Coaching Staff
Head Coach Kurt Ramler
Phone: (507) 222-4054
Email: kramler@carleton.edu
After guiding the Knights to a 7-3 mark and their best season since 1992, Ramler was selected as the 2008 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Coach of the Year. Carleton defeated three teams that had been ranked nationally and earned the program’s first national ranking in 16 seasons. The Knights’ seven wins equaled the program’s second-highest win total over the last 50 seasons. Under Ramler’s direction, Carleton paced the conference in scoring, first downs, passing efficiency, and total offense.
Before coming to Carleton, Ramler served as offensive coordinator at Heidelberg for three seasons and previously served as Saint John's University's (Minn.) quarterbacks’ coach during the 2002 season, helping the Johnnies to the MIAC title.
Each season Ramler leads the Knights in a community service project. The squad was recognized for its efforts with the “Star of the North” award after aiding in flood recovery efforts in Rushford, Minn. prior to the 2008 season.
A GTE Academic All-American® in 1997, Ramler earned his B.A. in English from St. John’s in 1997 and his master’s degree in education from Wagner in 2003. He won the 1996 MIAC’s most valuable player award for the Johnnies and still holds eight school records, including most total offense and passing yards in a career. Ramler ranks third all-time in NCAA career passing efficiency and currently holds the MIAC single-season passing efficiency record at 174.91, set in 1996, and is the all-time leader in touchdown passes with 87. He was the runner-up for the Gagliardi Trophy in 1996, awarded to Division III’s outstanding football player, and was part of four MIAC title-winning teams.
“We are excited to have Kurt Ramler as our head football coach,” Carleton athletic director Leon Lunder said. “He has broad-based football knowledge, strong ambitions appropriate to a Division III program and understands what it takes to be a successful student-athlete. With Kurt Ramler excellence is a way of life.”
Ramler’s previous coaching positions include one season at NCAA Division I-AA Wagner College (N.Y.) as a wide receivers coach and two seasons as quarterbacks/wide receivers coach at Division III Hamilton College (N.Y.). He also coached two seasons at Eden Prairie (Minn.) High School in a similar capacity, helping the Eagles to the 1997 Minnesota large-school championship.
Ramler also coached overseas for two summers, leading the Prague Panthers to the national title as their head coach in 2000 and coaching the Graz (Austria) Giants in 1999.
Ramler is the 16th head football coach in the football program’s 108-year history and the second Saint John’s graduate to serve as Carleton’s head coach, joining former head coach Bob Sullivan, who compiled a 103-114 record from 1979-2000 as the Knights’ head coach.
Assistant Coach Bob Pagel
Phone: (507) 222-7131
Email: bpagel@carleton.edu
Bob Pagel re-joined the Carleton staff for the 2007 season after a year’s hiatus and was promoted to defensive coordinator in the spring of 2008. He previously spent five years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Pagel, a two-time all-conference player and 1992 graduate of Wartburg College (Iowa), worked under former Bulldog head coach Bob Nielson for three years at Wartburg and two seasons at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. He spent the 1998 season at St. Cloud State University as a graduate assistant coach before rejoining Nielson at UM-Duluth. Pagel, a Eyota, Minn., native, received a B.S. degree in business from Wartburg and holds a master's degree in sports management from St. Cloud State. He currently resides in Nerstand, Minn., with his wife, Chaz, and the couple's children.
Assistant Coach Gerald Young
Phone: (507) 222-4057
Email: gyoung@carleton.edu
Young moves into his 14th season as a part of Carleton football in 2006. A former all-conference defensive end at Southwestern College (Kan.), Young served stints as an assistant at St. Cloud State University, Western Oregon State University and MacMurray College (Ill.). He also was assistant coordinator of student-athlete services at Oregon State University. Young is also an assistant coach for the Carleton softball squad, and serves as an associate athletic director and association professor of physical education, athletics & recreation. He completed the 2001-02 NCAA Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males. Young resides in Northfield with his wife, Ann Wieber-Young, and his two children.
Assistant Coach Aaron Rushing
Phone: (507) 222-4051
Email: arushing@carleton.edu
Rushing moves into his second season on the Carleton football staff in 2006 after serving as an assistant baseball and football coach at his alma mater, Grinnell College. Rushing, also Carleton's head baseball coach, is a 2001 graduate of Grinnell and earned his master's degree from Minot State (N.D.) in 2004. He resides in Northfield with his wife, Naomi, and newborn daughter.
Assistant Coach Marty Hoffmann
Phone: (507) 222-7143
Email: mhoffman@carleton.edu
Hoffman joins the Knights for the 2008 season after a pair of years as a graduate assistant at South Dakota State University, where he worked with the defensive backs and special teams units. He graduated from the University of Minnesota-Morris in May 2005, then spent the following fall coaching the Cougars secondary. Hoffmann earned his master's degree from SDSU in 2008.
Assistant Coach/Running Backs Tom Bell
Tom Bell is back with the Knights for 2006. A physical education teacher, Bell was honored during the 1999-2000 school year as "Teacher of the Year" in the Montgomery/Lonsdale school district, where he was head football coach for 19 seasons. Bell is a 1971 graduate of Moorhead State University where he was a four-year letterwinner.
Assistant Coach/Tight Ends Neal Jeppson
Neal Jeppson slides over to work with the tight ends for 2006, his second season at Carleton. Jeppson recently retired after 29 seasons as head coach at Burnsville (Minn.) High School. His long, successful tenure was recognized by his induction into by the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005. A 1968 graduate of Concordia Moorhead, he earned his master's degree at South Dakota State University in 1971. During his tenure he won one conference championship and three section titles. While at Burnsville, Jeppson was also an assistant football coach for the Blaze. He and his wife, Linda, have three children and three grandchildren.
