# Wisconsin–Stout Blue Devils football

The Wisconsin–Stout Blue Devils football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University of Wisconsin–Stout located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The team competes at the NCAA Division III level as a member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The Blue Devils play home games at Don and Nona Williams Stadium in Menomonie, Wisconsin. The stadium opened in 2001 and seats 4,500 people. The team's head coach is Clayt Birmingham, who has served in that position in 2010.

## Head coaches

| Coach | Tenure | Record |
| No coach—club sport | 1911 | 1–1 |
| Earl Quigley | 1912–1914 | 7–8 |
| Parks Bailey | 1915–1916 | 1–7 |
| Student coaches | 1917 | 2–2 |
| No team | 1918 | |
| George F. Miller | 1919–1927 | 20–27–6 |
| Sylvester E. Paulus | 1928–1929 | 2–10–2 |
| Earl Burbridge | 1930–1934 | 6–26–1 |
| Mush Crawford | 1935–1937 | 1–17–2 |
| Ray C. Johnson | 1938-1947 | 15–29–8 |
| Tony Storti | 1948–1951 | 20–9–2 |
| Jack Wink | 1952–1955 | 6–23–3 |
| Joe Gerlach | 1956–1957 | 4–11–1 |
| Bob Bostwick | 1958–1962 | 12–25–3 |
| Max Sparger | 1962–1969 | 22–38–3 |
| Sten Pierce | 1970–1976 | 19–50 |
| Lyle Eidsness | 1977–1979 | 15–15 |
| Bob Kamish | 1980–1985 | 28–36–1 |
| Rich Lawrence | 1986–1992 | 24–46–1 |
| Ed Meierkort | 1993–2003 | 55–55 |
| Todd Strop | 2004–2006 | 14-15 |
| Duey Naatz | 2007–2009 | 17–13 |
| Clayt Birmingham | 2010–present | 45–64 |

## Championships
### Conference championships

Wisconsin–Stout has won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championship 5 times.
| Year | Coach | Overall record | WIAC record |
| 1921 | George F. Miller | 5–0–2 | 3–0 |
| 1941† | Ray C. Johnson | 5–2 | 3–1 |
| 1949† | Tony Storti | 6–2 | 4–2 |
| 1965 | Max Sparger | 7–1–1 | 6–0 |
| 2000 | Ed Meierkort | 10–1 | 7–0 |
† Co-champions

### Undefeated regular seasons

Wisconsin–Stout has completed the regular season undefeated twice, once in 1921, and again in 2000 before losing in the playoffs.
| Year | Coach | Regular season record | Final record |
| 1921 | George F. Miller | 5–0–2 | 5–0–2 |
| 2000 | Ed Meierkort | 10–0 | 10–1 |

## Postseason
### NCAA Division III playoffs

| Year | Round | Opponent | Result | Record |
| 2000 | First Round | Saint John's (MN) | L 19–26 | 10–1 |

### Bowl games

| Year | Bowl | Coach | Opponent | Result | Record |
| 2024 | Isthmus Bowl | Clayt Birmingham | Wheaton | L 32–35 | 6–5 |

## Ranked teams

Starting in 1999 the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) began publishing rankings for Division III football. In 2003, D3football.com started publishing its own rankings for Division III football. Since the inception of both polls, Wisconsin–Stout has been ranked one time in the AFCA Coaches Poll and has never been ranked in the D3football.com poll to end the season. Additionally, while not being ranked in the Top 25 to end the season, the Blue Devils have received votes (RV) three times in the AFCA Coaches Poll, and twice in the D3football.com poll.
| Year | D3 | AFCA | Record |
| 2000 | N/A | 9 | 10–1 |
| 2001 | N/A | RV | 6–3 |
| 2002 | N/A | RV | 7–3 |
| 2009 | RV | RV | 8–2 |
| 2024 | RV | NR | 6–5 |

## Notable players
### NFL draftees

| Year | Round | Pick | Overall | Player | Team | Position |
| 1967 | 7 | 24 | 183 | Dick Erickson | Kansas City Chiefs | C |
| 1970 | 13 | 13 | 325 | Gary Inskeep | New York Giants | T |
| 1971 | 12 | 24 | 310 | Reggie Holmes | Minnesota Vikings | DB |
| 2002 | 4 | 17 | 115 | Tony Beckham | Tennessee Titans | DB |

### Other former players

* Frank Haege
* Jeff Hazuga
* Bob McRoberts
* Bob Raczek