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1996 National Championship Football Team

Ten years after they defeated Western Washington, 47-25, the University of Sioux Falls 1996 National Championship football team was inducted into USF Athletic Hall of Fame. The 1996 Championship is a milestone at the University of Sioux Falls. It brought the school into the national limelight and created a winning tradition in Cougar athletics and the football program. This special group of men recorded a 14-0 record by defeating their opponents by an average of 30 points per game; all with playing just two games in front of a home crowd. All together, the '96 USF football team produced five All-Americans, 14 team records and 24 individual records at USF and four NAIA individual records; three of which still stand to this day.


No.

1

2

3

4

5

7

8

10

12

13

14

17

18

19

20

22

23

24

25

27

30

31

32

33

34

35

37

41

44

45

47

48

50

52

 

Name

Michael Kuiper

Damon Olson

Chuck Morrell

Lamar Westbrook

Greg Wilson

Kalen DeBoer

Chip Gardiner

Chris Wulf

Kurtiss Riggs

Ricky Cottrell

Ryan Rollinger

Jason Yurkovich

Rob Hammond

Kelly King

Zak Dean

Jim Nelson

Brent Jurgensen

Phil Porter

Chris Snyder

Josh Benz

Eli Swenson

Larry Wilson

John Petri

Ray Smith

Mike Swenson

Matt Mathiesen

Kyle Jellema

David Rutter

David Fiech

Mat Ornelas

Ryan Harris

Eric Hietbrink

J.T. Birkle

Jack Oliver

 

Pos.

K

DB

DB

RB

RB

WR/P

QB

DB

QB

DB

QB

WR

QB

RB

RB

RB

WR

DB

DB

DB

DB

LB

DB

LB

DL

LB

DB

RB

RB

LB

LB

DB

OL

LB

 

No.

53

54

55

56

57

58

60

61

62

63

64

65

67

68

70

71

72

73

74

76

77

78

80

81

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

94

99

 

Name

Bryan Maxwell

Travis Eldridge

Chad Paulson

Nate Moser

Chris Patterson

Adam Nelson

Chris Hirt

Brad Schroeder

Eric Struck

Chris Poulos

Rodney Williams

Mike NoSeep

Rob Shaw

Travis Bussa

Justin Jacobs

Steve Matteson

Brandon Chirrick

Rudy Elizondo Jr.

Andy Harold

Mark Hanson

Jacob Kloos

Jason Mosier

Jim Jarovski

Riley Kleinhesselink

Jared Oswald

Mike Nelson

Jeremy DeCurtins

Travis Krant

Jeremy Gardner

Josh Harrington

Wade netten

Travis Dumke

Kevin Hunt

Brian Koch

 

Pos.

LB

C

LB

DL

LB

LB

OL

OL

OL

OL

DL

OL

OL

DL

DL

OL

DL

OL

OL

OL

OL

OL

WR

TE

WR

TE

WR

WR

TE

WR

WR

DL

DL

DL

Head Coach: Bob Young

Assistant Coaches: Jim Denevan, Chad Garrow, Russ Harter, Jae Sim, Scott Underwood