# St. Norbert Green Knights football

The St. Norbert Green Knights football program is the intercollegiate American football team for St. Norbert College, located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The team competes in the NCAA Division III and is a member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC). St. Norbert's first football team was fielded in 1931. The team plays its home games at the 2,454-seat Schneider Stadium in De Pere, Wisconsin.
The Green Knights have been coached by Dan McCarty since 2015. He was the defensive coordinator until the previous Green Knights coach elected to resign from his position. McCarty previously coached the defense at the University of Wisconsin–Stout.

## Coaching history

St. Norbert has had 11 head coaches in their history. No teams were fielded in 1943, 1944, or 1945 due to World War II. Additionally, no team was fielded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Coach | Seasons | Term | Wins | Losses | Ties | Win % |
| Jack Malevich | 3 | 1931–1933 | 4 | 9 | 3 | .344 |
| Mickey McCormick | 9 | 1934–1942 | 32 | 26 | 8 | .545 |
| Tom Hearden | 7 | 1946–1952 | 40 | 14 | 0 | .741 |
| Mel Nicks | 7 | 1953–1959 | 28 | 26 | 3 | .518 |
| Howard Kolstad | 19 | 1960–1978 | 96 | 76 | 5 | .556 |
| Larry Van Alstine | 4 | 1979–1982 | 10 | 28 | 0 | .263 |
| Don LaViolette | 11 | 1983–1993 | 59 | 43 | 1 | .578 |
| Greg Quick | 5 | 1994–1998 | 21 | 25 | 0 | .457 |
| Jim Purtill | 15 | 1999–2013 | 130 | 30 | 0 | .813 |
| Steve Opgenorth | 1 | 2014 | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 |
| Dan McCarty | 9 | 2015–present | 67 | 27 | 0 | .713 |

## Conference affiliation

* Independent (1931–1946)
* Midlands Conference (1947–1953)
* Independent (1954–1983)
* Midwest Conference (1984–2020)
* Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (2021–present)

## Championships
### Conference championships

The Green Knights have won 19 conference championships (15 outright, 4 shared), despite being an Independent for 43 seasons. St. Norbert was a member of the Midlands Conference from 1947–1953, winning two championships in that time, which was tied for the most with Loras College before the conference disbanded. During a 36 season stint in the Midwest Conference, the Green Knights won the championship 17 times.
| Year | Conference | Coach | Overall Record | Conference Record |
| 1950 | Midlands Conference | Tom Hearden | 7–0 | 4–0 |
| 1952 | Midlands Conference | Tom Hearden | 6–0 | 4–0 |
| 1985† | Midwest Conference | Don LaViolette | 6–2–1 | 6–1 |
| 1987 | Midwest Conference | Don LaViolette | 7–3 | 6–1 |
| 1988 | Midwest Conference | Don LaViolette | 8–2 | 6–0 |
| 1989 | Midwest Conference | Don LaViolette | 8–3 | 6–0 |
| 1999 | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 9–2 | 9–0 |
| 2000 | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 10–1 | 9–0 |
| 2001† | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 8–2 | 7–1 |
| 2002† | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 9–1 | 8–1 |
| 2003 | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 11–1 | 9–0 |
| 2004 | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 9–2 | 9–0 |
| 2006 | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 10–1 | 9–0 |
| 2007 | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 10–1 | 9–0 |
| 2010 | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 7–4 | 7–2 |
| 2012† | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 8–3 | 8–1 |
| 2013 | Midwest Conference | Jim Purtill | 8–3 | 8–1 |
| 2015 | Midwest Conference | Dan McCarty | 10–1 | 5–0 |
| 2018 | Midwest Conference | Dan McCarty | 10–2 | 5–0 |
† Co-champions

### Undefeated regular seasons

St. Norbert has finished the regular season undefeated nine times. Of the undefeated seasons, four (1946, 1950, 1952, 1957) were before there was a postseason to determine a champion. In the playoff era, the Green Knights finished the regular season undefeated five times (2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2015) before ultimately losing a game in the playoffs. In 1946, St. Norbert received votes in the final AP Poll to finish the season ranked #29 in all of college football, right behind Northwestern and just ahead of Kentucky.
| Year | Coach | Regular season record | Final record |
| 1946 | Tom Hearden | 8–0 | 8–0 |
| 1950 | Tom Hearden | 7–0 | 7–0 |
| 1952 | Tom Hearden | 6–0 | 6–0 |
| 1957 | Mel Nicks | 8–0 | 8–0 |
| 2000 | Jim Purtill | 10–0 | 10–1 |
| 2003 | Jim Purtill | 10–0 | 11–1 |
| 2006 | Jim Purtill | 10–0 | 10–1 |
| 2007 | Jim Purtill | 10–0 | 10–1 |
| 2015 | Dan McCarty | 10–0 | 10–1 |

## Postseason games
### NCAA Division III playoffs

St. Norbert has made the NCAA Division III playoff 13 times, with the first appearance being in 1989. The Green Knights have advanced to the second round on two occasions, the first time in 2003 after a double overtime victory over Simpson College by a score of 26–20, and most recently in 2018 after a 31–7 win over Trine University.
| Year | Round | Opponent | Result | Record |
| 1989 | First Round | Central (IA) | L, 7–55 | 8–3 |
| 1999 | First Round | Augustana (IL) | L, 32–39 | 9–2 |
| 2000 | First Round | Central (IA) | L, 14–28 | 10–1 |
| 2001 | First Round | Saint John's (MN) | L, 20–27 | 8–2 |
| 2003 | First Round | Simpson (IA) | W, 26–20 $^{2OT}$ | 11–1 |
| 2003 | Second Round | Saint John's (MN) | L, 13–38 | 11–1 |
| 2004 | First Round | Wisconsin–La Crosse | L, 23–37 | 9–2 |
| 2006 | First Round | Wisconsin–Whitewater | L, 17–59 | 10–1 |
| 2007 | First Round | Wisconsin–Eau Claire | L, 20–24 | 10–1 |
| 2010 | First Round | North Central (IL) | L, 7–57 | 7–4 |
| 2012 | First Round | St. Thomas (MN) | L, 17–48 | 8–3 |
| 2013 | First Round | Wisconsin–Whitewater | L, 7–31 | 8–3 |
| 2015 | First Round | Wisconsin–Whitewater | L, 0–48 | 10–1 |
| 2018 | First Round | Trine | W, 31–7 | 10–2 |
| 2018 | Second Round | Wisconsin–Whitewater | L, 21–54 | 10–2 |

### Bowl games

St. Norbert has twice played in the Lakefront Bowl, which features the teams from the Midwest Conference (MWC) and the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) that places highest in each conference's standings and does not qualify for the NCAA Division III playoffs. St. Norbert has a record of 1–1 in this bowl game.
| Year | Bowl | Coach | Opponent | Result | Record |
| 2023 | Lakefront Bowl | Dan McCarty | Monmouth (IL) | L 14–21 | 7–4 |
| 2024 | Lakefront Bowl | Dan McCarty | Monmouth (IL) | W 20–14 | 8–3 |

## Facilities

St. Norbert has hosted the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League for their preseason training camp since 1958, the longest partnership between a professional team and a college in NFL history. During the Covid–19 Pandemic this relationship was put on hold, but the hope for both parties is to have it resume in the near future. In the 1980s and 1990s as many as five other NFL teams used campuses across Wisconsin and Minnesota for training camp in what was known as the Cheese League.

## Lambeau Field games

In 1982 and 1983, St. Norbert hosted Fordham, Vince Lombardi's alma mater, in two tilts, benefiting the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation at Lambeau Field. The first was held on November 20, 1982 and the second on November 19, 1983. The first game, a 14–10 St. Norbert win, drew 5,119 people. The second game, an 18–9 St. Norbert win, drew 842 people.