Renae Hartl to step down as athletics director while continuing as head Norse softball coach

Longtime Luther College athletic administrator and coach Renae Rost Hartl is stepping down as athletics director to focus on her role as the head coach of the Norse softball program, President Jenifer K. Ward announced this week.

Renae Hartl

“From the time of my arrival at Luther, I’ve had tremendous respect for the work Renae has performed in her dual appointment,” Ward said. “On behalf of Luther College, I want to express our thanks to her for her tireless work leading the Norse while still providing championship-level coaching to our softball team. Higher education, including Division III collegiate sports, is in a state of rapid change and increasing complexity. Going forward, a program as large and robust as the Luther Norse will have an administrator with undivided focus, and our softball team can continue to build on its extraordinary reputation with its accomplished and long-serving coach at the helm.”

An external search for a new athletics director will launch in January, and Hartl will continue in her dual role until the selection of the next Norse AD. Upon conclusion of the athletics director search, Hartl will become associate athletics director for facilities development and resume her role as senior woman administrator along with head coaching duties.

“It’s been an honor to lead the athletics department over the past decade,” Hartl said. “I am so thankful to our former President Torgerson and former AD Joe Thompson for giving me an opportunity as an interim early in my career, and both former President Carlson and President Ward for trusting, leading and mentoring me the last ten years. This was a difficult decision, but one that I made. I’m extremely proud of the achievements and improvements that were made for all our Luther Norse teams.”

During Hartl’s tenure as athletics director, Luther College athletics added three new sports: men’s and women’s bowling and, set for next fall, women’s wrestling. In competition, the Norse captured 24 regular season conference team titles along with 18 conference tournament titles during her decade as AD.

In her administrative role, Hartl brokered the first athletic apparel agreement for Luther, which made Nike the official game day uniform and shoe of the Norse. She helped originate One Team Day, the annual fall giving day to the Norse Athletic Association, which has raised more than $1.7 million for Luther athletics over the past five years.

Luther has completed significant upgrades to its facilities in the last decade, the most visible of which was the installation of Carlson Stadium’s signature blue artificial turf Legacy Field. Hartl played an integral part in the renovations of the Robert and Ann Naslund Sports and Recreation Center and its reopening in 2023, and continues to provide leadership on the institutional team overseeing the transformation of the Regents Center into the Gerdin Fieldhouse for Athletics and Recreation.

Head Softball Coach Renae Hartl celebrates her 700th career victory with the Luther College softball team in April 2024.

As a head coach, Hartl enters her 24th season leading one of the country’s storied collegiate softball programs. Only two individuals—she and Luther Hall of Fame member Betty Hoff—have served as head coaches for Norse softball.

A six-time conference champion head coach with seven conference tournament titles to date, Hartl led the Norse into the NCAA Division III tournament 11 times, finishing five times at the Division III National Tournament. With five total NCAA trophies, her 2018 team finished third in the nation. She also led the Norse to three fifth place and one seventh place finish at the NCAAs. In the most recent rankings, her career winning percentage of .748 ranks ninth in the nation among active Division III softball coaches, and her 708 career wins also ranks top 15.

With more than 100 all-conference players coached, her softball student-athletes regularly earned NCAA postseason awards, including 2024 graduate Abby Spore who earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-America and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Catcher of the Year.