Sussner named a Butch Nash Award recipient
Minneota Assistant Football Coach Steve Sussner has been named the 2018 Butch Nash Award by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association. The Butch Nash Award requirement is to be active assistant football coach at the high school level.
The MFCA Executive Committee requirement is that the assistant is a “front-liner in the limelight, under the gun, recipient of praise and/or criticism that is approaching the level of the head coach”.
An assistant’s length of service to a program also influences the selection committee’s choices; generally 15-or-more years.
The award is limited to eight recipients per year. “I am very honored to receive this award,” said Sussner, who has been an assistant coach at Minneota for 18 years.
“To be considered in the same category with Jim Rolbiecki and Matt Myrvik as other Minneota assistants to win this award is an extreme honor and very humbling experience.”
Rolbiecki was a Butch Nash recipient in 1991 and Myrvik won the award in 2013. Sussner joined the Minneota football staff in 2001 when Chad Johnston became head coach.
Sussner, Johnston and Offensive Coordinator Matt Myrvik have been together since time.
“When I started, I coached Junior High football for Coach (Joel) Skillings,” said Sussner. “I also coached defensive backs and wide receivers.”
Currently, Sussner is the Passing Game Coordinator for Minneota, while he also coaches wide receivers and assists Les Engler coaching linebackers.
He and Engler are also Special Teams Coordinators. Until this past year, Sussner had also been the head coach for Junior Varsity. Matt Buysse and Brian Rodas now handle that position.
Sussner played wide receiver and outside linebacker in high school for Minneota, where he graduated from in 1999.
He then attended Southwest Minnesota State University and played defensive back for the Mustangs. Sussner found out about his award when Johnston informed him last Thursday afternoon.
“I am grateful for the amazing kids that I get to coach year after year and the support of their families and the community,” Sussner said.
“I’m also grateful for the coaches that I’ve coached with and especially grateful for the guys I get to coach with every day.”
Sussner and his wife Stacy live in Ghent with their three sons; Tristen, Kade and Briggs.
“I am very grateful for the support I get from my wife and kids. Without their support, I would not be where I am at,” said Sussner, who co-owns Borch’s in Marshall with Chad Wyffels and Mike Dalager.
Sussner and the other Butch Nash Award recipients will be honored at the 55th annual MFCA Hall of Fame Banquet on March 30 at the Doubletree Hotel in Minneapolis.