Bob Chesney begins his first season as head football coach at Salve Regina. Chesney spent the past five years at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., where he assumed the roles of special teams coordinator, recruiting coordinator, strength and conditioning coordinator and defensive coordinator before he was named associate head coach in 2009.
The Blue Jays recorded a 10-3 mark in 2009 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Led by their nationally ranked defense, the Blue Jays scored road wins overHampden-Sydney (23-7) and Thomas More (31-29) en route to advancing further than any Centennial Conference member ever had in the tournament.
"I am honored to be selected as the head football coach at SalveRegina University," said Chesney, who becomes the fourth head coach in the history of the Salve Regina football program, succeeding Tim Coen (1992-99), Art Bell (2000-05) and Chris Robertson (2006-09)."In meeting with director of athletics Colin Sullivan and members of his staff, there is no doubt that we share a strong excitement about the future of Salve athletics and Salve football."
Chesney was instrumental in the recruitment of running back and 2009 Centennial Conference offensive player of the year Andrew Kase, and he also recruited and coached the league's defensive player of the year and current Salve Regina assistant coach, Colin Wixted. His recruiting areas at Salve Regina include Rhode Island, central and western Pennsylvania, California, Florida and Texas.
Chesney's defense led the nation with 30 interceptions and ranked20th in rushing defense and 23rd in overall defense. In the conference, the Blue Jays were tops in nearly every major statistical category on defense, including scoring defense (14.0ppg), turnover margin (+14), rushing defense (66.8 ypg), total yards (241 ypg), pass defense efficiency (96.7) and sacks (31).
Chesney's student-athletes did the job both on the field in theclassroom, as evidenced by the selection of 16 student-athletes tothe all-conference team, and the placement of nine on theconference's academic honor roll.
Prior to his arrival at Johns Hopkins, Chesney was an assistantcoach at King's College (Pa.), where he served as special teamscoordinator and the director of football operations. He has alsospent time at Delaware Valley College (2002-03) as defensive andstrength and conditioning coordinator while assisting withrecruiting, and Norwich University (2000-02) as assistant footballcoach.
Chesney, a member of the American Football Coaches Association(AFCA) and Cross Fit Football Strength and Conditioning certified,has done work with the Salvation Army's Adopt-A-Family Christmasand the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Chesney has also workedwith the Special Olympics, including organizing a fund raisercalled "Cowboy Up," which helped raise more than $3,000 for theorganization in Pennsylvania.
A 2000 graduate of Dickinson College, Chesney was a four-yearletter-winner for the Red Devils football program. He received theVincent Correal team MVP award as a sophomore in 1997, served asteam captain his senior year and garnered All-Centennial Conferencehonors in 1998 and 1999.
