Joe Gatz

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University football team has added a new assistant coach on offense while the Wildcats are currently conducting spring football practices.

Joe Gatz will coach the NMU offensive line after spending the last three seasons at fellow NCAA Division II school Southwest Minnesota State of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference located in Marshall, Minnesota.

He was tight ends coach as well as run game coordinator in 2022 and 2023. In his first year, 2021, he guided the offensive line while he worked toward his master’s degree in physical education with an emphasis in coaching. He was the Mustangs’ lead recruiter in Wisconsin and Illinois.

“We are very excited to announce Joe Gatz as our offensive line coach,” Northern head coach Shane Richardson said in an NMU Sports Information news release announcing Gatz’s hire. “He brings knowledge and a passion to coach offensive line play. Joe is a genuine individual that the players will gravitate to and fits well in our program. He will be a valuable asset as we move forward.”

Before Southwest Minnesota, Gatz was the varsity offensive line coach at St. Charles, Illinois, East High School in 2020 and 2021. He was a member of the Southwest Minnesota football team in 2015 and 2016, then played at Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2017 and 2018, when the UW-Whitewater Warhawks went a combined 20-4, while also coaching the offensive line at Whitewater High School.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.