Ed Meierkort (born March 24, 1959) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Wisconsin–Stout The University of Wisconsin–Stout (UW–Stout or Stout) is a public university in Menomonie, Wisconsin. A member of the University of Wisconsin System, it enrolls more than 9,600 students. The school was founded in 1891 and named in honor of it ...

from 1993 to 2003 and

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship uni ...

from 2004 to 2011, compiling a career college football coaching record of 108–89.

Career

Meierkort began his coaching career at Dakota Wesleyan, where he also served as head

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

coach. From there he served as a graduate assistant at South Dakota State before moving on to

Southwest Minnesota State University Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) is a public university in Marshall, Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. The university has an enrollment of approximately 8,700 students and employs 148 fa ...

, where he held various positions from 1983 to 1992. He began his head football coaching career at the

in 1993. During his tenure there, he coached 16

All-Americans The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

and two future NFL players. In 2000, the team achieved a #5 national ranking. That year, Meierkort was named

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) is a college athletic conference that competes in the NCAA's Division III. In women's gymnastics, it competes alongside Division I and II members, as the NCAA sponsors a single champions ...

and AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year and was a finalist for AFCA National Coach of the Year. Meierkort was named head coach of the Coyotes of the University of South Dakota in 2004. He has overseen the program's elevation from the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

level to Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The team's first victory against a Division I opponent came against the

Southern Utah Thunderbirds The Southern Utah Thunderbirds are the varsity athletic teams representing Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors seventeen teams including six men’s sports: basketball, cross country ...

of the on November 15, 2008. In 2010, the program achieved its first win against an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent with a victory over the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

. South Dakota fired Meierkort following the 2011 season. He took over the football program at Celebration High School in Celebration, Florida, for one year, but was fired after a disappointing 2012 season, during which the team went winless.

Education and family

A native of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Meierkort is a graduate of

South Dakota State University South Dakota State University is a public land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually-operating university in South Dakota. The ...

and

Dakota Wesleyan University Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) is a private Methodist university in Mitchell, South Dakota. It was founded in 1885 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The student body averages slightly fewer than 800 students. The campus of th ...

. He is married with two children.

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meierkort, Ed 1959 births Living people Dakota Wesleyan Tigers baseball coaches Dakota Wesleyan Tigers football coaches South Dakota Coyotes football coaches South Dakota State Jackrabbits football coaches Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs football coaches Wisconsin–Stout Blue Devils football coaches Dakota Wesleyan University alumni South Dakota State University alumni Sportspeople from Chicago