COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John’s University football assistant coaches Josh Kuenzel and Jim Mader have been named assistants for the Cineplexx Blue Devils, a professional team in the Austrian Football League (AFL) and the Central European Football League (CEFL). Mader will serve as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, while Kuenzel will coach the offensive skilled positions of quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.
Practice begins Feb. 20 followed by training camp from March 11-14 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The Blue Devils train and play in Hohenems, Austria. The first CEFL game is March 21, while the first AFL game is scheduled for March 29. Both Kuenzel and Mader are contracted thru the AFL playoffs, which begin June 28 and ends with the Austria Bowl on July 19, though both are welcome to stay for the duration of the CEFL season, which continues thru Sept.
Assistant Coach Josh Kuenzel
Mader completed his fifth season as an assistant for the Johnnies this past fall. Mader is the former head football coach and activities director at Albany High School, where he made 15 football state tournament appearances and won state titles in 1989 and 1997. Mader retired in 2002 after 23 seasons at Albany and was inducted into the Minnesota State Coaches Association Hall of Fame in November 2002. Mader is also a 2006 inductee into both the Minnesota Athletic Directors' Hall of Fame and Albany Hall of Fame.
Kuenzel finished his second season as an SJU offensive assistant in 2008. A 2007 graduate of SJU, Kuenzel was an assistant coach at Paynesville High School from 2005-06. From 2004-07, Kuenzel served as the SJU student video coordinator.
SJU ended the 2008 season with an 8-3 overall record and a 6-2 record in the MIAC and made its 23rd postseason appearance (19th appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs).