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UW-Whitewater, Kevin Bullis was defensive coordinator at UW-River
Falls and Gustavus Adolphus. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
UW-Whitewater has its new head football coach. Athletic director Amy Edmonds named Kevin Bullis, a defensive assistant for the Warhawk football team for seven seasons. Bullis, who has served as interim head coach, will take over on Monday, Feb. 2.
Bullis was the only internal candidate on the list of five finalists. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki and longtime defensive coordinator Brian Borland, who was on the sideline for all nine of UW-Whitewater's Stagg Bowl appearances, followed Lance Leipold to Buffalo. Leipold was hired by the Division I FBS school while the Warhawks were in the playoffs.
"We are thrilled to promote Kevin to the position of head football coach at UW-Whitewater," Edmonds said. "His passion, integrity and understanding of the holistic student-athlete experience stood out during the search and screen process. Kevin understands the rich history of Warhawk football and the entire university, and we are confident in his ability to continue our tradition of excellence both on and off the field."
"It is truly an honor to serve UW-Whitewater as head football coach," Bullis said. "Following the legacies left by Forrest Perkins, Bob Berezowitz and Lance Leipold is humbling and exciting. I'd like to thank Chancellor (Richard) Telfer, Amy Edmonds, (associate athletic director) Bob Lanza and the entire search committee for having the faith in me to take the lead."
Wabash head coach Erik Raeburn, Ohio Northern coach Dean Paul, UW-Platteville defensive coordinator Rob Erickson and Urbana coach Dave Taynor were the other finalists.
Bullis will become the 21st head coach in the 121-year history of UW-Whitewater football and the fourth in the past 60 years. He served as defensive run game coordinator and defensive line coach during the 2014 season.
"Our players have started their preparations for next season in the weight room," Bullis said. "We'll look to finalize our staff in relatively quick order."
The Warhawks reached the Stagg Bowl six times in Bullis' seven years as an assistant coach, winning five national championships. The team has also collected six Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles over that span.
Under Bullis' tutelage, UW-Whitewater led the WIAC and placed 17th in NCAA Division III in sacks per game (3.07) and rushing defense (99.5 yards per game allowed). Defensive linemen Zach Franz and Mykaell Bratchett earned all-conference honors, and Franz later collected first team All-America accolades from D3football.com.
Over the past six years, the Warhawks have finished among the nation's top 20 in rushing defense and scoring defense.
In addition to coaching the defensive line and coordinating the run defense, Bullis assisted on special teams, recruited prospective defensive linemen in Wisconsin and Illinois, instructed courses and was an academic advisor to a number of student-athletes at UW-Whitewater.
Prior to joining the Warhawks, Bullis served as defensive coordinator at UW-River Falls from 1995-2007, including four seasons as assistant head football coach. During his 13 seasons with the Falcons, Bullis headed the defensive staff, coordinated recruiting efforts in Minnesota and assisted on special teams. Bullis' other roles included defensive coordinator at Gustavus Adolphus (1993-95), linebackers coach at UW-River Falls (1990-93) and linebackers coach at Minnesota-Morris (1988-89).
Bullis earned his bachelor's degree in social science and secondary education from Morris in 1989, and received his master's degree in history from UW-River Falls in 1992. He and his wife, Kathy, reside in Whitewater and have three children, Jack, Jojo and Emme.