EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is featured in the Fall 2025 edition of The Tartan magazine. Read more from The Tartan at alma.edu/tartan.

How Alma College shaped the foundations of successful college coaches.

Pop quiz: What do the football and volleyball teams at Ferris State University, and the baseball and women’s soccer teams at Michigan State University, all have in common? There are two answers: They have all had enormous success in their respective divisions over the past several years. And their head coaches are all former Alma College Scots.

Tony Annese ’83, Tia Brandel-Wilhelm ’90, Jake Boss ’93 and Jeff Hosler ’02 all attribute their success in part to the close relationships they built during their time on the field or court and in the classroom at Alma. More often than not, they added, those relationships endured well past the time of their graduation, and continue to benefit their lives to this day.

Tony Annese ’83 has led the Ferris State University football team to three NCAA Division II championships. (Photo courtesy of Ferris State University)

“I played for a national championship in Texas and eight of my former teammates were in the crowd. There’s a group text with 15 more of them on there. I mean, I graduated more than 40 years ago. It’s remarkable how close we’ve remained this whole time,” Annese said.

“That solid foundation has helped me time and time again, on and off the field. It’s always been something I can rely on when times are tough, and it’s why I’m never going to forget Alma.”

Collectively, their accolades are staggering. Annese’s Bulldogs have won three NCAA Division II football championships. Brandel-Wilhelm, who has led Ferris State volleyball since 1996, has won more than 750 games as a coach and guided the Bulldogs to 18 NCAA Division II national tournament appearances.

Boss has been one of the most successful coaches in the 130-year history of Michigan State baseball, with 440 wins over a 16-year span. Hosler has led the Spartans’ women’s soccer team since 2021 and has already won two Big Ten championships in that time.

“One of the traits that we all share, coming from an NCAA Division III school like Alma, is that we’ve worked our way up. I’ve served a number of different positions outside of head coach, and that has made me a better coach today,” said Hosler, formerly a successful head coach of the Scots’ women’s soccer team and a member of the Scots’ Hall of Fame 1999 men’s soccer team.

“What allowed me to serve those different positions is the well-rounded education in a liberal arts environment that I received from Alma. You can leave here and do anything.” Brandel-Wilhelm singled out several mentor figures from her time at Alma, including faculty as well as coaches, who influenced her approach to athletics and life in general.

“Wally Beagley was my academic advisor, and he pushed me to do some really cool, hands-on research in the psychology department. Carol Slater was a fantastic professor who really stretched my curiosity. John Chiodini was the head volleyball coach at the time, and he was later inducted to the Scots Hall of Fame,” Brandel-Wilhelm said.

“When I started coaching myself, coach Chiodini gave me a thick packet of paper with drills and other ideas related to volleyball. He also wrote a letter on the front of it, where he told me, ‘Always be a duck — calm on the surface but working hard underneath.’ I keep that letter with me to this day. It really meant a lot.”

Tia Brandel-Wilhelm ’90 has won more than 750 games as a volleyball coach. (Photo courtesy of Ferris State University)

All of the coaches agreed that one constant in NCAA athletics is change. On some level, they are all dealing with issues that have little to do with the product on the field or court; such as student-athlete compensation and the transfer portal. They sometimes wonder if student-athletes of tomorrow will benefit from the lessons they learned as Alma College Scots. Despite the obstacles that may lay before them, they are doing their best to ensure that remains the case.

“It’s something I try to cultivate with every team,” said Boss, who has coached more than 35 Major League Baseball Draft selections at Michigan State. “At Alma College, in Division III, you’re there because you want to play, and because you truly want it, you give 110 percent every time you’re on the field. That blue-collar mindset is something that sets the Spartans apart in Division I, and it’s something that I developed during my time at Alma.”