Bob Colbert, a 36-year veteran football coach with wide-ranging experience in the NFL, Ivy League and NCAA Divisions III, has been named Head Football Coach at Saint Vincent College which is returning to varsity competition after a hiatus of nearly 50 years.
 
“I am delighted to announce that Bob Colbert has enthusiastically accepted the challenge of building our new football program,” commented Saint Vincent College Vice Chancellor and President James F. Will, today. “Bob’s extensive experience with successful programs including eight years at Division III stand-out Bridgewater College, has prepared him to create a program that will bring success to our students both on the field and in the classroom.”
 
Mr. Colbert’s appointment becomes effective January 6.
 
Saint Vincent announced in June that it would begin play in Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the fall of 2006 and that it would begin competing in football in the fall of 2007.
 
Mr. Colbert comes to Saint Vincent after serving as Associate Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator of the Bridgewater College (Virginia) Eagles which won their league title for the past five years and went to the NCAA playoffs for the past six years.
 
"I just couldn’t be happier about this opportunity,” Mr. Colbert said. “While I have enjoyed my work at Bridgewater, I am ready to become a head coach and accept the challenge of starting a new program at Saint Vincent – a college with a great reputation for providing a first-rate education with an excellent faculty and an outstanding campus in a beautiful area of Pennsylvania. Saint Vincent is very attractive to students who know the benefits of their educational approach based on Catholic, Benedictine values.”
 
A native of Pittsburgh’s North Side, Mr. Colbert also noted that he is looking forward to coming home to western Pennsylvania. “My brother, Kevin, is Director of Football Operations for the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Mr. Colbert said, "so it will be great to be closer to him, especially in the summer when the Steelers hold their annual training camp at Saint Vincent.”
 
“My first priority is to hire assistant coaches and establish contacts with high school coaches,” Mr. Colbert continued. “I want to bring some freshmen in this coming fall and I am sure there are some current students who will also want to help me form the future of this program. It will be an exciting experience for these students since they will be the trailblazers and everyone will be watching them. We are going to work very hard, play some great football and have a lot of fun. I think that the Saint Vincent campus community as well as many area residents will really enjoy this program. I know that Latrobe is a great all-American city and is widely known as a great football town.”
 
Mr. Colbert graduated from North Catholic High School in 1965 where he played  both football (running back) and baseball (catcher) before enrolling at the University of Maryland where he played defensive back and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1971. While at Maryland, he served as Head Football Coach for two years at Gallaudet University, a school which specializes in providing an education for the deaf. Just 23 at the time, he was the youngest head coach in the U.S. and had a record of 3-4 in his first season, the school’s best record in the previous 32 years.
 
He served as defensive backs coach at Colgate University from 1972 to 1975 before moving to the NFL as an assistant to the defensive staff with the Washington Redskins under Head Coach George Allen (1976) and administrative assistant to the Baltimore Colts (1977-1979) under Head Coach Ted Marchibroda.
 
He returned to college coaching at Ohio Wesleyan where he was defensive coordinator from 1980 to 1982 at this Division III program in the Ohio Athletic Conference. From 1983 to 1989 he was receivers coach and special teams coordinator at Cornell University which was champion of the Ivy League in 1988. He was offensive line coach in 1990 at Dartmouth which won the Ivy League title that year.
 
Mr. Colbert moved to the Division I-AA program at James Madison University as offensive coordinator for four years (1991 to 1994), twice reaching the NCAA quarterfinals. He was quarterbacks coach in 1996 and became offensive coordinator in 1997 at another Division I-AA school, University of Massachusetts, in 1996 and 1997.
 
For the past eight years, Mr. Colbert has been offensive line coach and offensive coordinator, and more recently, associate head coach, at Bridgewater College where the Eagles enjoyed five consecutive league titles in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. They were 64-11 during the past six years and finished 11-2 this year, including post-season victories over Washington and Jefferson and Thiel before losing to Wesley College in the Division III national quarterfinals.
 
Mr. Colbert, 58, and his wife, Christine, have two children, Cara, 27, a high school teacher and softball coach at Luray (Virginia) High School, and Bret, 25, a graduate assistant with the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football program. The couple plan to move to the area as soon as possible.
 
College officials have not yet made a decision on where the new Bearcat squad will play their home games. The college has a new state-of-the-art grass field that the Steelers installed earlier this year on campus near Rooney Hall. The option of playing some games at Greater Latrobe School District's Latrobe Memorial Stadium is also being explored.
 
College officials decided to start football in recognition of the sport's popularity in western Pennsylvania, its contribution to the enhancement of weekend campus life in the fall, the boost in pride among alumni and other supporters of Saint Vincent, and the opportunity for a new connection to the Latrobe area and the surrounding region.
 
Football will be returning to Saint Vincent after being discontinued as a varsity sport in 1962. Students ran a club program for a decade after that. Many area Saint Vincent alumni recall with pride the 1949 squad of the late Coach Al DeLuca that defeated Emory and Henry College 7-6 in the Tangerine Bowl (now the Citrus Bowl) on New Year's Day 1950.
 
Saint Vincent currently fields 19 other varsity sports teams including men’s and women’s basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and tennis, men’s baseball and track, and women’s field hockey, softball and volleyball. Club sports include men’s and women’s fencing, women's equestrian and men's ice hockey.
 

Saint Vincent College is a Catholic liberal arts and sciences college sponsored by the Benedictine Community of Saint Vincent Archabbey. Undergraduate and graduate programs of study are offered to men and women by a highly-qualified teaching faculty in nearly 50 fields of study in business, economics, government, humanities, fine arts, social sciences, communication, education, natural sciences, mathematics and computing. Founded in 1846, it is located on a scenic campus in the Laurel Highlands, about 35 miles east of Pittsburgh. Nearly 1600 students from 26 states and 13 foreign countries are enrolled. An active and supportive alumni association includes more than 12,000 men and women who serve in many fields including the arts, business, computer technology, education, law, medical and health services, government, ministry, and scientific research and who reside in all 50 states and numerous foreign countries.

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