LYNDEN – After 27 seasons, and 289 games, the winningest coach in Lyncs history, Dan Kaemingk, has decided to step down as the Lynden Christian head football coach.
In a career with numerous accomplishments, including 19 winning seasons,15 trips to the state playoffs, eight league championships, six final-four appearances, two second place finishes and a state championship in 1997, Coach Kaemingk will always be remembered more for the person that he is.
His ability to teach young men, not only about football, but about life, has stayed with numerous former players over the years.
Kaemingk graduated from Lynden Christian in 1981, and was a three-year starter at quarterback. He also played defensive back and punter for the Lyncs, and was named All-League 1st Team at all three positions. He graduated with numerous school career passing records, including yards (1590) and touchdowns (11).
He then went to Orange City, Iowa to play cornerback for Northwestern College. He finished with 16 career interceptions (good enough for fifth on the school’s all-time leaderboard), and was also a part of a National Championship team his junior season. However, it was after his playing days when the coaching bug bit him.
He stuck around to coach the defensive backs after graduating college, and then proceeded to coach the wide receivers the following season. All this time while playing quarterback on the scout team, and learning a different offense every week to throw at his players is where he learned a lot about the game of football.
Coach Kaemingk got a tremendous opportunity in the summer of 1990, to take over as the head coach at his alma mater. He was able to retain assistant coaches Randy Parsons and Steve Davis, while also taking over an LC squad that had just won the league championship the year before. One of the players on the roster during Kaemingk’s first season was Dan Teeter.
“He was a rookie coach my senior year,” Teeter said in a text message. “He was straight out of college if I remember correctly, but he commanded respect right away. I thought I was going to be competing for the starting quarterback position my senior year. It turned out that Coach Kaemingk thought that I would make a better guard. Even though things didn’t play out how I was expecting they might personally, I quickly gained respect for Coach Kaemingk. He was positive and upbeat, but still demanding, in a good way. Everyone played hard for him.”
It turned out that Coach Kaemingk was looking for a more mobile quarterback to run the veer offense with, and he turned to junior David Cowan, who had played running back the season before. The Lyncs went on to win two league championships with Cowan under center, while Teeter went on to college to put up some pretty impressive passing numbers of his own.
In just Kaemingk’s fourth season, he became the school’s winningest coach, and brought his team all the way to the Kingdome to play for a state championship. The Lyncs had to settle for the second place trophy, after falling to Riverside-Chattaroy 17-14.
The following season, every team in Whatcom County was out to get the defending league champions, and it was also that season that a fiery, red-haired offensive coordinator got his first coaching action against Kaemingk.
“Coaching against his defense is not easy,” Mount Baker coach Ron Lepper said in a phone interview. “It was my first year coaching in the league, and we had to change some things up right in the middle of the game. We went to an option attack, something that we hadn’t practiced, and we ended up winning 14-10. You always had to bring your best against him.”
Lepper would go on to become the head coach at Mount Baker two seasons later, and ended up facing Coach Kaemingk 22 times.
“His impact goes beyond the football field,” Lepper added.
In 1995, the Lyncs were battling the Borderites at Blaine in the second to the last week of the season. It was a game that would eventually be for the league championship. Ironically, the last league championship that Blaine had won was in 1978, before eventually winning the state championship, and the last quarterback to beat them that season was a sophomore named…. you guessed it, Dan Kaemingk.
In the 1995 battle, during the 3rd quarter, a nasty knee injury to Blaine’s star lineman sidelined him for the rest of the game. Even though the Borderites pulled out the victory, 21-14, that lineman will never forget what happened after the game.
“Our sidelines were going crazy, our fans were going crazy, we had just won the league championship for the first time in 17 years, but it was Coach Kaemingk did after that game that will always stay with me,” said Borderite head coach, and 1996 Blaine graduate, Jay Dodd. “He had just shook hands with all the players, and then he came over to our bench to congratulate me on the game, and to check and see how I was doing. For someone to do that, after losing the league championship, that shows what kind of coach he is, and what kind of man he is.”
In 1997, despite losing to Coach Lepper earlier in the season, Kaemingk led his team to a 22-20 state championship victory over Colfax. However, with all of the wins and accolades between to white lines, it’s the mentoring that his former players will always treasure.
“Dan does so much more than just coach football,” said Rob Ylinen, who played for Kaemingk from 1998-2000. “A lot of us players probably didn’t realize it at the time, but he was teaching us how to be a better human, not just a better football player. I am so blessed to have been coached by such a great man.”
Ylinen graduated as the Lyncs’ all-time leading receiver, but it was the strong defense in the early 2000’s that became the Kaemingk trademark, and nobody remembers it better than former Lynden Christian All-State safety, Mark Holleman.
“He’s the face of LC football,” Holleman said in a phone interview. “He was always well prepared, but it was more than that. Yeah, he coached us, be he also invested in our lives. We had a special relationship, and I’ll always consider him a friend first.”
Throughout the 2000’s he had many close games against Nooksack Valley, who was coached at the time by Robb Myhre.
“We all had to become better coaches because of Dan,” said Myhre who coached the Pioneers for 20 seasons. “I always appreciated his creativity, and I was constantly using parts of his defensive strategy, and implement them into my own game plans.”
During this time, Kaemingk’s old student, Dan Teeter, had been assisting at Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley, and when he became the head coach at Lakewood in 2006, his first game was against Lynden Christian.
“We had put in a completely different offense and defense than what Lakewood had previously run, so it took some time for them to adjust to what we were doing, going into the game blind,” Teeter said. “We lost that game 13-7. I had really wanted to beat my old ball coach in my first game but came up short.”
Coach Kaemingk did step down after the 2010 season, but ended up returning as the head coach six seasons later.
After a few slow seasons, he got the Lyncs right back to the playoffs, appearing regularly in the semi-finals.
“He’s certainly one of the good ones.” Nooksack Valley head coach Craig Bartl said. “I’m going to miss him.”
Kaemingk retires with the fourth most wins (188) in Whatcom County history, behind only Bob Ames, Curt Kramme and Ron Lepper. Click HERE to see the complete win/loss record of all the coaches in Whatcom County history.
One of Kaemingk’s long-time assistants, Kevin DeYoung, will also miss sharing the football field with his friend.
“Coach Kaemingk has been instrumental in the development of so many young men at LC,” DeYoung said in a text message. “It’s been so fun to coach with him for many years and see the impact he has made on the players that passed through the program. Watching former players return and thank him for the influence he had on their lives is so cool to watch. While I’m happy for him as a friend, I’m also sad that he won’t be on the field anymore. Not only will he be missed by his players, but also the parents, his assistant coaches, and his fellow head coaching peers throughout the county.”
On a personal note, I can’t thank Coach Kaemingk enough. His selflessness and patience with the members of the media has been amazing. The first interview I ever conducted with him was in 1998, and I hope I haven’t done my last one yet. Congratulations on an amazing career!
