Introduction
Chris Winter is an American college football coach. He was named the head football coach in 2021 at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, after serving as an assistant since 2004, under former head football coach Rick Willis. In just his second year at the helm of the Wartburg Knights, he lead them to a program record 13 wins and to the first NCAA Division III Semifinal appearance in school history.
Winter was born in New Hampton, Iowa. He attended Wartburg College, where he played football and baseball, earning all-conference honors in both sports. He was named to the Wartburg College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.Following the 2022 season, Chris Winter was named the D3football.com National football coach of the year.
Coaching career
Wartburg
Winter was named the head football coach at Wartburg on July 1, 2021, becoming the 14th head coach in the programs history. He took over the program that he was an assistant in for 16 years. In just his second season with the Knights he took the program to new heights when they reached the NCAA semifinals and reached a program mark of 13 wins.The season ended when they lost a thriller to perennial NCAA Division III power Mount Union 34–31. The following year, Winter led his team back to the NCAA semifinals where they would drop another thriller to No. 1 North Central (IL) 34–27.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | AFCA | D3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wartburg Knights (American Rivers Conference) | |||||||||
| 2021 | Wartburg | 7–3 | 6–2 | 2nd | |||||
| 2022 | Wartburg | 13–1 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division III Semifinal | 4 | 3 | ||
| 2023 | Wartburg | 13–1 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division III Semifinal | 3 | 3 | ||
| 2024 | Wartburg | 0–0 | 0–0 | ||||||
| Wartburg: | 33–5 | 22–2 | |||||||
| Total: | 33–5 | ||||||||