RIPON, Wis. — There was a bittersweet, sentimental feeling in the air at Ripon College fall camp as Ron Ernst, the face of the program, prepared for his 32nd and final season with the Red Hawks.

Much has changed in college football since Ernst arrived in 1991. However, the key to success, he said, is constant.

“The kids have to know you care,” Ernst said. “People need to know you care. I love every single one of these kids. I would do anything for these young men.”

Ernst, a Hastings, Neb. native, admitted he knew nothing about Ripon — or Wisconsin — when he accepted his first collegiate head coaching job. But his earliest recruits said they could tell Ernst was laying a foundation for success at Ripon.

“The mindset of trying to develop a championship program was pretty obvious,” said Bill Schultz, a former wide receiver who played under Ernst in the mid-1990s. “They were intense practices.”

Ernst said he used to dream of climbing the coaching ladder and someday leading a Division I program. However, by his sixth year with the Red Hawks, when he won his first conference title, Ripon was home.

“He created an environment where you felt like a family,” said Troy Youngbauer, an All-American linebacker for the 1996 Midwest Conference championship team. “I think as a leader, when you can create that kind of environment, it’s pretty special.”

At the Division III level, very few players reach the NFL, but Ernst said he wants Ripon players to learn much more than football in their time wearing red and white.

“Football is the greatest game ever invented because I think it reflects life,” Ernst said. “You’re going to have ups and downs; you’re going to have great success. You’re going to have failures; you’re going to get knocked down and you’ve got to get back up, just like in life.”

Ernst is the winning-est coach in Ripon history. His 184 victories are the most of any coach in the long history of the Midwest Conference. His senior players said they would love nothing more than to carry him off the field after capturing one last conference title.

“For him to leave on our year when we’re about to be done, it means a lot to us,” senior wide receiver Kaipo Magsayo said. “We’re just trying to give him our all and hopefully he can leave with a championship.”

With the announcement of Ernst’s decision to retire, Ripon named offensive coordinator Jake Marshall as the head coach in waiting.

Marshall graduated from Ripon in 2010 after a standout career as a quarterback, and will take over his alma mater in 2023 as the next head coach.

“To be able to take a program that has given me so much and try to keep giving back to it and kind of do it with my own spin is really exciting,” Marshall said.

Ernst said after this season, he looks forward to spending more time with his eight grandchildren. He said he has always been family-first, so it’s fitting his successor comes from within the Red Hawk family.