Written by James Gensterblum, ’12
As a player, assistant coach, and longtime head coach of Hillsdale College football for the better part of five decades, Keith Otterbein, ’79, has become synonymous with the Chargers football program. After a successful 22-year run as the leader of the Chargers, Otterbein has decided the time is right to pass the program—and his legacy—to someone new.
Otterbein announced his retirement after the 2023 season in which the Chargers finished 6-5 after an 0-4 start. Longtime assistant Nate Shreffler, ’93, was named the new head coach beginning in 2024.
“Over the years I’ve talked to a lot of mentors and friends about retirement, and what I’ve always been told is that you’ll know when the time is right,” Otterbein said. “As I went through this past season, I got the feeling that this was the right moment for the program and for me to make a change. I’m tremendously proud of the program we’ve established here over the last three decades, and I go into retirement with the full confidence that we have the right people in place and the foundation laid to keep this program strong and successful well into the future.”
Otterbein leaves an impressive legacy at Hillsdale College. As head coach, he led a program that consistently found success while fully honoring Hillsdale’s demanding expectations for both academic success and high character.
His 133 games won at Hillsdale is third all-time and puts him firmly in the lofty company of two Hillsdale legends and Hall of Famers, Frank “Muddy” Waters and Dick Lowry, who won 138 and 134 games, respectively, during their tenures. He helped the Chargers remain competitive in arguably the toughest NCAA Division II football conference in America. Competing against national juggernauts like Grand Valley State, Otterbein helped lead Hillsdale to 11 winning seasons, four conference championships, and all three of Hillsdale’s NCAA DII Playoff appearances in program history, with playoff victories in 2010 and 2018.
Otterbein also helped to recruit and develop special individual talents at Hillsdale. He coached 19 All-Americans, four conference Players of the Year, and three players who started a regular season game in the National Football League, including Hillsdale’s first NFL draft pick since 1980 in offensive lineman Jared Veldheer.
On-the-field accolades were never the sole focus. His teams also excelled in the classroom, with more than half of his players earning Academic All-Conference honors and his team posting combined GPAs of well over 3.0 consistently.
He helped create a culture of charity and community involvement on his teams through a variety of initiatives, including Victory Day for children with special needs, the program’s involvement with the Coach 2 Cure fight against Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, and Be the Match Bone Marrow registry drives.
A native of Southfield, Michigan, Otterbein played for Chargers legend Jack McAvoy and became an All-American linebacker for the Chargers. After graduation in 1979, Otterbein began his coaching career under another Chargers legend, Dick Lowry, and later spent time coaching at Central Michigan and Ball State, as well as a successful tenure as head coach at Ferris State before returning to Hillsdale to take over as head coach in 2002.
“For most of his adult life, Coach Otterbein has given everything to the Hillsdale College program, and he’s played a critical role in helping build it into the success it is today,” said Hillsdale College Athletic Director John Tharp. “He’s led this program not only to success on the field, but also to incredible accomplishments in the classroom and a deep and meaningful impact on the community.
“We at Hillsdale College are so grateful for his service and the way his program has represented this institution in every aspect. We wish him the best in his retirement and will aim to keep running our football program and Athletic Department in a way that honors what he’s built here.”
James Gensterblum is the Director of Athletic Communications at Hillsdale College.
A 2012 graduate of Hillsdale College, James worked in print journalism as a sportswriter and editor in Michigan and Indiana for eight years prior to returning to Hillsdale, winning numerous awards for sportswriting and photography from the Michigan Press Association and the Associated Press.
Reposted from the spring 2024 issue of Arete.
