University of Minnesota Morris Cougars football through the years

Anyone seeking more evidence of the incredible changes that have taken place in college football can take a glance at the history in the sport for the University of Minnesota Morris Cougars.

A half-century ago in the Northern Intercollegiate Conference, it was Mankato State dropping football for a year (1976) and then coming back with a reduced schedule, and UM-Morris starting a dynasty in that conference.

It was a dynasty facing Minnesota-Duluth, Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, Winona State, Moorhead State – all far larger in enrollment and longevity.

Today, Morris has 1,020 students and the Cougars play against mostly extra-small private schools in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.

And Minnesota State Mankato has been a Division II football powerhouse for years.

To be forthright here: I was aware that Al Molde was successful in building a football team at Morris, but it was a shock to look back again at the numbers when working on a column for the current Cougars this week.

Morris went unbeaten in four consecutive seasons in conference games – 28-0 in the NIC (forerunners to the current Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) from 1975 through 1978.

Morris received five consecutive bids to the NCAA Division III playoffs from 1977 to 1981, which were limited to eight teams for most of those years.

Here's the one that got me more than any other:

UM-Morris went to Cedar Falls, Iowa to open Northern Iowa's season in the UNIDome in 1979, and came away with a 13-0 shutout.

"We were a little uncertain ourselves traveling down there, looking around that dome, wondering, 'What are we doing here?,'" said Dennis Koslowski, the Cougars' starting center for three seasons.

"Then, we were having the meeting with the coaches in the locker room before kickoff and Al says, 'If we lose the toss, we're going to start the game with an onside kick.'

"We all thought: 'We're going to give these guys the ball at midfield, as if we aren't large enough underdogs anyway?' But it was Al's way of telling us, 'You can play with that team.'

"We didn't recover the kick … it was the wildest play of all-time, the ball bouncing out of hands of a bunch of players and UNI finally recovering it on about its own 2.

"Our defense that day, though … unbelievable.''

Koslowski would later become an Olympian in Greco-Roman wrestling and won the silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. I had been covering him that summer, went to his matches in Spain and, personally, never was so thrilled to see someone on an Olympic medal stand.

Dennis and his twin brother Duane came to Morris from Doland, S.D., to wrestle for coach Doug Dufty,

"We wanted to play football, but we were both linemen weighing about 180,'' Koslowski said. "Dufty said, 'Sure, play football,' figuring we would get beat up by larger guys and give it up.' ''

The next summer the twins went home to the farm, came under the wing of a man who was up to date on physical training, and came back as twin 220 pounds of rock.

"Duane and I drove back for the start of football practice,'' Dennis said. "Al was talking to another coach, they looked across the parking lot, saw us get out of the car and asked, 'Who are those guys?'"

Those were the Koslowskis – Dennis at center, Duane at right guard.

Molde left Morris after the 1979 season for Central Missouri, then Eastern Illinois and Western Michigan. He left coaching to become the Gustavus Adolphus athletic director, retiring in 2012.

Living now in St. Paul with his wife Ingrid, Molde talked not with amazement over the accomplishments in seven seasons (1973-1979) at Morris – rather admiration for the athletes, a huge percentage from rural towns, who made such winning possible.

I mentioned the Koslowskis in this week's conversation and he had a quick laugh.

"Those guys were always arguing,'' Molde said. "I almost sent 'em back to Dufty full-time, they argued so much.''

Molde talked about some of the great victories, and then he mentioned the first playoff game: Albion at Morris in the quarterfinals of the 1977 Division III tournament.

"Albion had a great running back – Dexter Davis,'' Molde said. "He was one of those guys you didn't know how you could stop him.

"And then it started snowing the day before the game – blinding snow. We were playing on that old field down by the [campus] power plant, and the fans showed up as usual, but the field was a mess. That helped us stop Davis and beat Albion, 13-10.''

Later, when the NIC became full-fledged, scholarship-granting Division II in 1995, Morris had neither the budget nor the reach to compete. The Cougars had a 46-game losing streak before leaving the NIC, joining that version of the UMAC and defeating Principia in 2003.

Which makes 28-0 in those four NIC seasons – to repeat, 1975 to 1978 – even more alarming.

How did your Cougars possibly do that, Coach Molde?

"It was a big secret,'' Molde said. "We had great players.''

Dennis Koslowski was asked the same question and said:

''Cougar Pride. That's what we said every day, every practice, every game. I was dating a woman there once, and one day she said, 'All this Cougar Pride … it's kind of silly, isn't it?'

"I broke up with her.''