Ted Soenksen, the Lake Forest College football team's offensive coordinator since 2015 and associate head coach at his alma mater for the last year, was announced as the head coach at fellow Midwest Conference member Beloit College on Thursday.
Soenksen is a 2006 graduate of the College and just completed his sixth season on the Forester coaching staff and 10th as an assistant at the collegiate level. He was hired as Lake Forest's offensive line and tight ends coach in 2011 and helped lead the 2012 team to a share of the conference chammpionship. After two years away from the program, he resumed his role as offensive line coach and added offensive coordinator to his job description.
The Lake Forest offense reached unprecedented levels during his time as coordinator, setting or matching 36 program records in the last four seasons. He has directed players on that side of the ball to 24 All-MWC honors in his four years as coordinator and Forester offensive linemen have earned a dozen all-conference selections in his six years as their position coach.
A four-year letter winner and two-year starter on the offensive line, Soenksen was part of the Foresters' 2002 MWC championship team that made the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament and graduated in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in economics. Lake Forest's 28 victories during his playing career are still tied for the most of any four-year run in program history and the Foresters' record during his 10 total seasons with the program is 65-36.
"Coach Soenksen's contributions to Forester Football are immeasurable and our success during his time with the program is a testament to his efforts and abilities as a player, coach, and coordinator," explained Catanzaro. " I am extremely grateful for all he has done for me and for our players and I know he will continue to excel in the next phase of his career. To my knowledge he will be the only graduate of the College serving as a head coach at the collegiate level and I can't think of a better representative of our institution."
"I am extremely grateful for opportunity to have worked with Coach Cat the last four seasons as his offensive coordinator," began Soenksen. "Being entrusted to run the offense at my alma mater was truly a blessing. The successes we had, both on the field and off, were too numerous to count. Lake Forest College will always be a special place to me and my family. I hope to take the many things I have learned from Coach Cat and fit them to my own program as the head coach at Beloit College."
This fall the Foresters will take on the Buccaneers at Beloit on October 26.