Aberdeen, S.D. – Northern State University Director of Athletics Nate Davis announced today that Brandon Kusler has been promoted to interim head coach, leading the Wolves baseball team for 2025-26. Kusler enters his fourth season with the Northern State baseball program in the fall of 2025, serving as a graduate assistant in 2023 and 2024 and assistant coach in 2025.
 
"I am happy to elevate Brandon to this role for the upcoming year and I'm excited for him to take advantage of this opportunity," described Davis. "He has been a part of Wolves baseball for the better part of a decade as a player and coach and has a great understanding of the culture of the program. I have great confidence that Brandon is the right person to lead our team, and our staff will provide a great support system for him and our student-athletes."
 
"I am incredibly grateful and excited for this opportunity," Kusler explained. "I want to thank Nate Davis and his staff for having the confidence in me to lead this program. I also want to thank Coach Berry for his years of leadership of Wolves baseball. Coach Berry gave me the opportunity to play college baseball and has helped me tremendously throughout my coaching career, and for that I am forever grateful. I am honored to fill a role that he has held for 15 years in a program that is near and dear to my heart. Go Wolves!"
 
In his three seasons on staff the Wolves have won 44 contests and four Wolves earned NSIC All-Conference honors. In addition, the team tallied the ABCA Academic Award in all three seasons and hit the ten consecutive year milestone in 2025.
 
Prior to returning to Northern State as a full-time assistance coach, Kusler was on staff with the Harrisburg Legion program as an assistant coach. The Tigers Legion Gold team went 38-9-1 in the summer of 2024.
 
In the spring of 2024, two Wolves were named to the NSIC All-Conference teams, and five school records were broken including single season saves (Drew Burkholder - 5), single season offensive walks (180), single season stolen bases (62), career innings pitched (Max Otto - 254.0), and career strikeouts (Max Otto - 248). 

2023 saw Northern find success at the plate improving in 12 offensive categories from the previous spring, while racking up the most single season homeruns since 2016, runs per game since 2018, and doubles since 2019. 
 
Born and raised in Aberdeen, Kusler began his coaching career in 2019 with the Aberdeen Smittys Legion program. In his first season as the head coach for the U13 team, the Smittys won the South Dakota Class A State Championship. Heading into the 2022 season, Kusler was named head coach for the legion program and served in that role until 2023. In the summer of 2023, the Smitty's made their first state tournament appearance since 2017 with Kusler at the helm.
  
Kusler is a Northern State baseball alum, playing outfield for the Wolves from 2018-22. He started 32 contests in his career, appearing in a total of 64 games. In his final season, Kusler tallied a 1.000 fielding percentage with 52 putouts, and five outfield assists.

He graduated in May of 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Education, while majoring in Physical Education, and again in 2024 with a master's degree in Sports Performance and Leadership.