Iowa’s Waldorf University joins GPAC in 2024 to replace Jamestown

The Bulldog football team faces the Waldorf Warriors for the season opener on August 31.

Photo credit: Tobin Beck

By Cohen Carpenter

This article is featured in the December print issue of the Sower newspaper.

Waldorf University out of Forest City, Iowa, made its first appearance as a full member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference this fall when the Bulldogs greeted them rather harshly in their season opener on Aug. 31, winning by a score of 45-7.

Still, Waldorf’s addition to the GPAC shakes up the dynamic of the conference, providing a fresh injection of new players, coaches, colors and teams.

With the departure of the University of Jamestown last year, there was an opening in the conference for a new full-time member. Waldorf had its foot in the door, with its teams, such as soccer, already acquainted with GPAC opponents in 2023.

“Our strategic plan in the Great Plains Athletic Conference is always to keep opportunities open for expansion,” said Concordia Athletic Director Devin Smith. “Preferably with other schools in the Great Plains Athletic Conference footprint, which, ideally, is anywhere within four to five hours of Sioux City, the GPAC home office. Now, there are always going to be outliers that are on the fringe.”

One of those outliers was the University of Jamestown in Jamestown, North Dakota. Trips up north to jostle with the Jimmies proved to be a logistical headache for conference teams as the school was more than a five-hour drive from Sioux City. For teams like Concordia, it was close to eight hours away.

Waldorf’s addition replacing Jamestown may alleviate some of those logistical burdens.

“[Waldorf joining the conference] honestly saves us. Probably the amount of money per year that [Concordia] would spend going to Jamestown, cut a third of it out,” said Smith. “It does save us money but mostly it saves us time. Time for staff and students in a bus is significantly cut down when you are comparing Jamestown to Waldorf.”

While Waldorf is within the GPAC footprint, that is only one of the GPAC’s three criteria to admission into the conference. The second is that a GPAC school must offer a majority of sports that are conference-eligible for a championship. And the third is that the university must be faith-based.

Waldorf, opening its doors in 1903 in accordance with Evangelical Lutheran Church values, still cites those beliefs as its founding and guiding principles, despite multiple name and ownership changes in the past two decades.

“Aside from being compatible regionally, they have been a school that has been well-respected in their conference because of how their leadership handles things,” said Smith. “I really think highly of the president there, as well as their athletic director and their coaches. They are very respectful, humble, gracious and thrilled to be a part of the GPAC athletic conference.”

Smith referred to Waldorf Athletic Director Chad Gassman as “a gem.”

“Very humble, wants to learn and he has wisdom that he brings to the table at meetings,” Smith said. “Most of our discussions that I really enjoy are his ideas about scheduling. The GPAC has settled into certain scheduling models based on traveling and keeping costs down but he comes from a different conference that was more spread out and had to be more creative in that regard.”

One thing that Smith and Gassman have in common is their love of GPAC.

“There’s a lot of pride in the conference,” said Gassman. “The teams take a lot of pride within the conference. We also wanted to do it the right way but putting an emphasis on the fan experience and the student experience.”

Waldorf became the 13th overall GPAC school and joined Briar Cliff, Dordt, Morningside and Northwestern as the fifth Iowa-based institution in the conference. Waldorf has an undergraduate residential population of about 600 students. However, much like Concordia, around 70 percent of their students are student-athletes.

“Another thing that I am excited for [about the GPAC move] is the Northwestern and Dordt matchups, because they’re in Western Iowa, we’re in central Iowa and regionally, there is a connection there,” said Gassman. “I really admire what they’re doing over there athletically. Naturally that will create some excitement.”

Athletically, Waldorf brings a lot to the table. Although Warriors fans may be disappointed in their football team’s recent performance, as the squad went 4-6 in 2024, they have enjoyed some recent success. The Warriors had boasted a winning record every year from 2017 to 2022 with a combined 27-13 record. Even in a relatively down year, the Warriors still received 15 North Star Athletic Association All-Conference awards in 2023, including having five players named to the NSAA first team.

“That football team last year was the same football team two or three years before that, maybe even a little bit more talented,” Gassman said. “In fact, I wouldn’t say it was a lack-luster year; there are just some things we need to look at closer. If you really get into the weeds there, you need to look at the schedule and see what was missing.”

The 2023 Waldorf football schedule may look unfamiliar to GPAC fans. Of the 10 games played, the Warriors only saw six separate opponents, playing four teams two different times. The Bulldogs last year played a different opponent each week.

Concordia soccer, both men’s and women’s, already is acquainted with the Warriors. Both facing and beating Waldorf for the first time in 2023, by a combined score of 8-1. On the men’s side for Waldorf, it’s been a mixed bag in recent years. As recently as 2016, the Warriors were competing in the NSAA championship game, falling to Bellevue that year for conference runner-up. Waldorf then had a losing record every other year. Most recently, in 2023, the men went 8-6-2 and had two players who earned conference honors.

As for the women, Waldorf’s recent history has been more unsatisfying for Warrior fans. Aside from a 2020 season, where the team went 8-6-1, Waldorf’s last winning season came in 2013. The women’s team also in 2023 had two players named to the all-conference team following a 4-9-3 season.

On the court, Waldorf’s volleyball squad finished with a losing record in 2023-2024 at 12-15, but they won the games that mattered and earned a spot in the NSAA quarterfinals, where they lost to Bellevue 3-0.

For basketball, the women’s team finished last season with a 4-12 record and had a 12-game losing streak.

Waldorf is excited about a young roster that looks to be competitive in the GPAC this coming season. “Coach [Shawn Chaffin] had another nice recruiting class,” said Gassman, “which is what we need to compete in women’s basketball in the GPAC, arguably the best conference in the country. We feel like we’re putting a good product out there.”

On the men’s side, the Warriors had an 11-16 record and played their way to a home playoff game in the NSAA tournament. They were beaten by Dickinson State in the first round.

Baseball in 2023-2024 saw the Warriors make it to the NSAA championship game, where they fell to the No. 1 seed Bellevue. The 2023 Waldorf squad showed that in baseball, anybody can get hot at any time. Although it had a 23-28 regular season record, the Warriors got hot at the right time and went 4-2 in the NSAA tournament, earning a runner-up finish.

“We’ve got a good veteran coach in coach [Joe] Tautges,” said Gassman. “I feel like we’re moving forward as a team and I think we will be very competitive in the GPAC.”

While a 6.91 team ERA ensured that most games were high-scoring and tight, the highlight of the Warrior’s baseball season was the offense. Waldorf was able to keep pace with most teams with a high on-base percentage of .380 and by wreaking havoc on the base-paths.

Softball’s NSAA tournament run was not quite as magical, as the squad lost the first round of the playoffs. After just scraping by in the regular season with a 10-29 record, they went in as the sixth seed and lost 8-0 to Dickinson State.