Wesleyan Selects Whalen as Football Head Coach
Courtesy Wesleyan Sports Information
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Mike Whalen ’83 was named assistant athletic director and head coach of Wesleyan University’s football team on Friday. He will assume this post on April 1. Whalen comes to Wesleyan from Williams College, where he has been the head coach since 2004. During that time, Whalen’s teams have posted a 38-10 record.
He is the recipient of many honors, including the prestigious 2006 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award, which is presented to the nation’s top coach in all divisions.
“It is an honor and a true pleasure to welcome Coach Whalen back to Wesleyan,” says John Biddiscombe, director of athletics and chair, physical education. “He left as a standout college player and returns as one of the finest college football coaches in the nation.”
“We are excited about the levels of excellence that he expects on and off the field from the scholar-athletes he coaches and recruits," stated Wesleyan President Michael Roth. "We are confident that he can ensure the success we expect both in the classroom and in athletic competition here at Wesleyan, and his success and experience will be an asset to the overall athletic program.”
Before being appointed head coach at Williams, Whalen served as an assistant football coach there for eight years, first as offensive line coach for five years and then as the offensive line coach and offensive coordinator for three years. Whalen also served as the wrestling coach at Williams from 1996 until 2004.
In his first two seasons as football coach at Williams, Whalen guided the Ephs to consecutive 6-2 seasons, highlighted by winning the final six games of the 2005 season and defeating rival Amherst to win the Little Three title. In 2006, Whalen extended the Eph win streak to 14 as he compiled just the sixth perfect season in Williams football history.
He was named the 2006 NESCAC coach of the year, received the Johnny Vaught Head Coaching Award from the All-American Foundation and was named the Master Sports University/College Coach of the Year.
Whalen has had at least one Eph offensive lineman named All-NESCAC First Team every season. He has coached the only player in NESCAC and ECAC-Northeast history to win back-to-back Offensive Player of the Year awards.
As the head coach of Williams wrestling, Whalen had 36 All-New England performers. In 2000 he was named the NECCWA Coach of the Year for leading Williams to a second place finish among the 15 teams in the region. NECCWA named Whalen the Rookie Coach of the Year in 1997, as well.
While an undergraduate at Wesleyan, Whalen captained both the football and wrestling teams, earning All-New England and All-American honors three times. In wrestling he was the first New England wrestler to win four consecutive New England Championships.
Whalen’s coaching career began at Springfield College where he served as a graduate assistant in both football and wrestling while earning a master’s in physical education. Upon completing his degree requirements at Springfield, Whalen joined the staff at the University of Pennsylvania, and the 1986 Quakers went undefeated and won the Ivy League title.
From Penn Whalen moved on to Lafayette College, where the Leopards won the Colonial League title in 1988 and the Patriot League title in 1989. In 1993, Whalen went to Colgate University, where he was the Associate Head Coach and offensive line coach for the Red Raiders.
