Jan 15, 2025
TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette Lock Haven coach Dan Mulrooney is seen coaching during a game earlier this season. After three seasons, Mulrooney is leaving Lock Haven to take a defensive coordinator job at Division I Brown.
When Lock Haven hosted its season finale back in 2021, just 427 fans showed up at Hubert Jack Stadium to watch the team play. Those in attendance watched, likely with little surprise, as the Bald Eagles were bludgeoned by a score of 59-7, their fourth loss of the season by 50 or more points.
While extenuating circumstances such as the weather and Penn State’s noon matchup against No. 2 Michigan likely played a role in that lack of fanfare, it was also the fourth time in a row their attendance didn’t breach 1,000. Initial excitement from seeing the team back in action after a year off had died off in a hurry, with the clouds hanging over Clinton County that afternoon standing as a metaphor for the state of the program.
That was the last game the Bald Eagles played without Dan Mulrooney at the helm.
Mulrooney would be announced as the team’s head coach just two months later and as the saying goes, the rest was history. Three seasons later, he’d close out his tenure with the program as its most successful head coach since Jack Fisher, doing enough to land the defensive coordinator job at Division I Brown.
He ended his time with the program highly regarded but initially, it took time for fans to buy in, justifiably so.
Through the 36 years between Fisher and Mulrooney’s tenures, Lock Haven went through seven coaches and never experienced more than four wins in a season. One coach after the other failed to breathe new life into the fallen program and Mulrooney’s debut season reflected those hardships.
For the second straight season, the Bald Eagles trudged their way to a 1-10 record, with attendance once again dwindling as a result. Nobody recognized what he was building behind the scenes except for himself, his coaching staff and his players.
His second season would be where it came to fruition.
For their first home game of 2023, 1,576 fans made the trip out to Hubert Jack Stadium, the team’s lowest attendance in an opener since its return following the COVID-19 year. There, the Bald Eagles would pull off their most lopsided win since 2017 with a 58-7 shellacking of Post, a team it scraped by, 35-34, to avoid going winless the previous season.
That win could’ve been seen as a fluke at the time and didn’t draw immediate attention. But when they hung with a Mercyhurst squad that previously beat it by 42 and bested Clarion for the first time since 2007 on a last-second touchdown, that was a different story.
Following that two-game road stint, 1,313 people attended their next home game against East Stroudsburg, with curious Haven fans keeping their fingers crossed that they could keep it up. That would be the lowest attendance got for the rest of the Mulrooney era.
Lock Haven finished the 2023 season with a 5-6 record, its first time securing five or more wins since 1982. Then, it would do it again the following season, posting its best two-season span since 1981-82 and its most home wins (3) in a season since 1998.
Even with four one-score losses to tough teams preventing it from attributing its first winning record since 1981, continued progress coupled with individual accolades added to the ever-growing excitement surrounding the team. Program record after program record was broken, most of which were done so by guys Mulrooney brought on from the transfer portal.
Quarterback Jackson Ostrowsky hadn’t seen consistent playing time since 2021 prior to transferring to Lock Haven from Rhode Island. But in just one season at helm for the Bald Eagles, he’d break the single season records for passing yards (3,203) and touchdowns (27), going on to be nominated for the 2024 Harlon Hill Trophy (Division II’s Heisman equivalent).
Running back Chris Collier saw his time at Wagner impacted by multiple concussions and rushed for just under 500 yards through his first three seasons of college ball. But in one season at Lock Haven in 2023, he’d break the program record for rushing yards in a season with 1,393, also earning a Harlon Hill nomination in the process. He’s since gone on to see snaps in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders.
And wide receiver T’iar Young took a promising start to his college career at Millersville and built on it at Lock Haven, tying the program record for receiving touchdowns (11) as a junior and accumulating over 1,800 receiving yards through two seasons with the program. Following his storied junior season, he’d earn a similar opportunity to Mulrooney’s, transferring up to Division I Tarleton State, a rising program within the FCS.
Other impactful players Mulrooney has brought in from the transfer portal include the team’s two leading rushers in 2024 in Damir Green (473 yards, four TDs) and KJ Howard (483 yards, three TDs), No. 3 receiver Corahn Alleyne (22 receptions, 377 yards) and standouts on the defensive side in linebacker Oscar Uduma and defensive back Kasir Henry.
And he isn’t a stranger when it comes to recruiting immediate standouts out of high school either, with sophomore linebackers Izzy Ramos and Rocco Daugherty leading the team in tackles through 2024 and Jaeion Perry making an immediate impact in the secondary as a freshman.
All’s to say, the former Anna Maria College head coach gave fans plenty to be excited about through two momentous seasons for the program. And as indicated earlier, they quickly took notice.
Just under 2,800 were in attendance for the Bald Eagles’ home finale in 2023. Attendance would drop below 1,500 just once in 2024, eclipsing 2,000 thrice and peaking at 4,428 in its most recent home opener against Indiana (Pa.), a number which almost tripled the attendance from its previous opener.
At the drop of a hat, Mulrooney turned a program that endured consistent disappointment for four decades and one of the most prolific losing streaks in college football history into one that could give the best teams in the PSAC a run for their money. Much like the Commanders’ drought-shattering playoff win on Sunday, two five-win seasons is something Lock Haven’s younger crowd had never experienced until now.
Obviously, his abrupt move to Brown comes as a shock to a fandom that’s grown to love him in such a short time, an unfortunate reality of coaching in college sports. But whatever happens to the program in the coming years, Mulrooney’s impact shouldn’t be understated. And at the end of the day, his era could just be a precursor for what’s to come.
A head coach is often only as strong as the supporting cast he assembles. As it stands, no new headlines have come out surrounding the rest of the team’s coaching staff, including the likes of offensive coordinator Joe Battaglia, defensive coordinator Michael Derasmo and more.
In his closing statement to the community, Mulrooney expressed confidence when discussing Lock Haven’s future in football.
“This was a fantastic chapter and I’m undoubtedly confident in the future of the program moving forward,” said Mulrooney. “Always leave it, better than you found it.”
Henry Huber is the sports editor at The Express. He can be reached at hhuber@lockhaven.com. Follow him on Twitter at @HenryHuber_.
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