After 22 seasons as the head football coach for Hillsdale College, Keith Otterbein announced his retirement Nov. 15. Offensive coordinator Nate Shreffler will fill his position. 

Otterbein led the Chargers to three NCAA Division II playoff appearances, three GLIAC division championships, and one G-MAC regular season championship, which was when the 2018 Chargers went undefeated in conference matchups. Otterbein is also the inspiration behind Hillsdale’s ubiquitous “Otter’s Army” t-shirts.

He finishes his career with a record of 133-107, and his wins put him third among Hillsdale football coaches, behind Charger coaching legends Frank “Muddy” Waters and Dick Lowry.

“To be in the same position as Dick Lowry and Muddy Waters, it’s a bit overwhelming and intimidating,” Otterbein said. “It’s very, very humbling to be in the same light.”

The Chargers struggled early this fall but reeled off five straight wins to conclude the season 6-5, putting Otterbein just one win away from tying Lowry’s 134 wins, and six wins away from breaking Waters’ all-time Hillsdale record of 138 career wins.

“Getting closer to Muddy’s record over the years has been in the back of my mind,” Otterbein said. “But part of my decision was if I was to come back, I’m not about chasing the records, I’m about the kids. I’m about developing men.”

Otterbein has been involved with the Charger football program since 1975 when he first arrived at Hillsdale to play for former coach and athletic director Jack McAvoy as a linebacker. After his four-year career under McAvoy, he stayed in Hillsdale and became an assistant for Lowry, then became the youngest head football coach in the nation when Ferris State University hired him in 1986. In between his stint at Ferris State and his return to Hillsdale in 2001, Otterbein was the running back coach for Ball State University. 

“More than 20 years ago, I went looking for my first football coach,” Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn said. “I wanted someone who could play competitive football with highly intelligent young men who wished to build their characters as well as their intellects. Coach Otterbein said he could do that, and he has. I am proud of him for so many things, above all that. I wish him every good thing in his retirement.”

Otterbein said his most memorable moment came during the team’s 2009 banquet.

 

“The first time we made the NCAA tournament and got to the playoffs, I got informed of that during our banquet,” Otterbein said. “So I was able to announce that at the banquet, and I barely got it out. I got pretty choked up.”

Otterbein also coached with his sons, Steve ’07 and Brad ’10. Steve is currently the team’s defensive coordinator, while Brad is the quarterback coach and recruiting coordinator.

“It’s one of those things that if you wrote a movie about it, people would think it’s kind of corny,” Otterbein said. “When they were playing, basically we’d get our whole family on the bus, my wife would travel with us, and my daughter would also come with us as a water girl. Eventually, coming into work and getting to be around your kids every day and work through the game plans and the personnel decisions and the recruiting has made us very, very close-knit as a family.”

At Hillsdale, Otterbein has coached 19 All-American players, four conference MVPs, and many players who have signed with NFL teams. His first NFL player was Jared Veldheer ’10, who was drafted in the third round of the 2010 draft by the Oakland Raiders, and went on to have an 11-year career in the league. Andre Holmes ’11 was the second player under Otterbein to start an NFL game when he signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2011. 

Otterbein has tried to create a philanthropic culture within the football program. Victory Day and Guys with Ties are just a few of the many charity initiatives that benefit children in the Hillsdale community that have been a part of the program under Otterbein’s leadership. 

“Our job is part of education, through football, to teach life lessons that 20 years from now make our players better fathers. They’re going to be better husbands, they’re going to be active and involved in our community, in their church, and whatever pool of influence they have,” Otterbein said. “They’re going to make the world a better place.” 

Otterbein was G-MAC coach of the year in 2018, after leading Hillsdale to its first G-MAC championship season. The Chargers lost to Notre Dame College — not to be confused with the University of Notre Dame — in the NCAA Division II regional semifinal game. 

“He’s all I’ve known as Hillsdale College football,” Athletic Director John Tharp said. “I’ve always had a tremendous amount of admiration for him, in regard to what type of leader that he is. He’s a man of really high character, a man that has great faith, and a man that really worked hard and tried to build a program that wasn’t just about winning and losing.”