Willmar graduate is now Hall of Fame coach

MOORHEAD — Willmar native Terry Horan has officially tackled one of the toughest challenges any coach, or athlete, can have: being named amongst the greatest.

Now heading into his 21st season as the head coach of the Concordia College football team with 129 overall victories, 100 being in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Horan was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coach Association Hall of Fame Friday at the Doubletree Hotel in Minneapolis.

“I’m extremely blessed and honored,” Horan said. “It doesn’t happen without great coaches with me. I’ve got a great staff and I’ve been around some really, really talented coaches over my years.

“It’s about the players too. I have had a lot of great players that have played for me.”

Horan received the notification that he was to be inducted into the MFCA Hall of Fame by Dave Nelson, the legendary varsity football coach that spent a combined 36 years between Blaine and Minnetonka.

Horan says the notification from Nelson was an honor within itself, having idolized Nelson before coaching his son, quarterback Jesse Nelson, at Concordia from 2005-2008.

“I was a little surprised (entering the Hall of Fame) but certainly I truly appreciated the phone call and I was very excited,” Horan said.
Growing up in Willmar, Horan, 55, says sports were always on his mind.

As a Willmar Cardinal, Horan was a three-sport athlete, competing in football, basketball and baseball.

“I was always busy doing something,” he said. “Sports have always been an important part of my life. I’m sure glad I had the opportunity to play all of those sports.”

After graduating from Willmar High School in 1985, Horan went on to be a multi-sport athlete as a Cobber at Concordia.

In football, Horan was named an All-American

“I actually played football and basketball my freshman year,” he said. “I probably would have done it again but then the fall season just kind of runs into the winter season. Then I played baseball my last three years.”

After graduating from Concordia in 1989, Horan kept the same goal in mind, returning to Concordia.

“[Concordia] really became a family and I knew this was a place that I wanted to try to get back to and make a career of being a coach here,” he said.

Horan went on to play semi-pro football in Pennsylvania before returning to Willmar and becoming an assistant football coach at Willmar Community College (now Ridgewater).

After one season as the assistant coach, Horan accepted a teaching position in Breckenridge. Horan was added to the football team as an assistant coach before being named the head coach at 26.

Throughout his career at Breckenridge, Horan’s team racked up a 56-15 record, made three state title appearances in four years and was named Section Coach of the Year and Heart O’ Lakes Conference Coach of the Year three times.

In 1997, Horan returned to the Cobbers as a wide receiver coach and athletic recruiting coordinator, before returning to Breckenridge.

Horan then came back to Concordia to become the Cobbers’ head coach in 2001.

Pressure was on Horan from the beginning, having to succeed MFCA Hall of Famer Jim Christopherson, who won two national championships with the Cobbers and 11 MIAC crowns.

Christopherson succeeded another MFCA Hall of Famer in Jake Christiansen, whom the Concordia football stadium is named after, with a record of 145-70-10 in 28 years as head coach of the Cobbers.

Now, 21 years later, with a 129-65 record and needing 14 more victories to tie Christiansen for second in Concordia’s all-time win list, Horan is set to join his two predecessors in the Hall of Fame.

Christiansen was awarded the honor in 1970, followed by Christopherson in 1996.

“When you look at the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” Horan said in terms of being named into the Hall of Fame. “You think of all the years, the state of Minnesota has been playing football via high school and college. And to be really named into the Hall of Fame is really quite an honor.”

While his accomplishments have been earned 165 miles northeast of Willmar in Moorhead, Horan says this award will forever be tied back to his hometown roots.

“Willmar has obviously got a big spot in my heart,” he said. “I love the community and love my time there. My family, all my brothers and sisters, grew up there. I still have a lot of friends that still live in Willmar.”

Horan says he primarily returns to Willmar for recruiting purposes, something he looks forward to each year.

“Once you’re a Willmar Cardinal, you’re always a Willmar Cardinal,” he said. “I always tell kids, when we’re recruiting Willmar boys, ‘Cardinals fly together.’”

Horan starts his 21st season as the Cobber head coach against Valley City State on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021, at Jake Christiansen Stadium.