Stephen Stetson (born January 24, 1951) is an American golf coach and former football player and coach. He is the current head men's and women's golf coach at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Stetson served as the head football coach at Hamilton from 1982 to 1984 and again from 2006 to 2011. He was also the head football coach at Boston University 1985 to 1987 and Hartwick College from 1992 to 2001, compiling a career college football coaching record of 89–111–2. Stetson was a University of New Hampshire assistant football coach from 2002 to 2005.
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach (golf) |
| Team | Hamilton |
| Conference | NESCAC |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | January 24, 1951 Laconia, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1970–1972 | Dartmouth |
| Position(s) | Quarterback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1982–1984 | Hamilton |
| 1985–1987 | Boston University |
| 1992–2001 | Hartwick |
| 2002–2005 | New Hampshire (assistant) |
| 2006–2011 | Hamilton |
| Golf | |
| 2012–2017 | Hamilton |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 86–106–4 (football) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Awards | |
| New England Region D-III Coach of the Year (1984) | |
Stetson grew up in Laconia, New Hampshire and was a three-sport standout at Laconia High School. He went on to become an All-Ivy League quarterback at Dartmouth College during his senior season in 1972. In his three-year varsity career the Big Green went 24–2–1 with three straight Ivy League championships.
College career
editStetson played for Dartmouth College. In 1969, he was awarded by the coaching staff the Earl Hamilton Freshman Award. In 1971, in his first start, he helped Dartmouth clinched a share of the Ivy League title by beating Cornell 24–14.[1] In his senior year, he won several weekly citations due to his impressive performance against Princeton in which he scored three touchdowns and completed eight of 17 passes for 125 yards.[2] He set a Dartmouth single season pass-yardage record (1159 yards), breaking the mark of 1079 set by Mickey Beard in 1966.[3] He was an all-Ivy selection that year.[4] He graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in sociology in 1973.[5]
Coaching career
editFootball
editHamilton
editStetson first coached the Hamilton Continentals men's football team from 1982–1984. In 1983, he hired Sean McDonnell to be one of his assistant coaches.[6] In 1984, they went 6–1–1. This was Hamilton's first winning record since 1967.[5]
Boston University
editStetson's performance at Hamilton led to a head coaching position at Boston University, a Division I school.[5] He took over from Rick Taylor, who had moved up to become the school's athletic director. However, he struggled in his time there, with a record of 3–8 in 1985 and 4–7 in 1986. Two games before the 1987 season was finished, he was dismissed as the team was at 3–6.[7] Boston finished the season 3–8.[8]
Hartwick
editAfter his job at Boston ended, Stetson became a health-insurance salesman. When he saw in the newspapers that Hartwick College was going to revive its football program, he applied for the job in July 1991 and got accepted.[8] He coached the Hawks until 2001, and Hartwick enjoyed eight winning seasons out of his last nine at the school with three postseason appearances.[5] When he left the school in 2002, Mark Carr took over.[9] In his time there, he had a record of 58–38–1, setting the program record for most career wins.[10] Carr would break that record in 2015.[11]
New Hampshire
editStetson then joined the coaching staff of Sean McDonnell, his former assistant coach now head coach at the University of New Hampshire.[6] The Wildcats were 3–8 in his first year, but in 2004 UNH was 10–3 and reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA championships. In 2005, he helped guide the Wildcats to an 11–2 record and the team's second straight Atlantic 10 North Division title. UNH was awarded the No. 1 seed in the Division I-AA championships and advanced to the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.[5]
Return to Hamilton
editIn 2005, Stetson returned to coaching the Hamilton men's football team. He took over from Pete Alvanos, whose teams went 5–35 in five seasons.[5] In 2011, Stetson guided the football team to their highest win total in 15 years.[12] The following year, he stepped down as Hamilton's men's football head coach. He was replaced by Andrew Cohen.[13]
Golf
editIn 2012, Stetson became the new head coach of Hamilton's men's and women's golf teams. He had previous experience as an interim head coach for Hamilton's men's golf team earlier in the year.[12]
Personal life
editStetson participated in amateur golf tournaments. In 2010, he won the Senior championship of the Utica City Amateur golf tournament.[14]
Head coaching record
editFootball
edit| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton Continentals (NCAA Division III independent) (1982–1984) | |||||||||
| 1982 | Hamilton | 1–7 | |||||||
| 1983 | Hamilton | 2–6 | |||||||
| 1984 | Hamilton | 6–1–1 | |||||||
| Boston University Terriers (Yankee Conference) (1985–1987) | |||||||||
| 1985 | Boston University | 3–8 | 1–4 | T–5th | |||||
| 1986 | Boston University | 4–7 | 3–4 | T–5th | |||||
| 1987 | Boston University | 3–8 | 2–5 | T–5th | |||||
| Boston University: | 10–23 | 6–13 | |||||||
| Hartwick Hawks (NCAA Division III independent) (1992–2001) | |||||||||
| 1992 | Hartwick | 1–7 | |||||||
| 1993 | Hartwick | 4–3–1 | |||||||
| 1994 | Hartwick | 7–3 | |||||||
| 1995 | Hartwick | 4–5–2 | |||||||
| 1996 | Hartwick | 6–4 | |||||||
| 1997 | Hartwick | 7–2 | |||||||
| 1998 | Hartwick | 9–2 | L ECAC Northwest Championship | ||||||
| 1999 | Hartwick | 6–4 | |||||||
| 2000 | Hartwick | 7–4 | L ECAC Northwest Championship | ||||||
| 2001 | Hartwick | 7–4 | L ECAC Northwest Championship | ||||||
| Hartwick: | 57–38–3 | ||||||||
| Hamilton Continentals (New England Small College Athletic Conference) (2006–present) | |||||||||
| 2006 | Hamilton | 2–6 | 2–6 | T–7th | |||||
| 2007 | Hamilton | 2–6 | 2–6 | T–8th | |||||
| 2008 | Hamilton | 2–6 | 2–6 | T–8th | |||||
| 2009 | Hamilton | 2–6 | 2–6 | T–8th | |||||
| 2010 | Hamilton | 1–7 | 1–7 | T–9th | |||||
| 2011 | Hamilton | 3–5 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
| Hamilton: | 21–50–1 | 12–36 | |||||||
| Total: | 89–111–2 | ||||||||
References
edit- ^ PITARRESI, JOHN (November 5, 2010). "Generals fun to watch; Stetson and history". Utica Observer Dispatch. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ McGowen, Deane (October 18, 1972). "Ivy League Roundup". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ "FOOTBALL FACTS | Dartmouth Alumni Magazine | JANUARY 1973". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine | The Complete Archive. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ "Football First-Team All-Ivy Selections". Dartmouth College Athletics. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "After 20 years, Hamilton gets coach back". D3Football.com. December 23, 2005. Retrieved February 21, 2004.
- ^ a b Snierson, Lynne (November 17, 2021). "Coming Back Strong". New Hampshire Magazine. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; B.U. Coach Dismissed". The New York Times. November 11, 1987. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ a b Walters, John (October 19, 1992). "The Pigskin Brings Home the Bacon". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ "Carr named Hartwick head coach". D3Football.com. August 14, 2002. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ "Ithaca Gameday". The Ithaca Journal. October 9, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ Derderian, Steve (November 12, 2015). "Identities of suspended Hartwick players revealed". The Daily Star. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ a b "Football coach steps down, will lead golf programs". Hamilton College. May 9, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ "Andrew Cohen named head football coach at Hamilton College". New Haven Register. July 17, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ PITARRESI, JOHN (July 19, 2010). "Conley wins by 6 strokes at City Amateur tourney". Utica Observer Dispatch. Retrieved February 21, 2024.