Karl Ermisch came to Lakeville North in the fall of 2016 after serving 3 seasons as the Head Coach of Boys Track and Field at Tartan High School in Oakdale MN. While at Tartan, he coached the sprinters with State Meet entrants in the 4x100 relay, 100m dash, and the long jump. The 4x100 relay was also Classic Suburban Conference Champion.

He is married to Mary and they have two grown children, Carl and Sara. All four family members graduated from Richfield High School and were multi-sport athletes. Carl continued his education at St Olaf and played football and baseball for the Oles. He is currently a math teacher and football coach at Holy Angels in Richfield. Sara ran Cross Country for River Falls and is currently employed by Allina.

Karl started his coaching career while still in college. He coached Cross Country running and the distance runners in track at Richfield High School where teams under his guidance finished 2nd, 3rd, and 6th at State Meet competitions. He also coached an individual State Champion in Cross Country and the 1600m and 3200m at the State Track Meet.

Before returning to coaching at the high school level in 2014, he had a long management career in the Federal Government. He never ventured far from coaching though. He coached his son’s baseball and football teams for many years, and his daughter’s State Champion traveling basketball team. He was a volunteer assistant football coach on staff with his son, who is the Freshman Head Coach at Holy Angels. That team went on to win the State 4A Championship.

As a high school athlete, Karl was an All-Conference football player on the 1975 MN State Championship runner-up team. He also competed in the State Nordic Skiing Championship and in the mile at the State Track and Field Meet as both a junior and senior. He was Track and Field Captain his senior year, with personal bests of 1:54.3 (800m SM relay), 4:18.3 (1600m) and 9:34.5 for the 3200m (school record at the time).

As a college freshman, he competed in Track at Golden Valley Lutheran College, where he won the MN State Junior College Championship in the steeplechase. He continued his track career at the University of Minnesota as an invited walk-on, running for Coach Roy Griak. He also has a marathon best of 2:48:05.

“My passion for distance running, and for coaching young people in Cross Country and Track has never diminished, and I’m very grateful to have this opportunity at a great school like Lakeville North.”