UW-Whitewater football head coach Jace Rindahl went into the 2025 offseason with some tough decisions to make.
Last season, the team lost four games for the first time since 2002. They finished 2-3 in one-score bouts. The offense had under 4,000 season yards for the first time in seven years. Something had to change, something that Rindahl had not dealt with much as the head coach.
“Without a doubt, it was a whirlwind,” Rindahl said.
Throughout the nearly 10-month offseason, he had to fill the losses of 15 starters and six crucial coaching positions. Some things are yet to be finalized, but the team is ready for anything. No more 6-4 mentality for the No. 24 Warhawks; they are back to the 1-0 mentality.
“I think we got the foundation set pretty well in spring ball, and then we were able to build off of that this fall so far,” Rindahl said. “Humble and hungry.”
New offensive coordinator Caden Murphy, who coached seven seasons at the Division I level before spending the last two at Midland University (Nebraska), is likely the most critical coaching change made this offseason. His ability to quickly establish an offensive identity and belief in his system appealed to Rindahl in his search.
“Run, pass, you’ll see it all,” Rindahl said. “We’ll run the quarterback a little bit; that’s kind of some of his background. I think we have the depth to do it.”
A question still to be answered involves the quarterback room, which Murphy will also be coaching this season. The coaching staff is being intentional with their practice decisions, giving these quarterbacks equal opportunities with the first-team players.
Three quarterbacks remain in the mix for the starting job: senior transfer Jake Frantl, junior transfer Aiden Lucero, and sophomore Justin Klinkner. According to Rindahl, this decision won’t be easy.
“You just are very strategic as you go through fall camp, everybody’s getting their fair shot,” Rindahl said. “Coach Murphy does an unbelievable job. He watches, he tracks it, he’s got statistical metrics. There’s a lot of angles that we use to measure that room. There are just so many factors that go into that position.”
Whichever quarterback wins the starting position will also have questions in the wide receiver room. Steven Hein, Nick Wind, and Brian Wilterdink all graduated from the program after last season.
Senior Patrick Lippe brings the most experience in a wide receiver group that is planning to get more physical than in years past.
“We got Tyler Vasey; we got Blake Haggerty; we got Darin Kunkel,” Lippe said. “We got a lot of good playmakers in that wide receiver room that will make plays and step up when they’re called.”
Despite an established group of returning playmakers in the running back and tight end rooms, Rindahl has dubbed the offensive line the strength of the offense. Described as another deep positional group, eight players are fighting for five starting spots in the trenches, three of them being seniors.
“You feel a little bit better going into a game when you know that you got a pretty good opportunity to control the line of scrimmage,” Rindahl said.
On the defensive side of the ball, Ryan Cortez adds another title to this list. In his 11th season coaching with the Warhawks, following four seasons and three national championships as a player, he will serve as the team’s sole defensive coordinator beginning this season.
“Him and I go back, and he’s one heck of a coach,” Rindahl said. “He does an unbelievable job of setting a standard for how those d-linemen play, and it’s pretty impressive.”
Cortez will also continue serving as the team’s defensive line coach in 2025. Despite losing Matt Burba, Nehemiah Lomax, and four other defensive starters, 9-to-10 athletes will rotate and compete for significant playing time like in previous seasons.
Senior defensive lineman Lucas Sadler, who has been a starter since his sophomore year, must keep the “Shark Tank’s” culture alive and well.
“We’re the front-end guys, we’re the first ones to go in,” Sadler said. “It’s a huge pleasure.”
Behind the defensive line is a handful of All-WIAC honorees: linebackers Ethan Gallagher and Karsten Libby, and defensive back Paul Kim. The Warhawks have the pieces to reload on defense, a defense that has finished in the top three in conference scoring defense for the past 21 seasons.
“In a great defense, the linebackers are the strength,” Gallagher said. “That’s a testament to the back-end guys who cover up and help us out, along with the d-line who are doing their job. It’s a joint effort from the entire defense.”
Depth has been a theme with the Warhawks in fall camp. Adding several key pieces through the transfer portal, while losing nobody to it, has helped leverage the roster. For example, the team brought many new specialists through the portal, which did not faze starting kicker Seth Adams, actually making him a better kicker overall.
“You have to make sure they’re the right fit and they buy into how we go about it and what we’re going to be,” Rindahl said. “We’ll see if there’s a lot of starters coming out there.”
The team’s depth might be key to navigating their tough schedule, especially deeper into the season. The Warhawks open the season at home against Carleton College (Minnesota) before hitting the road to close their out-of-conference slate against Saint Xavier University (Illinois) and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas).
“We kind of do it on purpose to schedule three tough games right off the rip,” Sadler said. “We challenge ourselves in the beginning and prep ourselves for what’s to come. It trains us for the WIAC.”
Six of the eight teams in the WIAC received votes in the d3football.com preseason poll, with four teams making top 25 appearances, including the Warhawks. They play No. 11 UW-La Crosse in week 5, No. 15 UW-Platteville in week 8, and No. 19 UW-River Falls in week 9.
Furthermore, the Warhawks close the regular season with an away game against UW-Oshkosh, the first team outside of the top 25.
“There’s a lot of talent in [the WIAC],” Lippe said. “We like it. We like going in. We like playing tough competition, and wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The Warhawks are looking to make significant improvements in every aspect of the game this season. From a revamped coaching staff and quarterback room to improved leadership coming from Rindahl, all eyes are on the Sept. 6 Carleton matchup.
