Football

Bill Kriesel is in his 11th season as an assistant coach for the Pirates football program and moves into the role of Associate Head Coach in 2023. Kriesel is a member of the modern program’s original coaching staff. 

Kriesel began his Southwestern tenure as defensive backs coach in 2013 and was promoted to co-defensive coordinator in 2015 when both of his starting cornerbacks earned All-SCAC first-team honors. He took over the defensive coordinator position completely in 2016. That season, the Pirates led the SCAC in scoring defense, total defense, and passing defense as the Pirates won the SCAC championship, with defensive end Justin Broussard winning SCAC Defensive Player of the Year and earning All-American honors. The following season, the Pirates moved to the ASC and Kriesel’s starting cornerbacks, led by All-American Nik Kelly, were named first-team All-ASC. 

Hallmarks of Kriesel’s defenses include a stout rushing defense, finishing top three in the ASC twice, and stingy red zone defense, leading the ASC in 2018.

Prior to coming to Southwestern, Kriesel was the defensive backs coach at Augsburg College, where he starred as a four-year letter winner as a student-athlete and helped his team win the 1997 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) championship. Kriesel played professionally for the Stuttgart Scorpions of the German Football League from 1998 to 2001 and was inducted into the Augsburg Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. 

Kriesel earned a bachelor’s degree from Augsburg and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. He and his wife, Nicci, have two daughters, Macy and Shay, and reside in Cedar Park.