Highlights
- Alma Mater: Minnesota State Mankato ('85)
- College Sport: Track and Field (Four years)
- Additional Education: Master's Degree from Minnesota State Mankato ('98)
- Braunger's Crown Cross Country Tenure: 4 UMAC All-Conference Finishers, 2019 Women's Cross Country team had the fourth-highest GPA in the country
- Braunger's Crown Track & Field Tenure: 5 UMAC Event Champions, 6 UMAC All-Conference Team Selections
- Favorite Part of Being a Coach at Crown: "Working in a faith setting."
- Favorite Bible Verse: "May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." - Psalm 19:14
Bill Braunger serves as the head coach for men’s and women’s track & field as well as men’s and women’s cross country. Braunger has a wealth of experience coaching runners as well as experience in starting a track & field program from the ground up.
Since taking the helm of Crown's Cross Country program, the teams have had consistent success with the women's team finishing in the top half of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regularly. The women's program had Crown's first NCAA-era UMAC All-Conference selection under Coach Braunger's guidance and now have had four selections on those teams. In 2019, Abbe Dufault finished second in the UMAC Conference Meet, the Storm's top finisher to date. His teams have always had great success academically, with Crown's 2019 Women's Cross Country team having the fourth-best GPA of NCAA Division III schools in the country.
Braunger has also had success with Crown's Track and Field program with David Jones and Mya Hill becoming UMAC event champions in winter 2019, and having six athletes selected to the All-Conference team during his tenure. Hill, now a sophomore, is a three-time UMAC Event Champion under Braunger's mentorship with two more years of eligibility remaining.
A St. Peter, Minn. native, Braunger spent 13 years as the head track and field coach at St. Clair High School where he started a track and field program from scratch. While at St. Clair, Braunger worked with 11 State qualifiers and was named 2003 Section 2A Coach of the Year. He served as the Academic All-State Chair for the state of Minnesota from 2003 until 2011.
Before taking over the Storm Cross Country and Track & Field programs, Braunger has worked as an assistant track & field coach at Gustavus Adolphus College. While at Gustavus he has worked with multiple All-Americans and three 4x400 relay teams that have participated at the NCAA Championships.
A 1985 graduate of Minnesota State Mankato with a major in physical education and elementary education, Braunger was a four-year member of the MSU Track and Field team. He received his master’s degree in physical education from Minnesota State Mankato in 1995.
Bill and his wife Kim live in St. Peter and have two adult children Kendra and Christian.
*All stats and records updated Summer 2020
