2024 - Former Chadron State College safety and graduate coaching assistant Clint Sasse joined the CSC coaching staff as a full-time assistant coach for the CSC football team in April 2019, and was elevated to defensive coordinator following the 2020 season.
In his first full season as coordinator, Sasse led a defensive unit which yielded only 22 points per game and held opponents to less than 150 yards rushing and under 200 passing, on average. The defense also allowed one of the lowest third-down conversion rates in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Senior cornerback Bobby Peele earned All-RMAC First Team honors under his watch in 2021. In 2022, four defensive players - Tayven Bray, Hunter O'Connor, Brendan Brehmer and Peele - received all-conference recognitiion. O'Connor was also an All-Region and All-America selection.
Under Sasse's coaching, O'Connor broke the RMAC single-game tackle-for-loss record with nine and the CSC single-season sack record with 16 sacks on the season.Â
As linebackers coach, Sasse helped Jeremiah Makahununiu, Noah Kerchal, and Travis Wilson all to rank among the top 10 players in the RMAC for tackles per game, with five teams participating. He also coached linebacker Tyler Lewis to All-RMAC Second Team honors in 2019, and Wilson led the conference in total tackles.
Sasse came to Chadron State following a brief stint at Montana Tech, where he was hired early in 2019 as a full-time defensive line coach and assistant special teams coordinator.
Prior to Tech, Sasse was head football coach for two seasons at Lee Williams High in Kingman, Arizona, where he was head coach for two years and defensive coordinator for one.Â
Sasse was the coaching assistant responsible for defensive backs at Chadron State while obtaining his graduate degree in 2014 and 2015. Under his watch cornerback Jordan Jones led the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in pass breakups as a sophomore in 2014, sophomore safety Ryan Wood made All-RMAC First Team, senior cornerback Lane Haller made Second Team, and junior safety Cole Montgomery garnered honorable mention. In 2015 Montgomery and Wood received honorable mention.
As a safety for the Eagles from 2009 to 2013, Sasse accumulated 119 total tackles and five tackles-for-loss for 16 yards, adding two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. He played in 37 games, starting 16, as CSC compiled a 31-14 record and made the 2012 NCAA Division II Playoffs.
Sasse is a native of Martin, South Dakota, and is married to another prominent CSC athletics figure, the former Kelsy Wood. A native of Hemingford, Wood was a two-time All-American in the heptathlon and 4x400 relays for CSC track and field in 2016. The couple has one son, Kal.
