Back during his early football coaching days at his high school alma mater in Northfield, Minn., Kimball Area head football coach and activities director Clay Anderson picked up a poem from longtime Northfield and hall of fame football coach Bubba Sullivan when Anderson was his defensive coordinator. The poem is titled, “What Will Today Bring?” and it reads as follows:
This is the beginning of a new day.
I have been given this day to use as I will.
I can waste it or use it for good.
What I do today is important
because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever
leaving in its place something I have traded for it.
I want it to be gain not loss, good not evil
SUCCESS not failure,
in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it
because the future is just a whole string of nows!
“Every day we go to practice, doesn’t matter what happened yesterday or during school. We can have a positive thing and [we’re] moving forward,” Anderson said. “And it’s just a great poem for life. It’s a good poem for sports.”
Across his coaching stops, Anderson has asked his players to memorize this poem by heart before getting their uniforms. Many of the seniors will ask to recite the poem right away. After each pregame warm-up, when the team comes together to huddle, it recites the poem back as a group. This never gets old for Anderson.
Beyond the game, coach Anderson enjoys what he considers the “privilege” of coaching these student-athletes into good people, beyond just the game. It’s what has kept him in the coaching profession for 37 years.
“I’ve had the privilege of guiding their lives and I hope it’s in a positive way. I think that, that’s first and foremost,” Anderson said. “And so, you have standards and principles, and you’re trying to do the right thing in the right way all the time, and I think I’ve been pretty successful in that.”
Hearing his players during interviews, he knows they are listening to what he’s saying, what is being preached to them each week – about teamwork, hard work, and in-game adjustments.
“Some of the values that I try and instill, I think, are lifelong things, and that’s why I think the beauty of sport is not only teaching them to be, have a better football team or baseball team or whatever, but you’re making them a better person, hopefully,” Anderson said. “… I think the amazing part of it is, is how much impact in return that those kids have in my life, you know? And it’s just such a rewarding experience.”
It’s gratifying for him to get emails from players he had 10 to 15 years ago, congratulating him on qualifying for another state tournament. Some of these same former players will also still recite that same poem to him.
“It’s times like that, that you know you’ve made an impact, and that you’ve positively affected those kids’ lives,” Anderson said, “and that’s the ultimate goal.”
This profession that he considers a privilege led to him being inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on March 29, 2025, at the DoubleTree Park Place in Minneapolis.
The journey
A 1982 Northfield High School graduate, Anderson played football, basketball, and baseball during his high school years, and football and baseball during his college years at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
As a high school freshman, he knew he wanted to be in education and coaching. His mom taught sixth grade at Northfield. He coached little league sports when he was growing up. He also had good coaching mentors along the way, in Kevin Merkel, his Northfield high school football and baseball coach, and the late St. Olaf hall of fame football coach Jim Dimick, who was also Anderson’s neighbor when he was growing up in Northfield.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Exercise Studies from St. Olaf College in 1986 and later his Master’s degree in Education from St. Mary’s University in 2008.
He started his coaching run at Northfield, first as a junior high coach in 1987. Then, from 1989 to 1996, he coached as the Northfield High School defensive coordinator. He has since been a head coach for 26 seasons, across six different schools: Le Center (1997-1999), Norwood Young America (2000-2004), Albert Lea (2005-2010), Benton Community, Iowa (2011-2013), Pipestone (2015-2019), and Kimball Area (2020-Present).
Over his career, he has had the opportunity to coach in seven state championship football games – three as the Northfield defensive coordinator in 1993, 1994, and 1996, and four as head coach, with Le Center in 1999, Norwood Young America in 2002, and Pipestone in 2015 and 2017.
Asked what he remembers most about these state tournament championship game experiences – coming out on the losing end each time – he pointed to the journey.
“When you look back at it, it’s not the final destination or the final result… though I would like to win one (a state championship), I’ll tell you that,” Anderson said. “But it’s really the journey along the way.”
He talked about just this during his hall of fame speech. To him, these seven state championship game runs were seven great journeys.
“As they say in coaching, it’s really not the final outcome. It’s the journey along the way and the memories that you get from it,” Anderson said, “and the things that happen with kids, the funny moments, the meaningful moments, the tears, when coaches get choked up. It’s just, that’s what it’s all about.”
Most recently, he guided the Cubs football team to the state semifinals last fall. He had so much fun with this year’s Cubs team, guided by its 10 seniors.
“They were just great kids, and it was just so much fun to practice every day with them and to go into battle with them, and they just responded so well,” Anderson said. “And I always felt every game, we got the maximum out of our kids. And that’s a really cool feeling, because you don’t always get that from every group, but this group for sure. And that’s just the journey of it all.”
Changes over the years
The nice part about football, Anderson said, is that it’s still the same game, despite all the different strategies teams have come up with over the years.
“Blocking and tackling and line play, that’s really what it comes down to in the end. You don’t have those horses, it’s hard,” Anderson said. “We (last fall’s Cubs team) did not. We were not very big this year, but we made up for it with speed. Speed’s the other thing that kills, and we were fast this year, and that really helps along the way.”
Anderson has run the same defense forever, adding how he’s gotten smarter in terms of stunting and blitzing schemes. Offensively, he adjusts what he’s doing to the players he has.
“We threw it a lot (last fall) because we had a quarterback who could throw, kids that could run and catch, and we weren’t going to pound anybody, really,” Anderson said. “So we just mixed in the run to keep people honest, and I think at the end, we were almost 50/50, run/pass.”
He does notice more throwing and more shotgun plays compared to the ’80s, when more quarterbacks started under center.
“Is one better than the other? Not really,” Anderson said. “It depends on the talent you have.”
Minnesota Football Coaches Association involvement
Over his coaching career, he has filled numerous roles within the Minnesota Football Coaches Association. He has served on the executive committee, working as the chairman of the Mr. Football committee from 2004 to 2011 and 2019 to the present, on the Football Advisory Committee to the Minnesota State High School League, and as the President of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association in 2006. He has also coached in the All-Star game in 2000 and 2011.
Notably, he has also served as a frequent clinic presenter in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota.
He did this work out of a desire to give back to what he called a great organization.
“It does a tremendous amount for young people in our state,” Anderson said. “… It’s an honor to serve in that capacity, and I just, I feel blessed to be able to do so, but I feel good about it, too, though, to give back.”
Family/Job
Anderson has served as an activities director for the past 23 years. He is married to Melissa Radeke, the Lester Prairie Schools Superintendent, and resides in Dassel, Minn. He has one daughter, Kalah (Bryan), and one granddaughter, Lily, three stepchildren, Hona (Kevin), Maddie (Luke) and Cooper (Catie), and five step-grandchildren (Soren, Kathryn, Elizabeth, Pax, and Margaret), according to a Kimball School Facebook post.
Being a hall of famer
When he took the time to step back and reflect on the hall of fame honor he achieved, he realized what he had accomplished in his coaching career. With this honor, he also knew he hadn’t done it on his own. He thanked all the assistant coaches he has had along the journey, who share a piece, he said, in this honor.
“They’re the guys that do a lot of the grunt work and the heavy lifting too,” Anderson said. “And my wife, for all the support there at home is always good.”
When he heard about being named a hall of famer, Anderson was taken back by it initially.
“You’re just like, ‘I’m in that category?’ Because as a football coach… you go from one season, to the next season, to the off-season, to preparing,” Anderson said. “…It does take you back. It’s humbling. It’s a great honor.”