Don Fritsch Year-by-Year at UW-La Crosse
La Crosse, Wis. - Former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's cross country head coach
Don Fritsch has passed away at the age of 70. Funeral arrangements are pending.
UWL won the 2005 NCAA Division III Championship in Delaware, Ohio.
Inducted into the UWL Wall of Fame in 2015, Fritsch coached the UWL men's cross country squad to two National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III championships, in 2001 and 2005, and 10 top-seven national finishes in his 14 seasons as head coach. He was named the 2001 NCAA III Cross Country Coach of the Year. Fritsch was also selected the 2005 United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division III Midwest Regional and National Cross Country Coach of the Year.
UWL won eight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) titles (1998-99, 2001, 2004-07, 2009) under Fritsch as he earned WIAC Coach of the Year honors seven times (1998-99, 2001, 2004-07). He served six years as an assistant coach of the men's cross country and men's track & field teams prior to being named head cross country coach in 1998.
Along with the two national titles as head coach, Fritsch led UWL to eight other top-seven finishes at the NCAA III Championships. The Eagles placed third (1999, 2004), fourth (2003), fifth (2007), sixth (1998, 2002, 2008) and seventh (2000).
Fritsch served as UWL's interim head men's track & field coach in 2007-08, leading the Eagles to the 2008 NCAA Division III indoor championship. UWL swept the WIAC indoor and outdoor track & field titles under Fritsch in 2008 as he earned 2008 WIAC Indoor Co-Coach of the Year honors. He was a volunteer assistant men's track & field coach at UWL from 1992-2012.
Fritsch led UWL to eight WIAC titles.
He was inducted into the University of Minnesota Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame in 2017.
Fritsch served as head men's and women's cross country coach and associate men's and women's track & field coach at Viterbo University (Wis.) for six seasons (2017-22). He was named the 2020 North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year, leading the V-Hawks to their first league title since 2010. Viterbo (Wis.) also won the women's conference crown in 2022.
A Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee in 2004, Fritsch was the head coach of the boys and girls cross country programs at Stevens Point (Wis.) Pacelli High School from 1981-90, where he earned Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association (WISAA) Coach of the Year honors four times. He also guided the boys and girls track & field programs at the school from 1985-91. Fritsch coached the boys and girls programs to a combined 15 WISAA Division II cross country championships. He also guided the girls' track & field team to two state titles. During his tenure at Pacelli, Fritsch guided the development of 15 individual state champions.
A 1980 graduate of UWL, Fritsch ran on the cross country and track & field squads. He placed seventh at the 1979 Wisconsin State University Conference (WSUC) Championships to earn all-conference first team accolades. Fritsch also garnered National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) District 14 honors in 1979.
UWL captured the Roy Griak Invite in 2009.
He returned to UWL and earned his master's degree in physical education-human performance in 1993.
A native of Monfort, Wisconsin, Fritsch competed in cross country and track & field at Iowa-Grant High School.
