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 . 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 Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and he was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

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 Augustana College may refer to: *Augustana College (Illinois) *Augustana University Sioux Falls, South Dakota *Augustana University College, Alberta See also *Augustana Divinity School (Neuendettelsau) The Augustana-Hochschule Neuendettelsau is ...

in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and the South Dakota Coyotes in Vermillion.

Bethany

Kessinger was the head football coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas from 1976 to 2003, where he posted a record of 219–57–1. He guided Bethany 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

Football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kessinger, Ted 1941 births Living people American football centers American football linebackers Augustana (Illinois) Vikings football coaches Augustana (South Dakota) Vikings football coaches Augustana (South Dakota) Vikings football players Bethany Swedes football coaches South Dakota Coyotes football coaches College wrestling coaches in the United States College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Lindsborg, Kansas Sportspeople from Sioux Falls, South Dakota Players of American football from South Dakota