Cimpl was named the interim Director of Athletics November 30, 2023.

Since taking over the Dakota Wesleyan University football team, Ross Cimpl has guided the Tigers to seven winning seasons.  Cimpl is 65-64 overall in 12 seasons as the head coach, including a 9-2 record in 2015 and an 8-3 record in 2016.  He is second all-time in wins by a coach in DWU football history.  In his fourth season, the Tigers were ranked No. 15 in the final NAIA Coaches’ Poll, and in his fifth season, DWU finished No. 16 in the final NAIA Coaches’ Poll, just missing out on the national playoffs each year.

During the 2023 season Cimpl led the Tigers to their first winning season since 2017. The season started off with a bang for Cimpl and company with their 23-13 win over in state rival Dakota State in front of a packed house that had nearly 4,000 fans in attendance. The highlight of the season was on homecoming when the Tigers upset (RV) Midland 33-32. This was the first win against the Midland Warriors since 9/30/17.

Cimpl has coached 112 All-GPAC honorees, including 26 first-team and 33 second-team members.  There have been eight NAIA All-Americans; three Beyond Sports Network All-Americans; 80 Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes, including 17 this last season; three CoSIDA Academic All-Americans; and one National Football Foundation Honor Society member at DWU under Cimpl.  Following the 2013 season, he was named the GPAC Coach-of-the-Year and the AFCA Region 4 Coach-of-the-Year.  And most recently, Adam DeJong earned All-American First-Team status after his strong 2022 season at defensive back.

The first 10 years under Cimpl were the most successful similar span in the more than 100-year history of DWU football.  One year after the 2015 graduating class compiled 30 wins, breaking the school record for victories by one class, the 2016 graduating class won 32 games to break the record.

Cimpl graduated a plethora of seniors from the 2017 season, including Dillon Turner, a reigning GPAC Player-of-the-Year, and Hayden Adams, an All-GPAC First-Team member.  Cimpl guided the Tigers to a 6-5 record in 2017, while Turner and Adams helped the offense average 43.6 points and 561 total yards per game.

In 2016, DWU finished the season winning six of its last seven games.  For the second straight year, the Tigers finished the season in third place in the highly competitive GPAC.  The Tigers saw 12 players named to the All-GPAC Team, two players named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team and five were NAIA Scholar-Athletes.

The 2015 Tigers finished with nine wins, the second most in school history, while ending the season in third place in the GPAC.  The Tigers picked up 15 All-GPAC honors, six NAIA Scholar-Athlete awards and saw four players earn a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team.  The Tigers were also selected as an NAIA Scholar-Team for outstanding overall GPA.

Before coming to Dakota Wesleyan, Cimpl spent three years as an assistant coach at the University of Sioux Falls while pursuing a master’s degree in business administration, which he received in 2010.  He coached everything from the defensive backs to the special teams to tight ends, wide receivers and running backs.  Cimpl was a part of the Cougars’ NAIA national titles in 2008 and 2009 and their runner-up finish in 2007.  He helped the Cougars to a 42-1 record from 2007 to 2009.  Sioux Falls won three straight GPAC titles in those years.  From 2002 to 2006, Cimpl was a member of the Cougar football team.  He was a team captain in 2005 and 2006, a member of the 2006 national championship team and was named the team’s Special Teams Player-of-the-Year in 2005.  Cimpl was on the dean’s list at USF and earned Academic All-American honors in 2005.

He lives in Mitchell with his spouse, Linda, and has two sons, Preston and Porter, and a daughter, Charlee.