Heath Zuck Named Head Coach For Pride Football

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Clarke University Athletics and Director of Athletics Curt Long are excited to announce the hiring of Heath Zuck as the head coach for Pride football.

Zuck becomes the third head coach in the history of Pride football heading into the program's eighth season of competition in 2026 with today, Thursday, Apr. 9, serving as his first official day on the job.

"Heath is a veteran coach with over two decades of experience," Long said. "He has contributed to championship-level programs at the NAIA level and has a proven track record in both recruiting and student-athlete development. He is committed to fostering excellence both on the field and in the classroom as well as building a culture of accountability, discipline, and long-term success."

"These are very exciting times," Zuck said. "There are a lot of exciting things that I think can take place here and the leadership, accountability, and discipline that it's going to take to get this program where it needs to be excites me and fuels me to get going right away. I'm still getting used to hearing 'head football coach' in reference to myself. Having coached football for over 20 years, [becoming a head coach] has felt like a long time coming and I attribute that to my wife and kids being able to allow me to do what I love to do."

Zuck comes to CU after serving an assistant coaching role at Mount Marty University for the past six seasons, instrumental to starting the Lancers program from scratch in 2020 where they have produced an overall record of 16-38 from 2021 to 2025 in an incredibly strong Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) that is home to three teams perennially ranked in the NAIA Top 25 including Morningside, Dordt, and Northwestern.

During that span, Zuck held roles that include most recently serving as Co-Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach along with being a Special Teams Coordinator, Backfield Coach, Director of Football Operations, NAIA Clearinghouse Liaison, Equipment Manager, and Adjunct Professor at Mount Marty.

Under his instruction on the offensive side of the ball, the Lancers averaged 353.9 yards of offense per game in 2025 that included an offensive performance in the season-opening game against Clarke where Mount Marty earned a 37-22 victory behind 447 yards of total offense, their second-best mark of the season, as well as their second-highest rushing yards total of the year at 176.

Part of their offensive success came from an All-GPAC performance from running back Kyle Hirsch, who produced a strong all purpose 2025 out of the backfield, rushing for 441 yards and a touchdown as well as being a treat out of the backfield in the passing game, catching 51 balls for 495 yards and five receiving touchdowns with all three of those stats finishing second on the team.

The Pride are coming off of a 2025 season in which they went 2-9 and went 1-5 in the Heart of America North Division with the seven-year record since the football program's first season in 2019 sitting at 14-57 as Clarke looks to Zuck's experience building NAIA programs like Mount Marty and previously Grand View University for their first season in 2008 to spurn change.

"We have to get expectations laid out right away," Zuck said. "The groundwork has to start immediately with academics being a main focus as well as creating trust, commitment, and love, three pillars that I stand for. Instilling core values of doing what's right, doing it to the best of your ability, and treating others how you want to be treated. We're going to direct these young men to life after football, but while they're here, we have a job to do in the classroom and we're going to put a product on the football field that we're going to see big changes with very, very soon."

Prior to Mount Marty, he spent the 2019 season at Wapsie Valley High School in Fairbank, Iowa, helping with the Quarterbacks, Linebackers and Special Teams where he coached multiple All-District selections. It was at Wapsie Valley where Zuck got his start into coaching, serving as an assistant at Wapsie from 2002-2007, under the tutelage of IFCA Hall of Fame Head Coach Tony Foster, coaching all facets of the game. The Warriors reached back-to-back championship games in 2006 and 2007, winning in 2007. In all, Zuck coached at Wapsie Valley for six years as an assistant football coach, assistant middle school baseball coach, and head middle school boy's track coach as well as the assistant boy's high school track coach from 2018-2020, coaching multiple State Track Meet Qualifiers.

Before the 2019 season, he was an assistant football coach at Wartburg College for the 2018 season where he was the Tight Ends Coach as well as helping with Special Teams. While at Wartburg he coached an Honorable Mention All-Conference Tight End. The Knights were the 2018 American Rivers Conference Champions and Automatic Qualifier for the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Preceding his time at Wartburg College, Zuck spent 10 years at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, helping start and build the program with Head Coach Mike Woodley. Within six years of starting the program the Vikings were National Champions, earning the title in the 2013 season. While at Grand View, he began as the Running Backs Coach (2008-2014) for seven years before switching to the Tight Ends for the last three years (2015-2017) along with also coaching Kicking and Punting. While coaching those positions, he had over ten All-Conference selections. During his time at Grand View, the Vikings were Conference Champions six times, an NAIA Playoff Qualifier six times, and the previously mentioned 2013 NAIA National Champions.

A Fairbank, Iowa, native, and Wapsie Valley alum, Zuck won both All-District and All-State awards for the Warriors under IFCA Hall of Fame Head Coach Jerry Southmayd. He won state championships both as a player (1997) and a coach (2007) while at Wapsie Valley High School.

Zuck played collegiately at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa, was a two-way starter as the kicker and punter for the Peacocks' Special Teams, and holds a Master's Degree from Ohio University his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Northern Iowa.

Excited to begin this new era of Clarke football, Zuck wants the Pride faithful to be ready to come out in full force for the 2026 season as their season is set to begin on the road against the team he was just with, the Mount Marty Lancers when CU travels to Yankton, S.D. for their season opener on Aug. 29, 2026 before their home opener on Saturday, Sept. 5 against Baker University for a 1:00 p.m. CT scheduled kickoff at Dalzell Field.

"You're going to see a team that does not quit, a team that knows how to handle adversity, a team that is very, very attentive to detail where the fundamentals show through, and a team that plays exciting football," Zuck said. "But there is a lot of work that needs to be done between then and now to get there."

Heath and his wife Malynda have four children in daughters Kyra (17) and Lyndee (16), as well as sons Ryder (12) and Maddyx (10)………and two beagles, Bruce and Lucy.