Dan Lemke joins the Panther football coaching staff after a three year stint at Florida A&M University. Lemke serves as the Defensive Passing Game Coordinator, he coaches the defensive backs for the program.
Lemke, served as the Outside Linebackers Coach/Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Recruiting Coordinator, while at FAMU. A native of Maple Grove, Minnesota, prior to FAMU he worked as the assistant head coach (defensive coordinator/ recruiting coordinator/ strength and conditioning coordinator) at Graceland University from 2017 to 2019.
Prior to Graceland, Lemke worked as various Division II institutions including working as the assistant head coach (defensive coordinator/ director of strength and conditioning) at Northwestern Oklahoma State University (2014-2016). Before working at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Lemke worked at Upper Iowa University (2011-2014) as the defensive backs coach and strength and conditioning coordinator and at Saint Joseph's College (2009-2011) as the defensive backs and head strength and conditioning coach.
Lemke served three (2014-16) seasons at Northwestern Oklahoma State University as Assistant Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator, Secondary Coach and Director of Strength and Conditioning.
The 2015 campaign showed continued improvement for Lemke’s Defense. As a whole the Defense earned rankings as #1 in the GAC & Nation, at the end of regular season play, in fumbles recovered, #1 in the GAC for 4th Down Conversions & #3 in the GAC for team sacks. In addition to these impressive rankings, the Ranger Defense also finished the regular season as #2 in the GAC and #4 in the Nation for turnovers gained with an impressive 32, 13 being interceptions and 19 being fumbles recovered.
Individually the Ranger Defense racked up some notable achievements with the first All-American Honors as a Division II institution. Lemke moved to the Defensive Line from the Secondary in 2015, where he coached many stand-outs. Among them All-American Joby St. Fleur, Jacoby Beasley and Theodis Williams. Under Lemke’s tutelage St. Fleur racked up 10.5 sacks, making him #2 in the GAC for Sacks, as well as #4 in the GAC for forced fumbles, and #3 in the GAC with tackles for loss. Also at Defensive Line was Jacoby Beasley who was #6 in the GAC for Sacks, and Theodis Williams who shared the #1 spot in the GAC for fumbles recovered with his teammate, LB Devon Peyton. Peyton also had a stand out season and ended the regular season as #1 in the GAC and #16 in the Nation for Total Tackles and #2 in the GAC for Solo Tackles. In the Secondary, Jordan Norris ended the season as #1 in the GAC and #5 in the Nation for Interceptions and #2 in the GAC and #22 in the Nation for Passes Defended. Lemke will be moving back to the Secondary in the 2016 campaign, which is where he has spent the vast majority of his coaching career.
2014 was Lemke’s first season as Defensive Coordinator at NWOSU and he made an immediate impact on the Ranger Defense. In 2014 he coached senior stand out Alex Hemberger (LB). Hemberger was named Second Team All-Conference. He racked up 134 tackles in just 10 games making his average tackles per contest 13.4, the highest in the GAC in the 2014 season. Under the guidance of Coach Lemke Joby St. Fleur (DE) also received Honorable Mention on the All-Conference team. St. Fleur was responsible for 53 tackles, 10 for loss, and 7.5 sacks. Lemke’s Defense held rival SWOSU to only 6 points in the final game of the 2014 season putting an end to what had been a story of losses for the Rangers in the past 19 years of NWOSU vs. SWOSU matchups.
In December of 2014 Lemke was the Head Coach of the NCAA Division II team at the annual NCAA DII vs NAIA Bowl Game. Under the leadership of Coach Lemke the NCAA team beat the NAIA team 38-10 breaking what had been a losing streak. Lemke nominated Ranger Alex Hemberger to play in this All-Star game, and later coached him in it.
Prior to NWOSU Coach Lemke spent the past three seasons as Defensive Backs Coach and Strength & Conditioning Coordinator at Upper Iowa University. During his time there, the Peacocks made dramatic improvement in their pass defense, going from the bottom 15 percent nationally to the upper 40th percentile.
In 2013, Lemke’s final season there, Upper Iowa finished 6-5 for its first winning season since making the move up from Division III in 2004. Two of Lemke’s defensive backs earned postseason All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) honors, Keaton Martin and Jordan Andera.
In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Lemke was also instrumental in helping upgrade the facilities at Upper Iowa. He helped spearhead the research and design portion of the school’s new $400,000 weight room renovation project.
Prior to Upper Iowa, Lemke held a similar position at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind.
Lemke’s star pupil was Ronnell Tibbs, a two-time Preseason All-American who twice landed on the GLFC’s First Team All-Conference list. Tibbs was named Co-Defensive Back of the Year by the GLFC’s coaches after the 2010 season.
Lemke broke into coaching as a graduate assistant at St. Cloud State in St. Cloud, Minn., working extensively with the Husky secondary and outside linebackers, while also assisting on special teams. He completed work on his Masters of Science in Sports Management in 2009.
Lemke had a four-year career as a safety at Western Michigan University; he also served as a volunteer member of the athletic department’s strength staff. Lemke earned his Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science there in 2005.
Coach Lemke is married to the former Theresa Hoffman; and they have two boys Curtis and Jackson.
