PHOTO PROVIDED Lock Haven's DeAndrew Wakefield returns for the Bald Eagles, who are at Post today.

Lock Haven’s football team kicks off their season today against Post under new coach Dan Mulrooney. Mulrooney–who was hired in January as lead guy for the Bald Eagles program–is a former NCAA Division I football standout at Boston College.

Coaching wise, Mulrooney came from Anna Maria College, a Division III institution in Paxton, Massachusetts, where he led the team to a historic 2021 season where the program saw its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. From leading a program to one historic season last year, to coaching a new set of players in a different region of the country, Mulrooney had his work cut out for him. But he’s ready to change the football program and culture at Lock Haven.

“This is the most exciting place for me to be at in the country,” Mulrooney said. “When I looked at the job and the history of the place, I thought it was an exciting opportunity to turn a place around that hasn’t had much success in the past year.”

The football program at Lock Haven hasn’t seen much success in the past three seasons. In 2018 and 2019, the Bald Eagles went 2-9 in both seasons, and in 2020, the season was of course cancelled due to COVID-19. When the Bald Eagles returned to the field in 2021, the stretch of bad seasons continued as Lock Haven saw a win in their season-opener, but then lost 10 consecutive games to end their season.

The time for a coaching change was evidently needed. In January, the Bald Eagles found their guy in Mulrooney. But what many do not know are the challenges Mulrooney faced before football workouts even began or before players stepped foot onto campus. There has been a process for Mulrooney since he was hired in January, and there is going to be a continuing process as he and his coaching staff change the culture and what goes on day in and day out.

“What makes the job more challenging is the hiring date,” Mulrooney said. “I inherited a roster of only 45 players in the spring. In the beginning, I put a great staff together of great, young people. Second thing we did was recruit, we went everywhere. We got about 68 or 69 recruits after signing day. We walked into the summer months, got organized and had preseason camp.”

As coach Mulrooney and his staff got the team ready for preseason camp and eventually onto campus, now it was time to put things together–the team culture, team camaraderie, team principles–to name a few. The job now of the coaching staff was to get the team to buy-in to what the coaches were preaching each day. Part of the process coach Mulrooney has for his team is making practice a priority to focus on the intricacies of being a good team.

“Our goal (as a program) is no turnovers, no penalties,” coach Mulrooney said. “We have our codes here as a coaching staff of what we preach to players. We want to progress game by game and have the team get better each week. I tell the players all the time, ‘we’re going to hunt progress as we chase success.’ Practices are what really matters and that’s what I want the guys to focus on.”

Having the will to win is important–and that is something coach Mulrooney and his staff want his guys to have–but he wants his guys to also expect to win. That is one principle that may change the team’s mindsets heading into each practice session and game.

“Everyone wants to win, but the teams that expect to win have a different swagger and a different confidence level. So, we want our team to have that swagger.”

Heading into this new era of football, the Bald Eagles will surely have their fair share of growing pains. Whether games do not go the way they want, or practices are different than anticipated, there will be difficult times. But coach Mulrooney wants his players to also embrace those moments.

When those moments are embraced, leadership will also come out. With a roster of over 100 players–and some of them being seniors who embraced the bad in the past three years–the stakes and will to win are going to be high. But coach Mulrooney says those seniors have already bought in and he is happy with that.

“Leadership is only tested when things are going bad,” said Mulrooney. “I’m really proud of the seniors we have on our team. They’ve been through a lot here but there’s been great buy-in from them. My goal is to make their experience the best, whether its branding, marketing or coaching. I’m going to give them the best experience I can.”