‘He’s what’s right’ about college sports — Dayton AD praises retiring coach Chamberlin

Chamberlin, 65, spoke at a press conference Wednesday at UD Arena to announce his retirement from the Dayton Flyers football program after 48 seasons, the last 14 years as a head coach. He hasn’t scored a touchdown himself in a long time but did so in 1969 when he was 12 according to a Springfield News-Sun account of an Art-Fab Bengals game of a game at Snyder Park that November.

Blazer may remember that Chamberlin. Generations of UD football fans will remember a coach who wore stylish hats, recruited valedictorians and team captains and added to the legacy of a program that has sent three alums to the NFL head coaching ranks and one, tight end Adam Trautman, to the NFL in 2020.

“He embodies everything that is right about our Catholic and Marianist values, our identity,” Dayton Athletic Director Neil Sullivan said. “I‘ve walked into his office to give him good news. I’ve walked into his office to give him bad news. He simply looks back at you and says, ‘Yes, sir. What do you need from me now? What do we do?’ Sometimes the news isn’t always good when you’re dealing with 18- to 22-year-olds. He would do nothing except say, ‘Yes, sir. What’s the next step? What’s the best decision for the University of Dayton?’ There’s a lot in college sports that’s wrong right now. He’s what’s right.”

Chamberlin told the team of his decision Tuesday morning. The university announced the news about 30 minutes later.

Chamberlin and Sullivan wouldn’t divulge exactly when his decision was made. Chamberlin did say he did not enter the 2022 season thinking, “This is it.”

“You always want to gauge how you feel, how you think you’re doing for the program,” Chamberlin said. “It just came a time when I decided that this (season) was going to be my last.”

Dayton finished 8-3 in Chamberlin’s last season and lost 24-23 at Davidson on the final day of the regular season. A victory would have given the Flyers a share of the Pioneer Football League championship and the league’s automatic playoff berth.

“I wish we would have got two more points in that last game,” Chamberlin said. “It was for the seniors. For me, hey, I’ve had a lot of experiences with winning seasons and exciting times. It was those seniors I wanted to experience that thrill of the playoffs.”

Dayton will conduct a national search for a head coach, Sullivan said. The new head coach will be just the program’s third in the last 42 seasons.

“We’ll take a brief brief pause to just kind of scan the environment,” Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of quality people affiliated with our program that are part of our program now. But I think it’s appropriate to just kind of manage the process. It’s been a long time. (Chamberlin’s) been here a long time. But I think we have a good group of people that we want to talk to.”

Chamberlin said he will spend his newfound free time with his wife Jane, who also attended the press conference, and his two sons, Jason and Tyler, both UD grads, and his grandkids. He also said he’s going to Disney World — literally. That’s on the agenda for early next year.

Chamberlin thanked a number of people at the press conference, including his predecessor Mike Kelly, who had the head coaching job for 27 years before retiring after the 2007 season. Chamberlin got emotional talking about his players.

“That’s the hardest part of making a decision like this,” he said, “because I know I’m not going to be around them now. I got a lot of joy of coaching these young men. I’ve had the opportunity to coach some of the best young men this country has to offer. I don’t know how much impact I’ve had on them, but each and every one of them made a difference in my life, and it’s all for the good.”