Mayville State University Athletics

Rocky Larson enters his 6th season as head coach of the Comet Football program for the 2025 season.

In the past 5 seasons Larson has had 13 First Team All-Conference Players, 13 Second Team All-Conference Players and 20 All-Conference Honorable Mentions. He has had one All American.

2024 Season: With an overall record of 4-6 and a NSAA conference record of 3-5, the Comets finish 3rd in the North Star Athletic Association conference standings. Larson had 2 players named First Team All-Conference Offense, 3 players named First Team All-Conference Defense and 2 First Team All-Conference Special Teams. 4 players were named 2nd Team All-Conference and 4 were named Honorable Mention. Assistant Coaches, Jake Litecky & Wade Smethers both coached the All-American Bowl at US Bank Stadium in December 2024.

2023 Season: During the 2023 football season, Larson lead the team to a 3-8 record and finished 4th in the NSAA. Javeion Davison & Zack Ceasar were named First Team All-Conference. Ceasar also broke the record for consecutive starts at Mayville State at 53. Seven Comets were named Second Team All-Conference & 4 were named All-Conference Honorable Mention. Under the leadership of Larson, Defensive Coordinator Jake Litecky was named 2023 Assistant Coach of the Year. When hired in 2020, the football team had a GPA of 2.11, he transformed that to 3.09.

2022 Season: The Comets finished 7th in the NSAA after going 0-6 in the North Star and 3-8 overall. Quarterback, Tim Salmon was named NAIA All-American Honorable Mention after finishing the season with 2,726 passing yards and 25 passing touchdowns. He had a 56.5% completion rate on the season and broke the single game record in passing yards and passing touchdowns with 563 passing yards against VCSU in November and throwing 7 touchdowns against Nebraska Wesleyan in September. Tim Salmon and Javeion Davison were name NSAA First Team All-Conference & Reece Smith was named Second Team All-Conference. Devon Woods, Bailey Mullenberg, Will Flemons & Zach Caesar were named Honorable Mention.

2021 Season: With an overall record of 2-9 and a conference record of 2-6, the Comets finish 5th in the North Star. Josiah Walker and Javeion Davison were named NSAA First Team All-Conference. Reece Smith, Maalik Flowers, Justice Sosnicki & Bailey Mullenberg were all named Honorable Mention. Assistant Coach Nick Flesland was selected to be the running back coach at the 2021 NAIA Senior Football Classic in Durham, NC.

2020 Season: In his first year as head coach, Larson and the Comets finish 5th in the North Star, going 1-6 in conference and 2-7 overall. Josiah Walker was named Second Team All-Conference Defense and Creighton Pfau, Maalik Flowers, Zach Caesar & Daniel Simpson were all named Honorable Mention. Larson got his first win as head coach against Presentation College on Saturday, October 24th, 2020. The Comets slated a 42-14 victory over the saints on the road.

Coach Larson was named Interim Athletic Director for the 2023-24 season and was then promoted to full time Athletic Director in May of 2024. In 2024, he was named to the 2024 AFCA 35 Under 35 List. 

Larson joined the Comets in 2020, after four seasons as the Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach at UW-River Falls. 
 
During his four seasons as coordinator, the Falcons were tied for 2^nd with 29 sacks in 2016. One of his defensive linemen lead the WIAC in sacks in 2016 with 10. During his time at UW-River Falls, he coached the WIAC player of the year in 2017 in Nick Jacobsen. He also coached 12 All-WIAC players, 2 All-Region players, and 1 All-American. After the 2017 season, Nick Jacobsen was picked up by the Minnesota Vikings for rookie camp.
 
Before he became Defensive Coordinator for the Falcons, he coached one season at UW-La Crosse, where he was the Defensive Backs coach for a season. Larson spent one spring working under the University of Minnesota Gophers Offensive Intern.
 
Rocky Larson started his coaching career right out of high school with UW-River Falls where he coached Defensive Backs and Defensive Line for three years. The next two season he worked on the offensive side of the ball and coached Running Backs and Tight Ends.
 
Larson graduated from the University of Wisconsin River Falls in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology- Human Performance and coaching minor. In 2017, he graduated with his Master of Art in Coach and Athletic Administration from Concordia Irvine.

Larson resides in Mayville with his wife Richell, daughter Lettie and son Luxer.