During the last 15 years Myron Shultz was the head football coach of the University of Mary, amassing a very successful 103-60 record. Coach Schulz has now retired from coaching and in steps new Marauders head coach Josh Kotelnicki. Coach Kotelnicki has some big shoes to fill as he's now the new face of Mary football. He takes over a 6-5 team who's seen some nice wins over the past few years but hasn't quite been in the playoff conversation.

For those that don't know much about Josh Kotelnicki, he comes to Mary leaving behind a storied history at the University of North Dakota. Josh was a linebacker and captain on the 2001 Fighting Sioux football team that won the D2 National Championship. Since that time Josh has spent the better part of the last 10 years coaching at UND, and was the DC for the 2013 season before the staff was let go at the end of the season.



MW: Coach, you are stepping into some big shoes with the departure of Myron Schulz. Have you had a chance to reach out to Coach Schulz and how are things in the office there with your former UND AD Roger Thomas holding that same position at Mary these days?
Coach: What a blessing for me to have Roger here with me as a first-time head coach. So I have Roger down the hall from me to bounce things off, while I also have a great relationship with Myron Schulz the former head coach. It's really a great arrangement for me to have 2 former head coaches to talk to about why we did things a certain way and to get their thoughts about different situations.

MW: Taking a look at your recruiting class, it looks like was a focus on defensive bodies in your front seven. Is that a fair assessment?
Coach: Yes. Some of that is taking the best players available, but yes we have some guys on the D-Line that we could switch around too if needed. We need to iron out a bit of our kicking game as well, but we have some time to figure that out. Overall defense had more priority, but we still might bring in some more guys for the class itself.

MW: Taking a look at your class, do you seeing anyone being able to step in right away in 2014?
Coach: Maybe, but realistically we want to redshirt the whole class. We are looking at long-term here. At UND we did that for a while and I felt that it burned through some guys quickly and it would've been good to have some of those guys around the last few years, particularly the year we got fired (2013).

MW: What are your thoughts on the roster that you've inherited with the Marauders, it would seem that you have some key players back and a ready-made group with the exception of longtime signal-caller Craig Bagnell.
Coach: I think we have a really good team. I will put any questions to rest for the quarterback position. It's pretty simple, Zach Roberson will be our starting quarterback. He's impressed me a lot since I've arrived here and he throws a good ball. He also shows great leadership. During my coaching career I've seen that it's hard to succeed when you are toggling between 2 quarterbacks. The programs I've been with have seen a lot more winning seasons when there is 1 starter and not going back and forth. Watching the FCS level the last few years the best teams in our conference always had steady and solid quarterback play, heck just look at NDSU the last 3-4 years.

MW: Being a new Head Coach I see that you also have 2 new coordinators. First, tell me a little bit about DC Jason Thier.
Coach: Sure. Jason was a guy I coached at Truman State, who impressed me back during that time. We stayed in-touch. He was a GA at Augustana. Then he took over the DC job at Montana Western (NAIA) at the young age of 25. So he got some good experience there and then came to UND with me last year at UND, and then here to Mary. He's one of those guys that you have no worries about at all. We communicate very well, see the game the same way, and he's also a very good operations guy. We only have 5 full time coaches, so guys have to be strong at everything. He's also a really good recruiter, I'm glad he's on-board with us. He was a no-brainer hire for me when I got the job.

MW: Defensively what type of scheme are you looking to run?
Coach: We aren't looking to change much. We are looking to keep things simpler for the kids and instead have us coaches intergrate things with what they are familiar with already. We are playing what's essentially a 4-3, but one of the end rushers wont have his hand down. So it's a 3-4 most would say, but essentially we are playing things as a 4-3 since we will have 4 guys on the line.

MW: It's kinda nice for you to be able to walk into a program with the best linebacker in the conference.
Coach: No kidding, right. Grant is a quiet guy, but very much of a self-starter. Obviously he's one of the key players on our defense and he's so easy to coach.

(Grant Singer, below)


MW: Tim Belmore is your new OC. He was at UND with you and then also an OC at Jamestown with the Jimmies up there. What else can you tell us about Tim?
Coach: He's a great fit with our school. He's a real professional and carries himself that way. Tim and I are on the same page with how the game should be run offensively. It's his choice as to if we go no-huddle or anything tactically. That's totally his call. He's got a lot of latitude, he runs the ship on that side of the ball.

MW: Last year Mary threw for 3,000 yards and rushed for under 1,000. Do you plan on having a bit more balance going forward or do you think you might continue to play to your strengths with guys like Elby Pope and Nick Jolliffe at wideout?
Coach: Certainly we need to play to our strengths, but we also need to be able to run the ball efficiently. We also will need to be able to run the ball to finish out games in the 4th quarter. It's very important that our runners finish their runs.

MW: Looking at your Spring Game. Ok, what happened here Coach? 7-0? Did you play One quarter? Haha.
Coach: No, we split the team up and played a full game. We were playing the 3's as much as the 1's, getting a lot of looks at players. I'm not worried at all about a 7-0 score, our offense should come into the season as the strength of the team. I'm most pleased that nobody got hurt, honestly.

(Spring Game, below)


MW: Taking a look at the game itself and Spring-ball, were there any guys that stood out or surprised you a bit?
Coach: Yes, quite a few actually. On the offensive side I really like how we look at receiver with Elby Pope and Nick Jolliffe, but I don't think those two are any secret in this conference. I feel we are really strong there though. I also impressed with the improvement with Dariouse Gravely who is competing for the starting running back spot. He looked good in Spring. Nolan LaValley looked good at the offensive tackle spot. I was pleased to see our depth at the defensive tackle spot and I really like where we are at with our corners.

MW: Coach, thanks a lot for your time. Good luck up there in Bismarck.
Coach: Thanks Matt. We appreciate the work you guys put into the site. I've read D2 since I was a player long ago. We've got some big things coming here in Bismarck in the not too distant future and it's a real good time to be a part of this program.

MW: Well, there's no reason for you guys not to have a good stranglehold on your immediate area and frankly you should be a very nice choice for kids in that area. You have every opportunity to own Bismarck.
Coach: THANK YOU! Exactly! I'm so glad you said that, couldn't agree more.