Bill Zwaan
Widener University
When Bill Zwaan took over the Widener University football program in 1997, he set a high standard - on and off the field.
"My No. 1 goal was to win the conference championship," Zwaan told Edward de la Fuente of the Wilmington News-Journal. "But I didn't just want to win conference championships. I wanted to have good, solid kids playing for us - kids who were graduating and staying for four years."
Zwaan has succeeded on all counts: he has built the Pioneers into a Division III football power, having completed their first undefeated regular season (10-0) in 20 years, and he has done it with a foundation of solid student-athletes, including a number of academic All-Americans.
Tonight, Zwaan will receive the Maxwell Football Club's Tri-State Coach of the Year Award. The award was created to honor an area high school or college coach who has not only produced outstanding football teams, but has also motivated his players to excel at the next level, whether it be football or the business world. Zwaan has built that kind of program at Widener.
"I think this is a good place where you can stay a long time," Zwaan told the News-Journal. "I'm not looking at using this as a stepping stone of any kind to go somewhere else."
As a high school player, Zwaan quarterbacked Archbishop Carroll to the Philadelphia Catholic League title and City Championship in 1971. He attended the University of Delaware where he led the Blue Hens to the 1974 Division II national championship game. He earned a Bachelor of Science in marketing management in 1979.
His father, Bill, Sr., was the baseball coach at West Catholic High School (Bill, Jr. was once the bat boy) so it was a natural progression that he would someday become a coach, as well. He started as an assistant coach at Monsignor Bonner High School, then moved on to the University of Cincinnati and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy where he coached both football and baseball.
Zwaan arrived at Widener in 1992 and spent five seasons as defensive coordinator before taking over as head coach in 1997. In his first season, the Pioneers were 7-3. That was the most wins for a first-year coach at Widener since 1902 when the school, then known as Pennsylvania Military College, finished 8-1 under Ed Stearns.
Zwaan has put in five consecutive winning seasons, including a 12-2 finish in 2000, which included a Middle Atlantic Conference title and a trip to the Division III national semi-finals, and a 12-1 mark in 2001, with another MAC championship and the school's 11th overall appearance in the NCAA tournament.
During the 2001 season, the Widener offense set a MAC record by scoring 458 points and averaging 501.6 yards per game. The Pioneers have led the conference in total offense each of the past three seasons and Zwaan was named the Region II Coach of the Year twice.
Zwaan also serves as Widener's athletic director, overseeing a program which includes 22 varsity sports.
