Scott Bostwick (June 22, 1961 – June 5, 2011) was 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 with ...

player and coach. He served as the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

Northwest Missouri State University Northwest Missouri State University is a public university in Maryville, Missouri. It has an enrollment of about 8,505 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis Worl ...

from 1994 to 2010 under head coach

Mel Tjeerdsma Mel Tjeerdsma ( ; born May 24, 1946) is a retired American football coach and athletic director at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. He served as the head coach at Austin College in Sherman, Texas from 1984 to 1993 and ...

, during which time the Bearcats captured three

NCAA Division II Football Championship The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination tournament with eight teams. The tourna ...

s, in 1998, 1999, and 2009. In 2007, Bostwick was named the AFCA Division II Assistant Coach of the Year in 2007. He succeeded Tjeerdsma as head coach following the 2010 season, but died of a heart attack the following June.

Early life and playing career

Bostwick was born June 22, 1961, in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, one of the eight children of parents Robert Bostwick and June (Staab) Bostwick Blair. Bostwick was raised in the Omaha area and was a 1979 graduate of

Omaha North High School Omaha North High Magnet School is a public high school located at 4410 North 36th Street in the city of Omaha, Nebraska. The school is a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) magnet school in the Omaha Public Schools district. N ...

. He then attended

Nebraska Wesleyan University Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) is a private Methodist-affiliated university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. As of 2017, it has approximately 2,100 students including 1,500 full-time students and 300 ...

, earning a bachelor's degree in 1984. While at Nebraska Wesleyan Bostwick was a four-year letterman in football and finished his playing career as the Prairie Wolves third leading tackler all-time. Bostwick was inducted in the school's athletic hall of fame in October 2006.

Coaching career

Bostwick stayed on as a coaching assistant at Nebraska Wesleyan following graduation, and served as the programs defensive coordinator from 1986 to 1990. He next headed west to

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (locat ...

, in 1990, taking over as defensive coordinator for

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

until 1994.

Building a Bearcat dynasty

In 1994, Bostwick's next career move brought his greatest success as he joined new head coach

as defensive coordinator at

, a member of the

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...

(MIAA). The MIAA had already produced several

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 ...

playoff teams, and one national champion, Pittsburg State in 1991. After a disappointing 0–11 season in 1994, the Bearcats would over the ensuing 16 seasons win or share 12 MIAA conference titles, make the Division II playoffs 15 times, appear in seven national title games and win three NCAA Division II Championships. Bostwick's strong defenses were key to the Bearcats success, allowing only eight opposing players to rush for 100 yards or more over a period of 77 games between 2007 and 2010. For his efforts Bostwick was named the AFCA Division II Assistant Coach of the Year in 2007. Two of Bostwick's defensive players, Dave Tollefson and Steve Williams have gone on to professional football careers in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

Appointment as head coach and death

On December 31, 2010, Northwest officials announced that Bostwick would succeed the just-retired Tjeerdsma as the Bearcats 18th head coach. Bostwick said he did not even know that Tjeersdma was going to retire until being told the week before his Christmas week announcement. At a press event following his promotion to top Bearcat, Bostwick told the media, "I've been a coordinator for 26 years and if I was ever going to be a head coach, this is where I wanted to be." Bostwick, however, never had the chance to serve Northwest as head coach in an official game. On Sunday morning, June 5, 2011, Bostwick was at home mowing the yard when he collapsed and died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

. Three week after Bostwick's death

Adam Dorrel Adam Dorrel (born December 2, 1974) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Central Oklahoma Bronchos football team in Edmond, Oklahoma, a position he will begin in 2022. Previously Dorrel was the head ...

, who was the offensive coach under Tjeersdma and who had played with him in the first 1993 0-11 season succeeded Bostwick. Bostwick had earlier named him assistant coach. On July 7 Bostwick's brother Chad Bostwick who had been a walk on player at Northwest under Bostwick was named linebackers coach under Dorrel.

Personal life

Bostwick had three brothers, four sisters, four step-brothers and one step-sister. On December 30, 1988, Bostwick married Susan Duckworth. They had two children, a daughter and a son. Bostwick was a member of St. Gregory Barbargio Catholic Church as well as the Maryville

Elks Lodge The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. History The Elks began in 1868 as a soci ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bostwick, Scott 1961 births 2011 deaths Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves football players Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves football coaches Northwest Missouri State Bearcats football coaches Western Washington Vikings football coaches Players of American football from Omaha, Nebraska People from Maryville, Missouri Omaha North High School alumni