Blue Earth Area head football coach Randy Kuechenmeister was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 1. Pictured above is Kuechenmeister with his family. From left to right, they are his son, Joe, Randy, his wife Kris, daughter Katelyn, son-in-law Blake Boran and granddaughter Brynn.

Add Hall of Fame member to the list of accolades Blue Earth Area head football coach Randy Kuechenmeister has earned over the years.

Kuechenmeister was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 1, at the 59th Annual Hall of Fame Banquet held in St. Louis Park.

“I think it means I have been around a long time,” Kuechenmeister says with a chuckle.

Joining him at the banquet were his family as well as many of the coaches who have, or still assist him coaching on the gridiron.

“I don’t really think of this as being about me,” Kuechenmeister explains. “I look at it as being a tribute to my family, the players who have played for me, the coaches I have worked with, the BEA school and the community. When you receive an award like this, it is due to other people.”

Kuechenmeister is a 1980 graduate of Luverne High School. He then went on to Southwest State University in Marshall where he earned a degree in physical education and health.

After graduating from college, he spent one year teaching in Worthington before moving on to Blue Earth Area High School.

He was an assistant coach for the football team for five years until he became the head coach in the fall of 1991.

Since becoming BEA’s head coach, he has amassed a career record of 196 victories and 124 losses.

His teams have won a total of six conference/sub-district titles and nine section titles.

In 2012, his Buccaneer team compiled a perfect 13-0 record and defeated Rochester Lourdes 30-7 to win the Minnesota State High School Class AAA Championship.

His 2020 team also had a perfect record but Covid-19 cancelled the state playoffs.

Kuechenmeister has been voted the conference Coach of the Year three times, a district Coach of the Year once, and he is an eight-time section Coach of the Year.

He was named the Class AA Coach of the Year in 2020 and the Class AAA Coach of the Year in 2012. He has also coached in the Minnesota Football Coaches Association All-Star game.

“Randy is just so special as a coach,” BEA superintendent Mandy Fletcher says. “He is able to build relationships with young men that nobody else can and he reaches kids that nobody else can. By doing that he helps those kids to become better people.”

“I feel blessed and fortunate to receive this award and to be at BEA,” Kuechenmeister adds. “Through the years I believe I have learned as much from the kids as they have learned from me.”

Kuechenmeister is married to Kristen. They have two children: Joe, and Katelyn, who is married to Blake Boran. He is also the proud grandfather to Blake and Katelyn’s daughter Brynn.