Linfield University Athletics

Coach 1980 - 2000

Ed Langsdorf is selected to the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame for his contributions as a football coach.

In 1992, Ed Langsdorf took on the daunting assignment of stepping into the legendary shoes of national Hall of Fame coach-to be Ad Rutschman as leader of the Linfield football team.

All he did in his first season as head coach was take Linfield to the NAIA Division II national championship game and a 12-1 record.

Langsdorf continued as head coach for another three years, compiling a total record of 32-9-1 and winning two more Columbia Football Association Mount Hood League championships while extending Linfield's winning seasons string to 40 consecutive years.

He was well prepared for his four years in the spotlight, apprenticing as an assistant to Rutschman for 12 years, mostly coaching wide receivers, and serving as an assistant track and field coach.

After resigning as head coach, Langsdorf continued to serve as an assistant, filling roles of offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and wide receiver coach for four seasons before joining the San Diego Chargers as a college scout and the Chargers' representative to the National Scouting Combine.

Ironically, Langsdorf also knew Linfield as an opposing player and coach. He played for Concordia of Minnesota against the Wildcats in a 1964 NAIA semifinal playoff game. He played end on both offense and defense on two national championship teams at Concordia, graduated in history in 1967, and started his coaching career there with 10 years as a football assistant and head track and field coach. He coached against the Wildcats in another playoff game in 1978.

He earned his masters degree from Washington State in 1969 and his doctorate of education at Arizona State in 1979.

Because his scouting assignments are primarily in the Northwest, Langsdorf and his wife, Jan, continue to reside in McMinnville and he visits old friends on the Linfield campus often.

His son, Danny, Linfield's starting quarterback in 1994 and '95, is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Oregon State. The Langsdorfs also have a grown daughter, Lisa, of Salem, who is a summer tour guide to Scandinavia, and two grandchildren, Lindy and Jacob.