Steve Marino, who begins his 21st year at Westfield State, has established the Owls as a competitive club in the New England Division 3 football ranks.
He has the second longest coaching tenure in the 16-team New England Football Conference, highlighted by three consecutive NEFC championship game appearances in 2001, 2002, and 2003. During the past eight seasons, the Owls have compiled a 37-20 divisional record.
Marino guided the 2001 squad to its first perfect regular season, a 10-0 record. The Owls won their first New England Football Conference championship and qualified for their first NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Western Connecticut State, 8-7, in a first-round game.
Marino's coaching during the special 2001 season did not go unnoticed as he was selected the American Football Coaches Association Northeast Region Coach of the Year; the New England Division II/III Coach of the Year by the New England sportswriters, and the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston Division II/III Coach of the Year.
Marino has been the New England Football Conference Coach of the Year twice. He was a unanimous pick by the coaches during the NEFC championship season, and the NEFC Coach of the Year in 1992 when the Owls were 6-3.
In the spring of 1990, Marino was named head coach at Westfield State, where he graduated from in 1971.
“I have a lot of fond memories of my time spent at Westfield State,” he said. “The college gave me a lot and I feel I owe it something in return.”
Marino is the fourth head coach in the Westfield State football program’s 29-year history, and he has provided the stability that was lacking in the program's first decade when there were three head coaches during an eight-year span.
"We are committed to building a winning and competitive program here; Westfield State has so much to offer to Western Mass.” said Marino.
Marino received his B.A. degree in 1971 and his master’s degree in 1978 from Westfield State. He taught English at Ludlow High School for 29 years, then moved into an administrative post as dean of students for five years before retiring in June of 2006. The 1967 graduate of Springfield Classical High School coached football at Ludlow High School for 16 years, including an eight-year stint as the head coach from 1979-86. He served as defensive coordinator at Western New England College in 1987 before returning to Ludlow as an assistant in 1988.
“Our goals are to win games and to play good, tough football,” Marino said. “All of the teams I’ve been associated with have done that.”
At the top of Marino's list of priorities for a successful football program is to attract quality student-athletes to Westfield State.
“Our goal is to recruit 25 to 30 good kids annually and build on that," he said. "Each year we want to have about 15 four-year players in our program, which will provide us with the stability we need.”
Marino's wife, Betsy, also is a 1971 graduate of Westfield State. They reside in Ludlow and have two sons and a daughter: Don, a 1995 graduate of Westfield State; Steve, a 1999 Westfield State graduate, and Katie, a 2000 graduate of Bridgewater State.