Associate Head Coach Jason Houghtaling To Be Announced As New Seahawk Head Coach At Tuesday Press Conference
 
Staten Island, NY – Walt Hameline, who has served as Wagner College athletic director/head football coach since 1981, has announced that he is stepping down as head football coach, with current associate head coach Jason Houghtaling to be named his successor, while also announcing that he will continue in his role as athletic director.
 
A press conference to introduce Houghtaling as Wagner head football coach will be held on Tuesday, November 25 at Noon in the VIP Room located on the second floor of the Spiro Sports Center.
 
Hameline completed his 34th season on Saturday as the Seahawks posted a riveting 23-20 win at Bryant, giving the Seahawks a 7-4-record and a share of the 2014 Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season title at 5-1, Wagner's second league crown in the last three years.  The 2014 campaign was the 24th winning season that the Green & White have enjoyed under Hameline, who has amassed an all-time record of 223-139-2 (.615) on Grymes Hill. At the conclusion of the 2014 regular season, those 223 victories ranked fifth among active head Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) head coaches.
 
"Walt Hamline represents the best of what Wagner is all about - high achievement, integrity and hard work," said Wagner College President Richard Guarasci. "He has been an excellent teacher, mentor and leader, and one of the truly great influences on the development and history of Wagner College. It has been my good fortune to work alongside him.
 
"He is a Wagner treasure and he will continue as Athletics Director to leave his indelible mark of character and commitment on this special place," Guarasci continued. "I look forward to many years of his fine leadership in athletics and on all aspects of our campus community."
 
In 1987, Hameline led the Seahawks to the NCAA Division III National Championship, capping the magical season with a 19-3 win over heavily-favored Dayton in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. Facing one of the toughest schedules in the nation that year, Hameline's Seahawks rolled to a 13-1 record, winning more games than any college football team in America.
                                                   
Wagner College elevated its football program to the FCS (then 1-AA) level in 1996, where the Seahawks have been a consistently competitive team in the ever-improving Northeast Conference (NEC). The highlight of Wagner's FCS tenure came in 2012 when Hameline, who has coached more than 100 All-Americans and nearly 100 All-NEC players, led the Seahawks to their first-ever NEC Football Championship with a thrilling 23-17 come-from-behind victory over Duquesne on November 17, 2012.
 
The 2012 Seahawks then went on to post several other noteworthy firsts as Wagner became the first NEC team to ever win a Division I FCS Playoff game, defeating Patriot League Champion Colgate, 31-20. The following week, the Seahawks took a third quarter lead at No. 4 Eastern Washington before falling, 29-19.
 
"To be the head coach here at Wagner for almost 35 years, it's been an outstanding experience. It truly has been an honor to have coached so many outstanding student-athletes and to have worked with so many excellent coaches," said Hameline. "I've had great support from our president and our board of trustees through the years, have worked with tremendous administrators here on staff, and look forward to continuing to lead the Seahawk athletic department."
 
With a 9-4 record, which featured an 0-3 start, followed by a nine-game winning streak, Wagner also became the first NEC team to ever finish in the top 25 of both major FCS polls. Hameline was named National Coach of the Year by both the College Sports Journal and the College Sporting News, having already been named NEC Coach of the Year.
 
Hameline also saw his first former player crack the NFL ranks when Julian Stanford made the 2012 Jacksonville Jaguars' 53-man roster, becoming the first Seahawk in the NFL since Wagner Hall of Famer Rich Kotite suited up for the New York Giants in 1972. Currently a member of the Detroit Lions, Stanford is one of three former Seahawks currently playing in a major professional football league, along with C.O. Prime of the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Dominique Williams, a member of the NFL's Minnesota Viking practice squad.
 
Prior to the momentous 2012 season, Hameline's overall coaching ledger included five ECAC Titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances, highlighted by the 1987 NCAA Division III National Championship. The team earned the school's second Lambert Trophy, symbolic of football superiority in the East among Division III schools, and ECAC Team of the Year recognition. Following the season, in addition to Sports Illustrated writing a feature story, a host of national and regional organizations recognized Hameline, highlighted by him being named the Chevrolet National Coach of the Year. In 1990, just three years after winning the school's only National Championship, Hameline became the winningest coach in school history.
 
Shortly after receiving his twin 2012 National Coach of the Year honors, Hameline was inducted into the New Jersey Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame, having already been enshrined in the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, the same year he was the recipient of the Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award by the All-American Foundation.
 
In April of 2012, Hameline, who has enjoyed a long and proud association with metropolitan area basketball and the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), was the recipient of the 2012 Distinguished Service Award from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA).
 
For more than two decades, he was one of five metro area athletic directors, along with his peers at NYU, Fordham, Manhattan and St. John's, who helped comprise the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA). Along with NIT Executive Director Jack Powers, Hameline helped select teams for both preseason and postseason NIT's, while directing other functions such as the NIT All-Star Summer Tour.
 
An outstanding defensive back at Brockport State, Hameline received his Bachelor of Science degree in physical education in 1975, and went on to earn his Master's Degree in education from the University of Albany in 1977. He resides in Colts Neck, NJ, with his wife, Debi, and they are the proud parents of daughters Kristen and Kelly.