Football | 12/15/2024 11:29:00 AM
LAS VEGAS - On December 10, 2024, former Bloomsburg football head coach Danny Hale was formally inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Coach Hale is the one of 233 coaches all-time and is the second Husky enshrined by the NFF.
"I swear, I didn't even know how many wins I had," remarked Coach Hale. "In the smaller levels, you go from one season to the next and it's on going. There is always something to take care of. You never have a chance to enjoy your previous season. You are always on to the next one."
Coach Hale had a chance to enjoy his entire career as he was honored by the NFF along side Coach Mark Dantonio and Coach Frank Solich.
Coach Hale represented NCAA DII in his induction as one of two honorees from this level. Coach and Danny Woodhead of Chadron State (NE) were the only two non-DI honorees.
"It means a lot (to represent DII). I made a career choice to stay at the division two level," said Coach Hale. "There were so many reasons involved, number one when I took the head coaching job at Bloomsburg, I had an 11 year old son that was diagnosed with cancer. So that changes perspectives there ... everyone's motivation is different. Mine was saying, hey I enjoy this level. We had a little scholarship, and you can make impact and develop student-athletes."
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Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Coach Hale was in the marine corps right out of college, which helped shape who he wanted to be as a coach.
"When I think of the marines, I think of not having the best of everything but you made due. And I think my coaching career paralleled that a little bit," remarked Coach Hale. "Wherever I went, I didn't have a fully funded (scholarship) or coaching staff, so you have to adapt and overcome. And as a marine, you have to do that as well."
Adapt and overcome, he did. Coach Hale finished his career as the all-time winningest coach at Bloomsburg with a record of 173-56-1 (.754) and a career record of 213-69-1 (.754), which includes his five seasons at West Chester. Hale led the Huskies to 11 outright or shared PSAC Eastern Division titles and eight NCAA postseason playoff berths. In his final 13 seasons (2000-2012), Bloomsburg was one of the most successful NCAA Division II programs with a combined record of 121-32 (.791). He guided the Huskies to seven ten-win seasons – Bloomsburg had only one previous ten-win season (1985; 12-1) since the program's inception in 1892.
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Hale is a member of the
Bloomsburg Athletics Hall of Fame as well following his induction in 2021. Coach Hale joins current Bloomsburg head coach
Frank Sheptock as the two inductees from the Huskies into the NFF College Football Hall of Fame. Currently, Bloomsburg is the only school in the PSAC with multiple inductees. The Huskies have two more finalists on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot as
Jahri Evans and now Franklyn Quiteh await their call for enshrinement by the NFF.
Coach Hale's full induction, including his press conference, one-on-one interview, official ring ceremony and plaque presentation can be watched
here - all videos courtesy of the National Football Foundation.
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