After 26 years, Jerry Albert is going to be a consultant for the Wartburg football program. The Hudson native and 1969 Wartburg alum has coached the running backs, h backs and tight ends after being a kick return specialist as a player.
Albert's parents suggested he look at Wartburg when he was starting the college selection process. "My mom pushed me towards Wartburg as we had family friends that went there," he said. "The small class sizes interested me compared to what Northern Iowa offered. My two brothers also went to Wartburg and were music and physical education majors."
He grew up in the Lutheran church and Wartburg's religious tie was a little stronger back then he said as convocations were twice a week, attendance was required and convos were more religious-based.
Albert was a business education major and had a minor in physical education and coaching.
"I aced calculus 1 so I signed up for calculus 2," he said. "That class didn't go so well so I dropped calc2 and picked up theory of coaching football, which was taught by my coach Lee Bondhus, and the rest they say is history."
As he recalls, the football team wasn't very good his freshman through junior year, but then won the Iowa Conference title his senior season. "The fact that we went about our business the right way my senior year when we went from last to first was why I got into coaching," Albert said. "Playing football added to my Wartburg experience. It gave me a great group of friends with a common goal and a chance to compete."
After graduating from Wartburg, he taught in high schools and community college and also became a realtor in addition to coaching.
"It was a tough transition from playing to coaching initially, as the emotions are different," he said.
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, 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, 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.
"Canfield was very amiable and wanted his players to also learn the lessons of life," Albert commented. One night after preseason camp practice, the team attended manners and etiquette lessons as they had dinner in the Castle Room. This was a very formal, sit down dinner with all the forks and white tablecloths because Coach Canfield said, 'You all might have a job interview someday where you're going to have to know how to conduct yourself at a fancy meal.'
Another phrase Albert remembers of Canfield is to treat others respectfully. "Be nice to Susie, treat her right. You may have a daughter someday and will want others to treat her respectfully." Susie was a worker in the Wartburg food service.
Bob Nielson was "very intellectual. He surrounded himself with coaches that got after it," he said. Steve Hagen's catchphrase was "don't flinch."
Eric Koehler's phrase was 'out the gate.' "This was based off a rocket screen play call where the wide receiver would come back towards the line and run right up the middle," said Albert. "We scored a lot on that play."
"Rick Willis uses 'start early and stay late' in a lot of his pep talks," said Albert. "He is organized, intense and knows what he wants. He is all about the team."
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.
