The Luther Norse football team represents Luther College in college football at the NCAA Division III level. The Norse are former members of the American Rivers Conference (ARC) from 1922 when it was the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) to 2026. On July 1, 2026, Luther College joined the Midwest Conference (MWC). The Norse play their home games at Carlson Stadium in Decorah, Iowa.

The team's head coach is Joe Troche, who took over the position for the 2022 season.

Conference affiliations Club team (1892–1894, 1896) Army training corps (1918) Independent (1919–1921) Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (1922–2017; rebranded) American Rivers Conference (2018–2026) Midwest Conference (2026-Present)

Championships Conference championships Luther claims 11 conference titles, the most recent of which came in 1978.

1932 Iowa Conference 6–2 4–1 Hamlet Peterson 1935 7–1 4–0 1938 5–2–1 4–0–1 1941 6–1–1 4–0–1 1954 9–0 6–0 Edsel Schweizer 1957 8–1 7–1 1960† 8–1 7–1 1963 9–0 8–0 1970 8–2 6–1 1971 8–1 6–1 1978† 6–3 5–2 Bob Naslund † Co-champions

Bowl games Luther has participated in two bowl games, and has a record of 1–1. 1955 Edsel Schweizer Corn Bowl Western Illinois W 24–21 1970 Stagg Bowl Capital L 21–34

List of head coaches Key

Coaches + List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC CC NC Awards 1 Walter Jewell 1919 6 2 4 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 2 Oscar Solem 1920 7 5 1 1 – – – – – – – – – – – 3 Ivan Doseff 1921 6 2 4 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 4 Franklin Cappon 1922–1924 22 11 8 3 – – – – – – – – – – – 5 Hamlet Peterson 1925–1945 156 80 67 9 – – – – – – – – – – – 6 Robert Bungum 1946–1949 34 9 23 2 – – – – – – – – – – – 7 Wally Johnson 1950–1951 17 7 10 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 8 Edsel Schweizer 1952–1977 234 150 78 6 – – – – – – – – – – – 9 Bob Nashlund 1978–1995 169 90 79 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 10 Brad Pole 1996–2001 60 20 40 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 11 Paul Hefty 2002–2007 60 29 31 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 12 Mike Durnin 2008–2012 50 18 32 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 13 Aaron Hafber 2013–2017 50 20 30 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 14 Caleb Padilla 2018–2021 31 2 29 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 15 Joe Troche 2022–present 42 4 38 0 0.095 2 30 0 0.0625 – – – – – – –

Year-by-year results National championsConference championsBowl game berthPlayoff berth SeasonYearHead coachAssociationDivisionConferenceRecordPostseasonFinal rankingOverallConferenceWinLossTieFinishWinLossTieLuther Norse18921892Club team1893189318941894No team in 189518961896Club teamNo team from 1897 to 1917Army training corps 1918 1919 1919Walter JewellNCAAIndependent 2 4 0 —— 1920 1920Oscar Solem 5 1 1 —— 1921 1921Ivan Doseff 2 4 0 —— 1922 1922Franklin CapponIIAC 3 4 0 —— 1923 1923 4 1 2 —— 1924 1924 4 3 1 —— 1925 1925Hamlet Peterson 3 4 0—— 1926 1926 4 4 0—— 1927 1927 0 80—— 1928 1928 6 20—— 1929 1929 6 3 0 —— 1930 1930 5 3 0 —— 1931 1931 5 4 0 —— 1932 1932 6 2 0 Conference champions— 1933 1933 4 3 0 —— 1934 1934 3 3 2 —— 1935 1935 7 1 0 Conference champions— 1936 1936 5 4 0 —— 1937 1937 4 1 3 —— 1938 1938 5 2 1 Conference champions— 1939 1939 3 5 0 —— 1940 1940 3 4 1 —— 1941 1941 6 1 1 Conference champions— 1942 1942 3 3 1 —— 1943 1943 0 20—— 1944 1944 0 40—— 1945 1945 2 4 0 —— 1946 1946Robert Bungum 3 6 0 —— 1947 1947 1 7 1 —— 1948 1948 3 5 0 —— 1949 1949 2 5 1 —— 1950 1950Wally Johnson 1 7 0 —— 1951 1951 6 3 0 —— 1952 1952Edsel Schweizer 3 5 0 —— 1953 1953 5 3 0 —— 1954 1954 9 0 0 Conference champions— 1955 1955 9 0 1 —— 1956 1956College Division 5 3 1 —— 1957 1957 8 1 0 Conference champions— 1958 1958 7 1 1 —— 1959 1959 6 3 0 —— 1960 1960 8 1 0 Conference champions— 1961 1961 6 3 0 —— 1962 1962 6 2 1 —— 1963 1963 9 0 0 Conference champions— 1964 1964 6 3 0 —— 1965 1965 6 3 0 —— 1966 1966 7 2 0 —— 1967 1967 4 4 1 —— 1968 1968 2 7 0 —— 1969 1969 7 2 0 —— 1970 1970 8 2 0 Conference champions— 1971 1971 8 1 0 Conference champions— 1972 1972 3 6 0 —— 1973 1973Division III 2 5 1 —— 1974 1974 3 6 0 —— 1975 1975 4 5 0 —— 1976 1976 4 5 0 —— 1977 1977 5 5 0 —— 1978 1978Bob Naslund 6 3 0 Conference champions— 1979 1979 3 6 0 —— 1980 1980 6 3 0 —— 1981 1981 4 5 0 —— 1982 1982 6 3 0 —— 1983 1983 5 4 0 —— 1984 1984 5 4 0 —— 1985 1985 5 5 0 —— 1986 1986 7 3 0 —— 1987 1987 8 2 0 —— 1988 1988 4 6 0 —— 1989 1989 4 6 0 —— 1990 1990 4 5 0 —— 1991 1991 6 3 0 —— 1992 1992 6 4 0 —— 1993 1993 5 5 0 —— 1994 1994 4 6 0 —— 1995 1995 2 6 0 —— 1996 1996Brad Pole 3 7 0 —— 1997 1997 4 6 0 —— 1998 1998 3 7 0 —— 1999 1999 2 8 0 —— 2000 2000 5 5 0 —— 2001 2001 3 7 0 —— 2002 2002Paul Hefty 4 6 0 —— 2003 2003 6 4 0 —— 2004 2004 6 4 0 —— 2005 2005 6 4 0 —— 2006 2006 2 8 0 —— 2007 2007 5 5 0 —— 2008 2008Mike Durnin 5 5 0 —— 2009 2009 5 5 0 —— 2010 2010 5 5 0 —— 2011 2011 3 7 0 —— 2012 2012 0 10 0 —— 2013 2013Aaron Hafner 2 8 0 —— 2014 2014 5 5 0 —— 2015 2015 4 6 0 —— 2016 2016 3 7 0 —— 2017 2017 6 4 0 —— 2018 2018Caleb PadillaA-R-C 1 9 0 — — 2019 2019 1 9 0 — — 2020–21 2020–21 0 1 0 — — 2021 2021 0 10 0 — — 2022 2022Joe Troche 2 8 0 — — 2023 2023 0 10 0 — — 2024 2024 1 9 0 — — 2025 2025 0 10 0 — — 2026 2026 Joe Troche MWC 1 1 0 — —

Notes

References

External links