Recruit. Player. Starter. Leading tackler. Award winner. Alumn. Assistant coach. Rival coach. Mentor. Head coach. For more than half of his adult life, Keith Otterbein has filled virtually every imaginable role for the Hillsdale College football program.
Now entering his 22nd season as the leader of the Charger program, Otterbein has the rare combination of peace-of-mind for where he’s taken the team since he took over, and the burning desire to keep the Chargers among the elite programs in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and Super Region 1.
Multiple eras of sustained success at Hillsdale have taken place under Otterbein's watch. The most recent came in the 2018 season, when he guided the Chargers to an undefeated conference regular season, a Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship, and a victory in the NCAA Division II playoffs, just the second in school history. For his efforts, Otterbein was named G-MAC Coach of the Year and the Super Region 1 Coach of the Year, both firsts in a career filled with high honors and winning.
Entering the 2023 season, Otterbein's 127 victories with Hillsdale rank him third on the school's all-time coaching wins list, only trailing legendary Hillsdale College Hall of Famers Frank "Muddy" Waters and Dick Lowry. His 187 overall coaching wins rank him number one among all Great Midwest Athletic Conference coaches.
In both 2009 and 2011, Otterbein earned GLIAC and Regional Coach of the Year honors. He was also recognized with those awards in 1992 and 1994 at Ferris State, firmly entrenching his place as a dean of football coaches in the GLIAC. Hillsdale won at least a share of a GLIAC division title in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and the team's 49 wins between 2007 and 2012 are the most in a six-year span since the 1950s.
That success is reflected in the achievements of graduates from that era, like Mark Nicolet, who won national (American) football championships in Sweden and Spain, and Tom Korte, who was a free-agent signee of the Pittsburgh Steelers before the 2009 season. Jared Veldheer was named First-Team All-American following the 2009 season, and excelled in an 11-year NFL career with the Oakland Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts before retiring in 2021. Another former Charger, Andre Holmes, put together a seven-year career that saw him suit up for the Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos. Veldheer and Holmes were teammates twice in the NFL in addition to their four years together at Hillsdale.
More than a dozen of Otterbein's players - the latest being Trey Brock in the spring of 2019 with the Kansas City Chiefs - have seen time in NFL rookie camps. More recently, 2021 graduate Zach Herzog was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 2021 CFL Draft.
Charger players have distinguished themselves at the conference level in recent years under Otterbein’s guidance. Between 2007 and 2011, three Charger players - Mark Nicolet, Troy Weatherhead and Joe Glendening - were named GLIAC Player of the Year, the most from any single school in that span. Chance Stewart joined that elite group, being named the G-MAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2018, and in the 2023 season wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa became the fifth member of that club by winning the same honor as Stewart did five years earlier.
“It’s special for me to come back to the college I attended, and to be in the position I’m in,” Otterbein said. “I believe in the mission of Hillsdale and the education kids will receive when they come to our school. I also think they’re going to be part of a pretty good football team and form great memories while they’re here.”
Otterbein’s relationship with Hillsdale began when he was recruited out of Southfield-Lathrup High School by beloved former coach and athletic director Jack McAvoy. Otterbein played for the Chargers from 1975-78 and went on to become the first player in school history to be named the team’s best linebacker three years in a row. He also earned the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete award.
He didn’t wait long after graduating to get into the coaching profession. He put in time as a position coach under Dick Lowry at Hillsdale, and College Football Hall of Famer Herb Deromedi at Central Michigan University.
After an apprenticeship under two highly acclaimed coaches, Otterbein made his mark by becoming the youngest head college football coach in the nation when he was hired by Ferris State University before the 1986 season. Taking the job at the age of 28, Otterbein quickly turned the Bulldogs into a national power, winning 30 of his last 36 games coached at the school and guiding the team to three Division II playoff appearances.
Otterbein then got a taste of coaching at the Division I level, leading the running backs at Ball State University from 1995-2001. A return to Hillsdale awaited in December 2001, when Otterbein was named the program’s sixth head coach since 1954.
“I am fortunate to work with a staff that has a great work ethic, sets a great example for our players, and can recruit to this school,” Otterbein said.
Keith and his wife Amy have been married for more than 35 years. Their oldest son Steve, a 2007 Hillsdale College graduate, is entering his 14th season on the Chargers’ coaching staff and was recently promoted to serve as the team's defensive coordinator. Their son Brad, a 2011 Hillsdale College graduate, is now in his 12th season as quarterbacks coach. Their daughter, Alyssa, is a 2009 graduate of Hillsdale College.
