Recruiting Positions: Defensive Backs, Inside Linebackers
Marshall Mullenbach enters his 15th season as an assistant coach for the Macalester football team. This is Mullenbach’s 13th season as a full-time member of the coaching staff and his 11th as defensive coordinator. Marshall is a 2003 Macalester graduate, receiving his degree in both Mathematics and Education.
A three-sport high school standout athlete at Stewartville H.S. in southeastern Minnesota, Mullenbach was a two-sport athlete at Macalester playing both football and baseball. At defensive back, he led the team in interceptions in his junior and senior seasons, ending his career with 15. Mullenbach also held a school record for 10 years for longest punt return for a touchdown.
“Marshall is a tremendous person, educator and leader,” Macalester head coach KiJuan Ware said. “He has proven over the last 14 years that he is capable of getting the most out of his players’ talent. They always play hard for him and it’s quite evident that he has a passion for our student-athletes. He does a great job in leading our defense and also in recruiting excelptional young men.”
For 10 seasons, Mullenbach served as the Scots’ recruiting coordinator. Under Mullenbach’s leadership in recruiting, the Macalester football program brought in more than 20 incoming players per year in each of his 10 years in that position.
Over the last 10 seasons, the Scots’ defense has shown steady improvement by reaching top-25 national rankings in multiple statistical categories. In 2012, the Scots’ finished the season ranked 22nd in the nation in total defense (283.8 yards per game) and 15th for first downs defense (15.1 first downs allowed per game). The Scots’ defense also finished the 2012 campaign ranked eighth nationally in passing defense (144.2 yards per game). In 2013, Macalester’s defense took the ball away 29 times (2.9 turnovers per game) which ranked 21st in the nation. Of those takeaways, 17 were forced fumble recoveries which was fourth best in Division III.
En route to winning the 2014 conference championship, the Scots led the Midwest Conference in opponents’ third-down and fourth-down conversion percentage. In 2015, Mullenbach's defense was 20th nationally in pass defense while featuring the Midwest Conference's Defensive Lineman of the Year in Zach Hauser. The Scots also paced the MWC in opponents’ fourth-down conversion percentage and red zone defense in 2015.
In 2019 the Scots' passing defense finished the season ranked 15th nationally, allowing only 156.4 yards passing per game.
In Macalester's first five years in the MWC, Mullenbach has mentored 17 All-Conference players, including 2015 MWC Defensive Lineman of the Year Zach Hauser. In the last four seasons, Macalester has had two defensive linemen earn All-West Region honors in Hauser and Nick Egersdorf, with Egersdorf also achieving Academic All-American status.
Mullenbach taught math and coached football and baseball at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul for two years prior to joining the Scots coaching staff. At Cretin-Derham, Mullenbach coached the defensive backs and inside and outside linebackers and also was responsible for opponent scouting.
Marshall and his wife Tracy, a special education teacher at Blue Sky Online, have been married for 15 years. In 2019, they welcomed their daughter, Myah into the Mullenbach family.
