WAVERLY, Iowa-- Wartburg football assistant coach Jerry Albert, a 1969 alum, has been named the 2015 John Kurtt Alumni Coach of the Year.

After 26 years, Jerry Albert is going to be a consultant for the Wartburg football program. The Hudson native has coached the running backs, h backs and tight ends after being a kick return specialist as a player.

After graduating from Wartburg, he taught in high schools and community college and also became a realtor in addition to coaching.

He started coaching for two years at Hampton Junior High School (football, track and wrestling), then was head football and track at Fayette High School for three years and went on to Winona State to earn his master's. At Ellsworth Community College, he was the offensive coordinator where he was also the head of the business department for five of the six years he was there. "When I coached at Ellsworth, we were invited to the 1976 Junior Rose Bowl, which was the Junior College National Championship, which was played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.," Albert said. "I was 28 years old at the time and walking down that tunnel to the field, I thought my heart was going to pound right out of my chest." The 1976 and 1979 teams were undefeated.

After Ellsworth, Albert coached for two years at UNI on Stan Sherriff and Darrell Mudra's staff. He took some time off from coaching when he worked in finance and sales at the Heartland Hotels group and then when he got back into teaching at Hawkeye Tech, that's when he was contacted about helping coach at Wartburg.

"My brother Brian was the defensive coordinator for Coach Don Canfield and he called me asking if I wanted to help coach the running backs," said Albert. "I've been fortunate to have talented people to coach that are great to be around and are quality team players," he said.

One can sense the pride and appreciation he has for these talented individuals as when he starts listing off names of former players, he can also tell you where they currently work. Albert has worked with six of the ten players on the program's career leaders in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. The names of Bobby Beatty, Trevor Shannon, Justin Beatty, Brad Hodapp, Dan Hammes and Darren Bohlen are the names of those players on the list. Albert mentions them not only by name, but what seasons they played when asked about special players that he worked with. Tyler Molstre who was a 1,000 yard rusher in a season and Mark Kelly, who is third on the touchdowns list, are other players that stand out in Albert's mind. "But more importantly, there are a large group of players who were big contributors to our teams, they just don't show up in the stats," he said. "They probably blocked for the individuals that do show up in the stats."

Albert has worked with five of Wartburg's eight head coaches and "all of the head coaches I've worked with at Wartburg are all unique in their own way," he said.

There are a few games and performances that stand out to Coach Albert. "We beat Central at our place in 1993 for the conference championship, but then lost to them on their home field in the regular-season in 1994," he said. "We then had to face them in Pella in the first round of the 1994 NCAA Playoffs and we won 22-21 as they attempted a late field goal that went off the upright to give us the win." In 1999 and 2003, those teams were undefeated in the regular season.

-The 2008 NCAA Playoff run where Wartburg beat UW-Stevens Point who had won the WIAC and then advanced that next week, to beat Monmouth on the last play of the game before falling to UW-Whitewater.

-The 2014 undefeated season where Wartburg won the IIAC, then won the MIAC with regular-season wins over Augsburg and Bethel and then defeated St. Thomas and St. John in the NCAA Playoff before losing to eventual National Champion UW-Whitewater.

-In 2010 when we played Coe on their field, it was very physical game and we won convincingly, that team went undefeated that year in the regular season.

"All in all, I have been blessed to have coached some outstanding young men and worked with great coaches and support staff," said Albert.
The John Kurtt Alumni Coach of the Year award has been given to a college alumni involved in coaching in either the high school or collegiate ranks each year since 1962. A final presentation of this award will be given at halftime of the Nov. 7 football game.
 

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