Jace Rindahl named 22nd head coach of UW-Whitewater football team

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater announced Monday afternoon that Jace Rindahl will officially be the next head coach of the Warhawk football program.

Rindahl has been serving as interim head coach since Kevin Bullis retired following the 2022 season. Rindahl, a former All-American linebacker at UW-Whitewater and member of the 2007 Division III national championship team, has served as an defensive assistant for the last eight seasons, and was promoted to assistant head coach before last season.

"Jace has been a great coordinator, recruiter and mentor to the student-athletes and coaches since he came back to Whitewater in 2015," athletic director Ryan Callahan said.

"We have been fortunate to have coaches like Forrest Perkins, Bob Berezowitz, Lance Leipold and Kevin Bullis who built the foundation for continued success for our football program. I have no doubt that Jace will continue to build on that foundation while creating his own legacy."

UW-Whitewater's football program has been in existence for 134 years and has six Division III national championships, all won under Leipold, who coached the team from 2007 to 2014, and now coaches the Kansas Jayhawks. Under Leipold, UW-Whitewater went 109-6.

Leipold was succeeded by Bullis, who despite solid success always saw his teams come up short in the postseason. His teams went a combined 78-13 and were the NCAA runner-up in 2019.

"I know there is great responsibility that comes with this role," said Rindahl, who becomes the 22nd head coach in UW-Whitewater history.

"As a former student-athlete and assistant coach, I feel my time in this program has helped prepare me for this opportunity and I am ready to serve our football team, athletic department, university and community. My wife and I could not be more excited for my opportunity to be the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater."

An introductory press conference for Rindahl will be held at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Contact Drake Bentley at (414) 391-5647 or DBentley1@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DrakeBentleyMJS. 

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jace Rindahl named 22nd head coach of UW-Whitewater football team