HILLSDALE, MI – As a player, assistant coach and longtime head coach of Hillsdale College football for the better part of five decades, Keith Otterbein has become synonymous with the Charger football program.
And after a successful 22-year run as the leader of the Chargers, Otterbein has decided the time is right to pass the program whose legacy he has added so much to over the years to someone new.
On Monday, Nov. 13, Otterbein announced to his team that the 2023 season was his final one as head coach of the Hillsdale College football program. He will spend the next few weeks helping his longtime assistant Nate Shreffler transition into the position as head coach at Hillsdale College before officially retiring in December.
"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. Spending most of his coaching tenure in arguably the toughest NCAA DII football conference in America and competing against national juggernauts like Grand Valley State, Otterbein helped Hillsdale more than hold its own, leading Hillsdale to 11 winning seasons, four conference championships, all three of Hillsdale's NCAA DII Playoff appearances in program history, and DII Playoff victories in 2010 and 2018.
On top of his team's successes, 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.
But while victories on the field and trophies earned were always important for Hillsdale and Otterbein, they were never the sole focus, and the legendary coach also leaves an impressive legacy off the field. Throughout his tenure, his teams 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 on a consistent basis year after year.
Otterbein also made it a priority to 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 among many others, Otterbein made Hillsdale a place where service to the community and those in need was a high priority for everyone involved with the football program.
His accomplishments as a head coach build on a legacy that began in 1975 when Otterbein chose to enroll and play football at Hillsdale. 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 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."
To replace a legend who's a Hillsdale man through and through, the Chargers have targeted another man cut from the same cloth in Nate Shreffler to take charge of the Hillsdale College football program.
Like Otterbein, Shreffler is a former player and Hillsdale alumnus who spent four seasons in the early 90s playing on the offensive line under Dick Lowry and helping pave the way for Chargers success.
After graduation in 1993, Shreffler spent a short time coaching at other institutions before returning to Hillsdale in 1998 as a part of then coach Dave Dye's staff, and he's been at Hillsdale ever since, first as an offensive line coach and then, for the last 13 seasons, as an offensive coordinator, excelling in both positions.
As an offensive line coach, Shreffler recruited and helped develop multiple All-Americans, including NFL Draft Pick Jared Veldheer. After taking over as Offensive Coordinator, Shreffler guided an attack that has broken nearly offensive record at Hillsdale over the last decade, with Hillsdale's all-time leading passer (Chance Stewart), rusher (Joe Glendening) and receiver (Trey Brock) playing under Shreffler's guidance.
He's also shown an ability to adapt to his personnel, pivoting Hillsdale from a high-flying passing attack earlier in the decade to an old-school run-heavy offense the last couple of seasons with great success in both areas. He was named the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year in 2022, among many career accolades.
"Nate is a Hillsdale College guy, first and foremost," Tharp said. "He's someone who understands this program and the culture that's been established here through and through.
"He's an extremely high-character coach, and someone who's both had success here throughout his tenure and knows what it takes for this program to be successful. He's a perfect fit to build on what's already been established and keep moving this program forward into future success."
For Shreffler, the head coaching job is the culmination of a career spent in service of Hillsdale College and the Hillsdale College football program.
"To get this opportunity wasn't something I expected, but in a lot of ways it's something I've been preparing for my whole life, and I'm so humbled and grateful to be in this position," Shreffler said. "For the last 25 years, this hasn't been a job for me, but a passion and a mission.
"This place has always been home for me, and I want our home to be the best looking-house on the block in every way it possibly can be. That's going to be the focus of our program moving forward."