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.
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