Kurt Reiser enters his seventh season at the helm of the Tomcats after being named the 25th head coach in Thiel College football history on Nov. 16, 2008. Reiser guided the Tomcats to a four-win campaign in 2014, the most wins since 2006. Twenty-five Tomcats were named All-PAC players under Reiser’s tutelage the last two seasons.
A member of the Thiel coaching staff under Jack Leipheimer for eight seasons, Reiser served as the team’s assistant head coach and offensive coordinator from 2007-08 prior to being named head coach.
As a member of the Thiel coaching staff, Reiser has been no stranger to success.
As the team’s offensive line coach from 2001 to 2006, Reiser mentored eight Tomcats to a combined 19 All-PAC selections. Two players – Dave Hendricks and Bob Munch – were four-time selections.
In Thiel’s 11-win 2005 campaign, the Reiser-led offensive line played an integral part in securing the program’s first PAC title since 1972 and its first undefeated regular season since 1950. Five members of that unit were named to the All-PAC team, with two garnering first team honors.
While Hendricks turned in one of the best seasons of all time for a Thiel offensive lineman, earning AFCA First Team and D3Football.com First Team All-America honors in addition to being named the Don Hansen Football Gazette National Offensive Lineman of the Year and earning an invitation to participate in the Aztec Bowl, the O-line as a whole paved the way for a potent Tomcat attack.
Over the course of the 2005 season, Reiser’s line allowed only seven sacks in the regular season and aided in establishing Steve Minton as the school’s all-time leading rusher and Darrell Satterfield and Brandon Chambers as one of the most prolific quarterback-receiver duos in school history.
After being named offensive coordinator prior to the 2007 season, Reiser has called the shots for several of the most impressive offensive displays in Thiel football annals.
In his inaugural season as the Tomcats’ offensive play-caller, running back Dan Hess set three school records in one day, racking up 327 yards and 30 points on 43 rushes in a 62-14 drubbing of Saint Vincent College. The next season, quarterback Willie Bova conducted a similar assault on Thiel passing records by completing 32 of 63 tosses for 374 yards against Bethany (all three are school records).
Prior to arriving at Thiel, Reiser was the offensive coordinator at Leyden High School in Chicago for six years. A 1993 Allegheny graduate, he earned his master’s degree from DePaul University in 1997. With the Gators, where he played under then-assistant coach Leipheimer, Reiser was a three-year starter at tight end, a two-time All-NCAC selection and an All-American. Reiser was also a starter on the Gators’ 1990 National Championship team. He caught the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime in the national championship game.
Reiser and his wife, Nancy, have three children: Ben, Ethan, and Ellie.
