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Iowa State University Athletics
Otten Enjoying New Challenges
10.22.2009 | Football
AMES, Iowa ? AMES, Iowa ? During the fall of 2008, the last place Orv Otten thought he would be 18 months later was in Iowa State's Jacobson Athletic Building. But that is where the ISU volunteer is working as the Cyclone football team prepares for the Dec. 31 Insight Bowl vs. Minnesota. Once he elected to head for Ames however, he knew enough to expect the unexpected.
“I came here with my eyes wide open enjoying being part of the program here,” Otten said.
Otten came to Ames this spring after ending a memorable association as a player, assistant coach and head coach at Northwestern College in Orange City. Northwestern is a private Christian liberal arts college in Northwest Iowa. The school is affiliated with the Reformed Church of America and has a deep Dutch heritage which mirrors the makeup of many small communities in the area. In the fall of 2008, he was in his 14th consecutive year as head football coach there, his 23rd as a Red Raider coach or player. Otten, a native of Lennox, S.D., bled red and white.
“It is a great school,” Otten said. “I am proud to have played there and coached there.”
From Otten's first year as head coach in 1995, his football teams compiled a record of 105-45. Northwestern qualified for the NAIA football playoffs in 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2006. In 2000 his squad advanced to the national semifinals and he was named the national coach of the year by American Football Monthly. Thirty-five of his players earned All-America honors and 37 were named NAIA Scholar-Athletes.
Now he assists the staff of first-year ISU head coach Paul Rhoads.
When Otten finished his successful tenure at Northwestern, he contacted Iowa State assistant head coach Bill Bleil. Bleil had played side-by-side with Otten when the duo were linebackers for the Red Raiders under legendary NAIA Hall of Fame coach Larry Korver.
Rhoads says Otten has been an invaluable addition to his staff.
“Having an individual like Orv, who has been a very successful head coach as a resource for our staff, was an opportunity I couldn't pass up,” Rhoads said. “As a person, he is someone you can count on everyday for perspective.”
Otten went into this turning of the page in his coaching career ready for anything.
“It is refreshing and I have enjoyed it,” Otten said. “I'm watching Paul deal with the issues that are unique to a head coach at any level. For me, it is a chance to get my hands on coaching football strategy and technique.”
It has been 30 years since Bleil and Otten helped anchor Northwestern's defense for Korver, who literally built the Red Raider program into a national power. Northwestern won NAIA national titles in 1973 and 1983 with Korver as head coach. He posted a career record of 212-77.
Bleil, who lived in the same dorm with Otten, remembers his friend as the ultimate team player.
“He was a good linebacker, a leader and captain,” Bleil said. “He was the perfect captain, with great work ethic and a very positive personality.”
In Otten's final collegiate season as a player, Northwestern advanced to the NAIA playoffs. Otten earned his bachelor's degree in physical education. He then taught and coached in the West Sioux school district in Hawarden. He went on to earn a master's degree and a Ph.D. at Iowa.
For five years, Otten taught physical education at Northwestern while serving as Korver's defensive coordinator. In 1995, Otten was selected to succeed his former coach. It must have been daunting to replace a legend.
“(The transition) was eased because (Korver) supported the change,” Otten said. “In fact, he was my offensive line coach in my first year as head coach.”
Otten learned a great deal from his coach, as a player and as an assistant coach, including the art of motivation.
“He would talk sternly to a player and then turn around, look at me and wink,” Otten said. “He was a great football coach in every sense of the word.”
Coaching at the NAIA level means managing a smaller staff than a NCAA Division I program. The limited pool of resources means a head coach at a school like Northwestern is a jack-of-all-trades leader.
“You make connections with coaches and people in the community, make phone calls, write letters, help with the equipment, help with laundry sometimes and set up recruiting data bases,” Otten said. “You are your own director of football operations and that means setting up recruiting data bases and additional administrative jobs.”
For the Otten family, Northwestern football was a part of life. Otten's daughter Amy started working the sideline as her father's cord holder in fifth grade.
“The coaches head phones still had cords and I was at my father's hip,” Amy Otten said. “Once, a runner was coming towards our sideline. Dad jumped out of the way and I got tackled. Mom wasn't too happy about it. But I loved working with my dad.”
Over time, Amy, an art major at Northwestern, graduated to jobs of greater responsibility in the program.
“By the time I was in college, I was my father's equipment manager,” Amy Otten said. “I did the inventory and handled some other administrative duties.”
Otten also coached his two sons, Tony and Greg.
“They called me coach,” Orv Otten said. “I found it challenging separating the roles of father and coach.”
Orv's sons started as water boys and worked their way up to ball boy before taking the field at Northwestern, Tony as a defensive lineman and Greg as a linebacker.
Tony Otten says his father basically treated his sons like regular members of the team.
“It was a great experience,” Tony said. “On Sunday at home, I might get a few more pointers but basically he treated me like any other player on the field.”
Otten's record at Northwestern speaks for itself. It needs no spin. For Iowa State to have a coach of his knowledge and ability in any role is a plus.
“Our trust level is so high with him,” Bleil said. “He treats people with respect and provides our staff with great insight based on his experiences.”
Leave no room for doubt, Paul Rhoads and the ISU coaching staff know what they have in Otten. A winner on and off the field.
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