NDSU

Watch the 2023 Induction Ceremony

A graduate of Bishop Ryan High School in Minot, he was part of two state championship football teams and was the Class 2A Player of the Year as a senior in 1999 before earning MVP honors at the Class B basketball state tournament and finishing his track and field career as a 10-time Class B state champion and the Gatorade State Track and Field Athlete of the Year...Six-time All-American in track and field...Eight-time North Central Conference champion...Two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American, once in football and once in track and field...Academic All-NCC football...Great West Football Conference All-Academic...AFCA Good Works Team...Earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was a graduate assistant for the Bison football program in 2005...On the track, his :48.07 indoor 400m time was fourth fastest in school history...Member of 4x200 and 4x400 record-setting relays both indoors and outdoors...Ran on six of the seven fastest 4x100 outdoor relay teams in Bison history...Football team captain in 2004...Led the 2003 football team in interceptions (5) and passes defended (8)...Team-high 73 total tackles in 2002...Had a 73-yard interception return touchdown against Omaha in 2001, the seventh longest pick-six in school history at the time...Played in 42 games with 197 total tackles and 22 passes defended including nine interceptions...A teacher and coach in the Twin Cities area since 2006, he has been the head football coach at St. Michael-Albertville since 2011, where he has been named State Coach of the Year twice...Married to Kinsey (Coles) Essler, a 2022 Bison Athletic Hall of Fame inductee.