The Bethel Royals football program represents Bethel University of

Arden Hills, Minnesota Arden Hills is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,552 at the 2010 census. Bethel University and Seminary is located in the city of Arden Hills. Also, the campus of University of Northwestern – St. Paul st ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

. Bethel competes at the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

level as members of the

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) is a college athletic conference which competes in NCAA Division III. All 13 of the member schools are located in Minnesota and are private institutions, with only two being non-sectarian. ...

(MIAC). The head coach of the Royals is Steve Johnson, who has held the position since 1989. Bethel plays its home games at Royal Stadium, located on the campus in

. Royal Stadium was built in 1995 and renovated in 2001 and 2021.

History

Bethel has had 14 head coaches since organized football started in 1947 adopting the nickname "Royals". The winningest coach in program history is Steve Johnson with a 244–107–1 career record. He is currently ranked #38 in all time wins as a head coach in NCAA college football. On April 2, 2016, he was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Hall of Fame. Their biggest conference rival is St. John's University. Bethel defeated #2 ranked St. John's 28-24 on September 24, 2022 in Arden Hills. Bethel finished the 2022 season ranked #5 in the country. Bethel won 7 of the 8 meetings against St. John's between 2006-2013. Bethel has appeared in 2

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

Final Four Playoffs (2007, 2010).

AFCA All-Americans

Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...
& AFCA Good Works Team

Hall of Fame

Source:

Coaching staff The coaching staff is a group of non-athletes tied to a sports team. A coaching staff can be existent at all levels of athletics. It is led by a head coach (known as a manager or senior coach in some sports) and consists of one or more assistant c ...

* Head Coach: Steve Johnson * Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks: AJ Parnell * Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs: Mike McElroy * Offensive Line/Recruiting Coordinator: Chad Richards * Defensive Line: Brady Bomsta * Linebackers/Special Teams: Kyle Kilgore * Running Backs/Video Coordinator: Paul Swan * Outside Linebackers: Tyler Krebs * Cornerbacks: Brooks Byrd * Wide Receivers: Matt Houston * Offensive Assistant: Eric Tulberg

NFL Players

*Matt Eller, Defensive Line (2002) – Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers *Cory Svihla, Linebacker (2010) – Minnesota Vikings *Mitch Elliot, Offensive Tackle (2011) – Minnesota Vikings *Seth Mathis, Linebacker (2013) – Minnesota Vikings *Mitch Hallstrom, Wide receiver (2013) – Minnesota Vikings *Dawson Brown, Defensive Back (2019) - Atlanta Falcons *Kyle Kilgore, Defensive Line (2019) – Minnesota Vikings

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://athletics.bethel.edu/sports/football American football teams established in 1947 1947 establishments in Minnesota