Chris Winter is in his fifth season as the
head coach in 2025, after serving with the Wartburg football coaching staff for 16 years. He was the defensive coordinator since 2011, was promoted to assistant head coach in 2013, and has served as the head strength and conditioning coordinator since 2008.
He was named the 2022 D3football.com National Coach of the Year, the 2022 D3football.com Regional Coach of the Year, the 2023 AFCA Regional Coach of the Year, and the 2022, 2023, and 2024 American Rivers Conference Coach of the Year. The Knights won the 2022 A-R-C title to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs, and advanced to a National Semifinal. Hunter Clasen (offense) and Owen Grover (defense) were named the conference MVPs, and Grover later earned Regional Player of the Year honors from D3football.com. Clasen and Grover repeated as conference MVPs in 2023, and the Knights won the A-R-C Championship and advanced to a National Semifinal for the second-straight year.
Owen Grover was a finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, the National Football Foundation's William V. Campbell Trophy, was selected as D3football.com National Defensive Player of the Year, and was the Cliff Harris Award winner for NCAA Division III in 2023. Grover was also named the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America team member of the year for all of NCAA Division III.
While overseeing the Wartburg defense for eight seasons, the Knights won five Conference Championships including three-straight from 2017 to 2019. The Wartburg defense led the conference in total defense, scoring defense, rush defense, and pass inefficiency at least four seasons during his tenure.
Winter's defense has ranked among the top 25 nationally in several defensive categories, including the second most tackles for loss in 2012 and fifth most sacks in 2013.
A 2004 Wartburg graduate, Winter was a four-year member of the football and baseball teams and 2017 Wartburg Athletics Hall of Fame inductee. His wife, Tara, a 2001 Wartburg graduate, is the executive director of admissions and cheerleading coach at Wartburg. They reside in Waverly with their children, Emmry and Maddox.
Under Winter:
Conference MVPs: 5
All-Conference: 37
All-Region: 43
All-Americans: 17
| Season |
Record |
NCAA Finish |
| 2021 |
7-3 |
|
| 2022 |
13-1 |
National Semifinal |
| 2023 |
13-1 |
National Semifinal |
| 2024 |
10-2 |
Third Round |
| 3 seasons |
43-7 |
|
