You do not see many head coaches step away in the middle of September, but Scott Underwood did exactly that on Saturday. Southwest Minnesota State announced that Underwood is retiring effective immediately, ending a run that started in January 2022 and closing out a 37-year coaching career.
Defensive coordinator Levi Bullerman takes over as interim head coach with the Mustangs sitting at 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the NSIC.
"Coaching college football for the last 37 years has been a blessing to me and my family," Underwood said in the school's release. "I am appreciative to the SMSU players, coaches, parents, and the Marshall community for their support over the last five seasons."
Underwood's time in Marshall was a grind. The Mustangs went 4-7 in his first year in 2022, then dropped to 1-10 in 2023, 0-11 in 2024, and 1-10 last fall. The wins were hard to come by, but the job Underwood inherited was not an easy one, and NSIC play at that level does not offer many soft spots on the schedule.
The back half of Underwood's career looked a lot different than the front half. He spent 12 seasons as the head coach at St. Cloud State from 2008 through 2019, where he built an 86-52 record and 10 winning seasons. His 2011 team won the NSIC, and his 2013 group went 12-1 and climbed into the top five nationally in Division II. He got to the NCAA playoffs multiple times during that stretch. When St. Cloud State cut its football program, Underwood landed back in the conference at SMSU.
He retires with a 94-92 career record as a head coach at the Division II level.
Before he ran his own program, Underwood built his reputation on the defensive side. He was the defensive coordinator at St. Cloud State from 2001 to 2007, coached inside linebackers at North Dakota from 1997 to 2000, ran the defense at Sioux Falls from 1993 to 1996, and got his start coaching the secondary at Augustana beginning in 1988.
Bullerman now inherits a young roster in the middle of a conference schedule, which is about as tough a spot as an interim job gets. How SMSU handles the rest of 2026, and what the search looks like once the season ends, is worth watching.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.