2008 Coaching Staff

Head Coach Mark Gulseth
1st season
Record: 0-0

Mark Gulseth was hired as Northern State's head baseball coach in June of 2007. He took over the post from Curt Fredrickson, who had led the Wolves for five seasons while also serving as head women's basketball coach.

Gulseth brings to Northern a proven coaching record at the high school level and experience from the big leagues.  He has coached the Aberdeen Smitty's Legion baseball team since 2001 and the Smitty’s high school team since its inception in 2004. Gulseth was named South Dakota High School Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005.  His Smitty's are the reigning state champions and have won three state titles in the past four years.

"I've followed Northern athletics since I moved to Aberdeen nine years ago and have helped with the NSU baseball team on a limited basis," commented Gulseth.  "I'm excited for the challenge of moving on to the next level of coaching and am happy to become a part of Wolves Athletics."

In 1993, Gulseth was a 19th round draft pick (526th overall) for the San Francisco Giants.  He spent seven seasons with the organization, playing first base and outfield.  Gulseth played at the collegiate level at the University of New Mexico, where he was named a Western Athletic Conference All-Star in 1992 and 1993, and was a 1993 NCAA baseball All-American.

Gulseth has been a physical education/health/mathematics teacher at Leola Public School since 2000.  He coached the Leola boys' and girls' golf team from 2000-2004 and was named South Dakota High School Golf Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2002.  He received a degree in physical education from Moorhead State University in 1996 and a Master's degree in health and physical education from Northern State University in 2006.  He and his wife, Meredith, reside in Aberdeen with their three children, Jaeger (7), Annika (4), and Ryker (1).

Alex Ferguson
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
1st Season (3rd season with NSU)

Alex Ferguson begins his third season at Northern State University. Ferguson served two years as a graduate assistant and now begins his first year as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Ferguson is the Wolves first base, hitting, catching, pitching and infield coach. An Overland Park, Kansas native, Ferguson spent two years as a baseball instructor at Mac-N-Seitz baseball academy prior to coming to NSU. The training facility, located in Lenexa, Kansas, is owned and operated by former major leaguers Kevin Seitzer and Mike Macfarlane.  Ferguson also is an assistant coach for the Aberdeen Smitty’s high school program, and helped to lead the Smitty’s to a South Dakota high school state championship in 2005 and finishing second in State Legion the past two seasons.

Ferguson attended the University of Kansas before transferring to Principia College (IL) where he earned his BA in Sports Management in 2003. At Principia College, Ferguson played at first and third, and pitched earning All-Conference Honors two years and was elected team captain his senior year.  Ferguson's career average was .347 while collecting 127 hits.

 

John Krogstrand

Graduate Assistant

1st Season

John Krogstrand will be entering his first season as a graduate assistant at Northern State. Krogstrand will coach the outfielders and hitters and will also work with pitchers. Krogstrand is an Aberdeen native who graduated this past spring with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Administration from DI baseball powerhouse Wichita ( Kan.) State University. Along with his experience as a player, Krogstrand has coached in the Aberdeen Smitty’s High School baseball program for the past four seasons. Krogstrand’s summer teams have reached the VFW State Championship Game in each of the past two seasons, and won the title in 2005. Krogstrand has a career head coaching record of 97-77.

Prior to coaching in the Smitty’s program, Krogstrand played for the Aberdeen Legion squad, which captured 3 rd place honors in the 2001 State American Legion tournament and the 2002 South Dakota State High School Tournament. Krogstrand played first base, outfield and pitched for those teams. Krogstrand is the son of Northern State alumni Mark (B.S. ’77, M.Ed. ’82) and Penny (B.S. ’76) of Aberdeen.

 

Strength and Conditioning Coach Derik Budig

Northern State strength & conditioning coach Derik Budig has propelled Wolves' athletics to new heights thanks to his comprehensive strength program that has been implemented into the NSU athletic system.

Before coming to Aberdeen, the Yankton, S.D., native has spent the last year at the University of Texas, at El Paso (UTEP) as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach. Prior to Northern Budig served as a strength and conditioning consultant for Olympic track and field athletes in El Paso. Prior to his time at UTEP, Budig was an intern for the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the area of strength and conditioning.

Budig has also had success on the football field where he was a four-year starter and two-year team captain for Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Budig is in charge of developing and coordinating programs which assists student/athletes in developing overall physical strength and conditioning at NSU. He also organizes the weight room for all of Northern's athletic programs, is the sponsor for NSU's FCA and is the coordinator of the Wolves Challenge strength and conditioning program.

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