New Ulm, MN-  Martin Luther College Professor and Coach Doug Lange announced his decision to retire, ending a 36-year coaching career that included 18 years at MLC, where he coached football and track and field. Lange made the decision to retire prior to the 2022-23 school year, his choice based primarily on health concerns.

Lange coached numerous sports at various stops during his career, but he was most frequently found on the sidelines of a football field or near the track.

Lange's first head coaching position came in 1987, when he took over the Arizona Lutheran Academy (ALA) football program. In 1992, he led the team to the Arizona state football championship. In each spring of his eight-year tenure at ALA, he also coached the baseball team.

Lange transitioned to coaching track and field when he took a call to St. Croix Lutheran Academy in 1995. In his 10 years at St. Croix, Lange was also head football coach and had stints as a baseball and softball coach.
After St. Croix, Lange continued his coaching career at MLC, where he led the football program from 2005 to 2014.

With Lange at the helm, the Knights finished with a 45-52 record, including a 2009 UMAC North Championship, which earned him UMAC Coach of the Year honors. During his tenure, Lange coached 38 First Team All-UMAC performers, three UMAC Defensive Players of the Year, and one UMAC Offensive Player of the Year. His teams set numerous school records, including the single-season offensive records for points, touchdowns, total yards, and rushing yards.
Lange also served as the head track and field coach for both the men and women's programs from 2005 to 2022.

In 2016, Lange coached the first MLC student-athlete to earn NCAA Division III All-American status: Todd Brassow finished seventh in the High Jump at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships. 

In 2019, the men's team set a program-best mark in the UMAC's NCAA Division III era (dating back to 2008) by tying for third place with 111 total points at the UMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Five members of the men's team were named All-UMAC. The women also had a strong event, tying for fourth place.

The two coaches who most influenced and inspired Lange were, ironically, not football or track coaches, but basketball icons John Wooden and Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K). Lange wanted to see what made those successful coaches tick, and he further credited Wooden when he said, "You take the ability that God has given you, and you do the best you can in those circumstances. It is a one-play-at-a-time coaching philosophy. The play or event you are in now is the moment God has given you to excel in."

Lange saw the importance of the Christian values that Wooden brought into a secular setting, and he was grateful to know that he could implement those same values at a Christian college like Martin Luther College.

When asked what his greatest satisfaction was during his time at MLC, he said, "I appreciate seeing the lessons and moments on the field of my former students and players come full circle when they become colleagues of mine in the ministry. Being able to see a new generation go out and be witnesses of Christ brings great joy to me."

On a personal side, Lange found great satisfaction in being named the UMAC Coach of the Year in two separate sports.

MLC Athletic Director David Biedenbender is grateful for Coach Lange's work at MLC. "We thank Doug for his many years of service to the athletic department and physical education division here at MLC. Doug poured a great deal of energy into the football and track and field programs during his time at MLC, and we are very appreciative of his time and efforts. We certainly wish Doug the best in his retirement years."

Lange had a final message to all the current and future student-athletes at MLC: "Keep the ministry as your focus, but use athletics to hone that focus. Let people see the gifts that God has given you shine forth in everything that you do."