Acosta Settling In As New Widener Head Football Coach
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Bobby Acosta is the new head football coach at Division III Widener University.
He takes over for Isaac Collins, who left after three seasons to take over the program at Division II Seton Hill. Collins led the Pride to a 11-1 record in 2012 and a berth in the national quarterfinals.
Acosta spent the last five seasons at Division III The College of New Jersey, serving as offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and tight ends coach. Prior to that, his resume features a stint as an assistant at the University of Delaware and time as head coach at two different New Jersey high schools. He also has tasted the NFL coaching experience.
"Based on my experience as an assistant coach and a high school head football coach, my experience at the NFL level, I thought it was the opportunity to really find a job that I could be successful in," Acosta tells KYW Newsradio. "I think Widener University offers many different things that allows our kids to be successful. There's a rich tradition for the football program, the values of the school allows the kids to grow, as a student athlete."
TCNJ averaged almost 26 points and more than 400 yards a game on offense last season. Acosta breaks down his philosophy on offense.
"The first thing we try to tell our guys is that we play basketball on grass," Acosta says. "It's like transition football we call it. We're looking for big play opportunities. We average about 95 plays a game. And with the skill athletes we have at Widener University, I pretty much told (wide receiver) Anthony Davis (64 catches, 16 touchdowns in 2012) that if you want to touch the ball about four times a series, this is the offense that you want to play in."
Acosta's actually spent a lot of his coaching career coaching defense and he says his unit at Widener will attack.
"We're going to be great tacklers, we're going to take the ball away and score," Acosta says. "We're going to be very aggressive."
Widener opens the 2013 season on September 7th with a tough game on the road against perennial national power Wesley.
Listen to Matt Leon's interview with Bobby Acosta:
Bobby Acosta Interview
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
