Quick Facts
Biography
Ted Kessinger (born January 15, 1941) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas from 1976 to 2003, compiling a record of 219–57–1 for a winning percentage of .792. He is among the college football coaches with the most wins and the highest winning percentage.
Kessinger was the head coach of the first American football team to play in Sweden, and he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010. His son is Kent Kessinger, the head coach at Ottawa University.
Coaching career
Assistant coaching
Before becoming a head coach, Kessinger worked as an assistant coach at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and the South Dakota Coyotes in Vermillion.
Bethany
Kessinger was head coach at Bethany College Swedes in Lindsborg, Kansas from 1976 until 2003, where he posted a record of 219 wins, 57 losses, and one tie. While at Bethany, he took his team to the NAIA playoffs ten times and achieved a top 25 ranking 20 times. His teams never posted a losing season during his entire coaching tenure.
In 2000, his team won the American Family Charity Bowl, defeating the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes by a score of 20-3.
Kessinger was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 2003 as well as the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | NAIA Coach's Poll# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethany College Terrible Swedes (NAIA) (Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference) (1976–1995) | |||||||||
| 1976 | Bethany | 6–4–0 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1977 | Bethany | 9–1–0 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1978 | Bethany | 10–1–0 | records incomplete | L NAIA Division II Quareterfinals | |||||
| 1979 | Bethany | 11–1–0 | records incomplete | L NAIA Division II Semifinals | |||||
| 1980 | Bethany | 9–1–0 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1981 | Bethany | 9–1–0 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1982 | Bethany | 5–5–0 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1983 | Bethany | 8–2–0 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1984 | Bethany | 6–4–0 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1985 | Bethany | 7–2–0 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1986 | Bethany | 8–1–0 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1987 | Bethany | 8–2–0 | 6–1 | L NAIA Division II First Round | |||||
| 1988 | Bethany | 11–0–0 | 8–0 | L NAIA Division II Quareterfinals | |||||
| 1989 | Bethany | 8–1–0 | 7–1 | ||||||
| 1990 | Bethany | 8–2–0 | 8–1 | L NAIA Division II First Round | |||||
| 1991 | Bethany | 8–2–0 | 8–1 | L NAIA Division II First Round | |||||
| 1992 | Bethany | 7–1–1 | records incomplete | ||||||
| 1993 | Bethany | 9–2–0 | 8–0 | L NAIA Division II First Round | |||||
| 1994 | Bethany | 7–3–0 | 7–1 | ||||||
| 1995 | Bethany | 10–1–0 | 8–0 | L NAIA Division II Quareterfinals | |||||
| 1996 | Bethany | 8–2–0 | 8–0 | L NAIA Division II First Round | |||||
| 1997 | Bethany | 7–2–0 | 6–2 | ||||||
| 1998 | Bethany | 6–3–0 | 5–3 | ||||||
| 1999 | Bethany | 8–2–0 | 7–1 | L NAIA Division I First Round | |||||
| 2000 | Bethany | 7–3–0 | 7–3 | W American Family Charity Bowl | |||||
| 2001 | Bethany | 8–1–0 | 8–1 | ||||||
| 2002 | Bethany | 6–3–0 | 6–3 | ||||||
| 2003 | Bethany | 5–4–0 | 5–4 | ||||||
| Bethany: | 219–57–1 | ||||||||
| Total: | 219–57–1 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. | |||||||||