Featured Image courtesy of Tanner Colvin

Mitch Gebhardt didn’t have a target date for the end to his football coaching career.

Even when he thought he did, it changed depending on the year and the circumstances.

So, when Gebhardt informed Southeast of Saline administrators Monday that he was stepping down after 16 years as the Trojans’ football coach, it was not part of a grand design.

Salina Post was the first to report Gebhardt’s decision Tuesday morning.

“I’ve loved every minute I’ve been at Southeast of Saline,” Gebhardt, 55, told KSAL on Tuesday of his decision to retire as both teacher and coach. “I have some opportunities that I’ve kind of put on the backburner here that I would like to pursue.”

“I’m going to continue to work and stay busy. I’ve taught for 32 years and coached most of those, and I just felt like this is a good time to make a change in my life.”

The timing makes sense in that Grady Gebhardt, the youngest of four sons to play football him graduates next month. It also comes on the heels of the most successful two-year run in Southeast football history, highlighted by a 13-0 record and the school’s second-ever Class 3A state championship in 2024, and followed up by a 12-1 runner-up finish last fall.

“Honestly, 10 years ago that was kind of what I thought would happen,” Gebhardt said. “But over the last four or five years I thought, well maybe I’ll just keep teaching and keep coaching and those types of things.”

“Coaching football is a grind and I absolutely love the grind, but I’m going to pursue some other things.”

Southeast athletic director Doug Minneman said Tuesday afternoon that the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

“As far as going forward, we start the search today, and we will try to find the best fit,” Minneman said. “As far as a timeline, we don’t have one. Obviously, we’d like to fill it as quickly as possible.”

Gebhardt leaves behind a legacy at Southeast that includes a 129-40 record, and in addition to the two championship game appearances featured two more trips to the state semifinals and multiple quarterfinal runs.

But Gebhardt will take with him more memories than just his greatest on-field success.

“Winning the state championship was a big deal,” he said. “But as I look back on every year, every year is different. It’s exciting for me to think about each year individually and how every year had its highs and its lows.”

“We kind of took one season at a time. Every year we had some great things that happened, and when you have this many people involved, obviously there were some things that were disappointing.”

Gebhardt got to coach all four of his sons, three of whom went on to play college football.

Oldest son Jaxson played quarterback for the Trojans and then played two years seasons at Dodge City Community College before going on to graduate from Kansas State. Twins Luke (quarterback) and Jacob (wide receiver) are on track to graduate from Fort Hays State in December, Luke after playing one season for the Tigers, while running back Grady is headed to Tabor College to join the Bluejays in the fall.

Minneman said he learned of Gebhardt’s decision to step down Monday in a meeting that included secondary school principal Nicholas Owen.

“We’d had some conversations prior, but I didn’t know it was coming,” Minneman said. “Coach Gebhardt is just a topnotch person. Look at his record coaching-wise and how deep the playoff runs have been, and they all speak for themselves.”

“It is one of the top if not the top 2A, 3A programs in the state of Kansas. He’ll give a lot of credit to his assistants, but he’s done a great job leading not just the football players, but also molding the staff and how they worked so well together.”

Minneman, who is completing his fourth year at Southeast, also praised Gebhardt as an educator.

“Coach Gebhardt builds relationships with kids outside of football,” Minneman said. “He has an interest in how they do in basketball and wrestling and baseball, and he’s happy to see those successes, no matter where it is.”

“He truly has a passion for kids, and it shows in the day-to-day interactions. As far as my role as the AD when I came in, I couldn’t ask for a better guy to lead the football program, and he was very helpful when I needed anything. He always goes above and beyond, and I’m very fortunate to have worked with him for four years.”

Gebhardt, a 1988 graduate of Ellsworth High School, played two years of football at Bethel before completing his degree at Fort Hays State in 1993. He then began his coaching career at Herndon, where he coached junior high football, basketball and track, plus high school football and basketball while also serving as athletic director for three of his four years.

He then spent 10 years at Lincoln, where he started as boys basketball coach and spent the last eight leading the football program and doing both for three seasons.

Much as the end of his Southeast coaching career was not part of a long-term plan, neither was the beginning. He spent the first two years in the district teaching fifth grade and not coaching, but when Pat Haxton stepped down as football coach after a successful tenure 16 years ago, he jumped in with both feet.

“I was fortunate enough to move here when Jaxson was 5 and the twins were 3 and Grady 1,” Gebhardt said. “For years, my wife (Angie) taught here also, so all six of us got to come to Southeast of Saline.”

“What a great situation for us, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every mine that I’ve been here. But I had some opportunities and I feel like it’s a good chance for me to move on.”