VALLEY CITY, N.D. - Coaching one college football program for more than ten years seems to be a rare thing these days, saying nothing about staying with a program for 32 years. That is how long Dennis McCulloch has been with Valley City State University football. The 2025 season will be his 29th as head coach.

The College Football Network recently had a post on social media about the longest tenured college football coach in each state. Of the nine four-year institutions in the state, eight have football. Two in the NCAA Football Championship Series division, (UND and NDSU). Three in NCAA II (University of Jamestown, the University of Mary, and Minot State). And three in the NAIA (Dickinson State, Mayville State, and Valley City State.)
The list of head coaches and the length they have been at their respective school is topped by Coach McCulloch, or Coach Mac as he is better known. He is the all-time wins leader at VCSU with 162. In his time at VCSU, McCulloch has guided the Vikings to six conference titles and four NAIA playoff appearances.

Five teams that McCulloch coached are in the VCSU Hall of Fame, 2000, 2001, 2005 and the 2011 team will go in this fall.

On October 15^th, 2016, the Vikings defeated Dakota State 41-22 for his 117^th win, passing VCSU Hall of Fame coach Jim Dew (116 victories) for the most wins in program history. McCulloch is currently 10th on the active list of all-time winningest NAIA coaches.

In 2025, VCSU will be entering the Frontier Conference. Ironically, the longest tenured coach in the state of Montana is Ryan Nourse at Montana Western. He begins his twelfth season with the Bulldogs in 2025 and is winningest coach in their history. In case you are wondering, the two teams do not play each other this season. Valley City State is in the East Division while the Bulldogs are in the west.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, the other seven coaches in North Dakota have a combine 31 years as head coaches are their respective schools. Pete Stanton at Dickinson State is second on the list as he enters his twelfth season at the helm of the Blue Hawks.

The Vikings will begin the 2025 season on Thursday, August 28^th against Stanton's Blue Hawks in Dickinson. The following Thursday, September 4^th, the Vikings host Augsburg University in the annual Ag Bowl at Dacotah Bank Field at Lokken Stadium.