AFCA Selects DeLong As Region's Top Coach

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Dec. 12, 2003 – Springfield College head coach Mike DeLong has been chosen the Region I Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).

DeLong is one of five coaches in Division III to earn this honor in 2003. He also earned the AFCA’s Region I Coach-of-the-Year Award in 1998 and 2000.

The AFCA recognizes five regional coach-of-the-year winners in each of the four divisions: I-A, I-AA, Division II and Division III. Other winners include Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops (Div. I-A, Region 4), Southern California’s Pete Carroll (Div. I-A, Region 5) and St. John’s (Minn.) John Gagliardi (Div. III, Region 5), who has won more games than any coach in college football history.

DeLong and his staff, including long-time defensive coordinator Jack Holik and offensive coordinator Mike Cerasuolo, an all-region center at SC, guided the Pride to the first 10-0 regular season in 111 years of SC football. SC was the No. 1 seed in the East in the NCAA Division III Tournament and earned a No. 6 ranking in the final AFCA Division III Regular-Season National Poll. The Pride dropped a 40-34 decision to RPI in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to finish 10-1.

With 112 victories, DeLong has won more games than any other football coach at SC. He has directed the Pride to four NCAA Tournament appearances, five Freedom Football Conference (FFC) titles, an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship, and a 64-29 overall record since SC joined the Division III ranks in 1995. The Pride also established the premier running attack in Division III, leading the nation in rushing five times (1996, ‘99, 2000, ‘02 and ‘03).

DeLong was selected coach-of-the-year by the FFC on Nov. 18, and by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston on Dec. 2.

For more information on the AFCA and its programs, please visit www.afca.org.

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Head Coach Mike DeLong

Michael C. “Mike” DeLong ’74 enters his 32nd season as a head football coach in the fall of 2013. He enters his 30th year at Springfield College alone. For the past 28 years, he has been the head coach at Springfield, his alma mater. Mike had also been the head coach at Maine Maritime in Castine, Maine in 1979 and 1980. Read more.

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