2016 represents Kirk Talley's 16th season of leading the Northwestern football team. Very few small-college coaches have experienced the sustained success that Talley boasted at Northwestern. Under Talley's watch, the Eagles won back-to-back Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season championships in 2001 and 2002 with undefeated league records, a north division title in the UMAC in 2003, and two more outright conference titles with undefeated league records in 2005, 2007 and 2008. 2012 saw Northwestern grab another league trophy as the UMAC Co-Champion. Talley was selected the UMAC Coach of the Year in the 2001, 2005, 2008, and 2012 campaigns.
Over the course of Talley's 16 seasons at the helm of Eagle football and it's motto of "One Heart, One Mission", Northwestern has posted an 103-50 (.673) overall record and a 76-17 (.817) conference mark. In the same time span, the Eagles have appeared in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Victory Bowl in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011 and most recently in 2015, winning the bowl game in 2008 with a 49-44 victory over Malone University. Talley's 2001 squad posted a 9-0 season record, the best single season performance and the only undefeated campaign in program history. Among the list of head football coaches at Northwestern, Talley ranks first all-time in career winning percentage and career victories.
Coach Talley has been a head coach in the UMAC for 23 years, with his past coaching experiences involve current league members Crown College (Minn.) and Greenville College (Ill.) and former member Mount Senario (Wis.). While at Mount Senario, Talley's team won the UMAC conference title and he was recognized as the coach of the year for his success. Other stints along his coaching career path include Taylor University (Ind.), Northern State University (S.D.), and Miami University (Ohio). After starting his collegiate football career as a player at Golden Valley Lutheran College, Talley played at Pacific Lutheran University for Frosty Westering, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Talley strives to see his program honor God through football as the gridiron provides his players with the opportunity to glorify God using the talents and abilities they have been blessed with both individually and corporately.
Together with his wife Terri, Kirk is the father to two adult children, Brittni and Kristi.
