Whitworth football coach Rod Sandberg keeps smiling as his Pirates keep winning

Rod Sandberg would be an attractive head coaching candidate at many colleges. But the veteran Whitworth football coach isn’t looking.

In fact, it’s likely that Sandberg, 55, will finish his career at Whitworth. He has no desire to coach elsewhere.

He’s the second-winningest coach in school history entering his 12th season with a 74-22 record. The Pirates are coming off their best season under Sandberg at 10-1 in a season that saw Whitworth reel off 10 consecutive wins, a Northwest Conference championship before a loss in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.

And the Pirates return their most experienced team under Sandberg.

As a person of faith, Sandberg feels called to Whitworth, but he wasn’t sure he wanted the Whitworth job when he first interviewed.

“I didn’t think I was going to be serious about it,” Sandberg said of his interview. “But I saw a place hungry for what I could provide, something different from what they had. So that started to light the competitive juices. I asked myself, ‘Do you want to take that challenge on?’ Then I realized how special this place was when I got here. There are some great people here. They support athletics and it was a place where I thought we could be successful.”

Sandberg chose Whitworth over continuing as defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Wheaton College, a Division III school in Illinois. Sandberg played at Wheaton and had coached 18 years including his final 11 as the school’s defensive coordinator.

Whitworth stole his heart. It’s a decision he hasn’t regretted.

– Greg Lee, The Spokesman-Review