Orange City, Iowa—Northwestern College Athletic Director Earl Woudstra has announced the hiring of its football coordinators who will serve under head coach Matt McCarty. McCarty, appointed the head of the Red Raider football program in December, will continue to serve as the defensive coordinator, a role he has served since 2005.
Billy Kirch will fill the role of assistant defensive coordinator after serving as an assistant for the Red Raider defense last season.
Kirch has past head coaching stops at both Forest Lake (Minn.) High School (2012-13) and Waverly-South Shore (S.D.) High School (2008-11), where he led the team to the nine-man state championship in 2011. He was also the linebackers coach for North Iowa Area Community College in 2007 and served as a student assistant for South Dakota State University in 2006.
“My family and I are very blessed and extremely excited about this opportunity to be a full-time coach at Northwestern College,” said Kirch. “I have been really impressed with the strong Christian staff and tradition of excellence that Northwestern represents. I am looking forward to working side by side with such great coaches and faculty here at Northwestern. With God’s help, we will use athletics as a vehicle to develop young people with a heart for Christ.”
Kirch, a 2006 graduate of South Dakota State, played linebacker for the Jackrabbits for four years (2002-05). He and his wife, Natalie, live near Rock Rapids, Iowa, and have three children; Brady, Aubrey and Clayton.
“I am excited to work with Coach Kirch,” commented McCarty. “Billy did an outstanding job with our linebackers last spring and with our safeties in the fall. He is a great teacher who understands how to challenge and encourage our players to be their best each day.”
Josh Davis has been hired as the Red Raiders’ offensive coordinator. Davis served as the wide receivers coach at South Dakota State University for seven years while also being the team’s co-special teams coordinator in 2014. During his tenure, Davis helped direct the Jackrabbits to four playoff appearances and coached six players who earned all-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors. Six players who Davis coached rank among the Jackrabbits’ career top 10 for receptions.
“I am honored and blessed to be joining Northwestern College and building upon such a great tradition of academic and athletic success, in God-honoring fashion,” said Davis. “Surrounding myself with great people and quality student-athletes makes me extremely excited to join the Red Raider athletic department.”
Davis also served as a graduate assistant under current SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier in 2007 and was a student intern in 2006. In addition, he worked with the receivers at Iowa Western Community College in the spring of 2009.
“I am excited to see the Red Raider offense under the leadership of Coach Davis,” commented McCarty. “He comes from an outstanding program at SDSU and knows what it takes to compete and be successful at a very high level. I am confident he will help our program continue to pursue excellence in all we do.”
During his playing career, Davis was a record-setting wide receiver from 2002-05, owning the record for career receptions (225) and ranking second in career yards (3,192). He totaled at least 40 catches all four years and was named all-conference two seasons.
