David Dean Era: 2007-present
David Dean was named Head Coach of the Blazers in 2007 after Chris Hatcher took the head coaching job at Georgia Southern University. Dean was previously the Offense Coordinator for the Blazers.
In 2007, the "Dean Machine" started the season with five straight wins. Delta State University defeated the Blazers 35-31, despite being down 28 points at the beginning of the second half. The Blazers then capped off the season with an eight game winning streak and their second National Championship title win against Northwest Missouri State University, 25-20. This was the third straight championship appearance by the Bearcats, also the third straight time the Bearcats have lost the National Championship game.
David Dean is only the second head coach to lead his team to a National Championship in his first season. Earle Solomonson accomplished this at North Dakota State University in 1985.
2008 and 2010 were the only years VSU has made it to the NCAA Division II playoffs since the 2007 National Championship season. 2008 saw the Blazers make it to the second round of the playoffs and a 9-3 season. Valdosta posted a 8-3 record in 2010 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. After beginning the year unranked, the Blazers rose as high as No. 7 in the AFCA coaches poll, before finishing the regular season ranked No. 17. In 2010 the VSU team tied with Delta State and Henderson State for the Gulf South Conference Championship, the only one in Dean's five years as head coach.
In 2009 and 2011 the Blazers had 6-4 seasons and missed the Division II playoffs. In 2009 VSU finished in 3rd in the Gulf South Conference and 4th in 2011. Valdosta had been ranked as high as No. 4 in the AFCA poll in the first weeks of the 2011 season.
In 2012 the Blazers posted a 12-2 record for the year and beat Winston-Salem State University 35-7 in the NCAA Division II National Football Championship in Florence, Alabama. The win gave VSU its third Division II National title in eight years. David Dean is the only football coach in Valdosta State history to win two national championships.
Read more about this topic: Valdosta State Blazers Football
Famous quotes containing the words david and/or dean:
“You say that you do not succeed much. Does it concern you enough that you do not? Do you work hard enough at it? Do you get the benefit of discipline out of it? If so persevere. Is it a more serious thing than to walk a thousand miles in a thousand successive hours? Do you get any corns by it? Do you ever think of hanging yourself on account of failure?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Confession, alas, is the new handshake.”
—Richard Dean Rosen (b. 1949)