 28 players responded to Coach Kovach's call..."

So records the 1930-31 yearbook, The Chronicle, depicting the origins of Bulldog football when the University of Minnesota Duluth wasn't the University of Minnesota Duluth at all, but rather the Duluth State Teachers College (DSTC). "Coach Kovach," a.k.a. Frank Kovach, an industrial arts specialist organized and coached the first team that would later evolve into one of the most successful college programs in the land.

Appropriately enough, Kovach directed his troops to a winless season as the Bulldogs debuted in 1930 with two ties-a scoreless deadlock against Itasca Junior College, and a 6-6 verdict versus Duluth Junior College-and three losses in their only five outings.

Following Kovach's baptismal year, he yielded the coaching gavel to Lloyd Peterson in 1931, beginning an era that would continue through the 1957 season. Peterson's (and DSTC'S) first victory ever came in the second tilt of the season against Winona State Teacher's College, with a 7-0.

In 1932, the Bulldogs were jammed in a four-way tie for first place in the Northern Intercollegiate Conference, their first taste of championship football, and in 1934 DSTC captured its first outright title. The latter part of the 1930s was one of the most successful eras in Bulldog history. From 1934 to 1939, DSTC constructed a 31-7-2 record with championships again in 1937 and 1938.

The pre-World War II days found the Bulldogs' football program struggling and 1941 produced the worst campaign in the school's history to that point with a 1-6 record. When peace was restored, however, the Bulldogs made a quick comeback as they tied for the NIC crown in 1946 and again in 1948.

The Bulldogs played an independent schedule in 1949 and traded in their green and gold colors in 1950 to become the Maroon & Gold of the University of Minnesota Duluth.

The Bulldogs aligned with the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in 1950. The 1951 season boiled down to a showdown between UMD and Gustavus Adolphus, and, in 17-degree wintry weather, the Gusties stopped the Bulldogs' drive to bring home their first MIAC championship. The following season was the most disastrous year UMD has ever experienced as it suffered through an 0-7-1 season.

The mid-1950s were a period for slowly refueling the program with respectability. In 1957 Peterson stepped down after 24 years of coaching the Bulldogs. His replacement was a Crosby-Ironton native who had worked wonders at Morris and Morningside-Edina High Schools-Jim Malosky-and within three years, the Bulldogs had earned a MIAC crown.

UMD successfully defended its title in 1961, but the program slumped again in the mid-1960s with three successive sub-.500 seasons. The Bulldogs were nosed out for the crown in 1967 with a 7-1-1 record, but again fell below the .500 mark in 1968 and 1969.

After nearly a 30-year absence, UMD rejoined the Northern (Sun) Intercollegiate Conference in 1976. Over the next 28 years, the Bulldogs would suffer just one losing season in conference play while amassing a 196-95-5 record en route to capturing nine NSIC championships. The first of those crowns came in 1979 when UMD won its final five conference outings of the year (including a convincing 34-8 home win over Moorhead State) to claim a share of the NSIC title with Moorhead State. The following season, the Bulldogs did what no UMD club had ever done before - finished a season unbeaten and untied - as it posted a perfect 10-0-0 overall record. By October 1981, UMD had strung together a 20-game winning streak, which at the time was the longest in all of college football. Then, on Halloween of that year, Moorhead State knocked the Bulldogs from the ranks of the unbeatens, stunning the overflow record-crowd of 5,862 at Griggs Field with a 29-0 victory. UMD went on to finish the season sporting a 9-1-0 mark in all games and placed second to (who else?) Moorhead State in the league standings.

The Bulldogs returned to the top of the NSIC heap in 1985, and also laid claim to conference crowns in 1990, 1995 and 1996.

The 1997 season marked the end of a golden era for Bulldog football. Due to health concerns, the legendary Jim Malosky was forced to retire following a memorable 40-year coaching run at UMD. The winningest coach in NCAA Division II football history at the time, Malosky just seemed to get better with age as his clubs finished below the .500 mark on only two occasions during his final 28 seasons.

Upon Malosky's departure, UMD floundered somewhat until the dawn of a new century. Bob Nielson's arrival as head coach in 1999 signaled a resurgence and, in 2001, Nielson and the Bulldogs posted a 9-3-0 overall mark, the most victories in a season for UMD since 1990. The Bulldogs, who fell just short of an NSIC title for the second straight season, made the school's first-ever postseason appearance by taking part in the 37th Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Mo., against perennial NCAA Division II power Central Missouri State.

One season later, in 2002, the Bulldogs enjoyed arguably their most productive season in team history, going a perfect 11-0 during the regular season (including a 9-0 mark in NSIC play when it averaged an leageu-record 47.9 points per outing) and earning their inaugural berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs. UMD, which set or equalled some 59 team and individual records during the course of the year, suffered a 45-41 last-second setback to Northwest Missouri State University in its NCAA playoff debut. Still, the Bulldogs celebrated a banner season, claiming their first NSIC championship in a half dozen years.

UMD continued its victorious ways in 2003, posting an 8-3 overall mark. A Nov. 15 game against Winona State was to be the Bulldogs' farewell to the NSIC following 42 years of affiliation split by 26 seasons in the MIAC. After five years on the Bulldog sidelines, Nielson traded in his headset on December 1, 2003 to take over as UMD's Director of Athletics. One of Nielson's first major moves was to hire his successor. Looking west, he found his man in Kyle "Bubba" Schweigert, who had paid his dues the previous 15 years as highly-regarded assistant coach at the University of North Dakota. Schweigert piloted the Bulldogs through their inaugural go-around of North Central Conference activity four years ago. It didn’t take long for his troops to settle into their new digs, however. UMD used a relentless and a record-breaking air attack to tie for the 2005 NCC crown and qualify for NCAA II postseason play for the second time in four years. Schweigert stepped down as head coach after the 2007 season (the final year of competition for the historic NCC) and his replacement was also his predecessor, Bob Nielson. In his first season back at the controls, Nielson proceeded to marshal the Bulldogs through a season for the ages, claiming a school's first NCAA Division II title in any sport and going a perfect 15-0. UMD, which went 10-0 in NSIC play -- a league first - to capture its 20th conference crown (MIAC, NCC or NSIC), capped off the 2008 season with a 21-14 victory over Northwest Missouri State in the NCAA II championship in Florence, Ala. Two weeks earlier, the Bulldogs posted what is arguably its most momentuous victory in UMD athletic history by derailing perennial NCAA II powerhouse Grand Valley State 19-13 in overtime. That victory came on the road over a team which had, up to that point, gone 51-1 and won two NCAA II championships during the past four years. Although it wasn’t able to successfully defend their national title last fall, UMD still managed to advance to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA II playoffs and walk off with its second straight outright NSIC crown.

UMD has harvested several outstanding players throughout its rich 76-year history including halfbacks Ted McKnight (the 1976 NCAA II rushing leader), Dick Pesonen and Lou Barle, end Tom Adams, offensive tackle Vern Emerson, and defensive tackle Dave Viaene-all of whom did time in the National Football League. Another Bulldog product, the late Dan Devine, gained national recognition as a respected collegiate and professional coach. Devine, who captained and quarterbacked UMD in 1947, went on to enjoy prosperous head coaching stays at the University of Missouri, the University of Notre Dame (where he won a national championship) and the Green Bay Packers. Most recently, UMD outside linebacker Russ Rabe, UMD’s all-time quarterback sack leader, joined the program’s legends by signing a free agent contract with the New Orleans Saints in April 2005 before going on to strut his stuff for the NFL Europe’s Hamburg Sea Devils the next summer. In addition, quarterback Ted Schlafke distinquished himself following a brilliant four-year playing career in 2008 by becoming the first Bulldog to land a spot on the American Football Coaches Association All-American team as well as the first to be a Harlon Hill Award (most outstanding player in NCAA II football) quarterfinalist. Junior running back Isaac Odim repeated that feat one year later.