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Football

Bill O'Boyle - Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator

2011-Bill O’Boyle has made the most of his opportunity as the Eagles’ head coach since taking over the position seven years ago.
In his six seasons guiding the program, O’Boyle has led the Eagles to national prominence. His teams posted three-straight undefeated regular seasons and won three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships from 2006-2008. During that stretch the Eagles won a record 28 consecutive RMAC games. The Eagles also advanced into the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Quarterfinals in 2006 and 2007 and the second round in 2008.
Through six seasons, O’Boyle is already the school’s second-winningest football coach with a record of 54-17 and a winning percentage of 76.1. His winning percentage is the third highest mark for active coaches in Division II entering the 2011 season.
O’Boyle, who stresses the importance of playing well at home, has an impressive record at Elliott Field. In six years, the Eagles are 29-6. One of those losses occurred in the playoffs.
On the road, O’Boyle has led CSC to a 25-11 record.
Combined with his time as an assistant coach, O’Boyle has been on the CSC sideline for 151 victories, over 30 percent of the school’s all-time win total.
O’Boyle, who credits his coaching staff for the majority of CSC’s success, received a huge honor in late 2007 when he was named the Liberty Mutual Division II Coach of the Year. He was chosen from a field of over 150 coaches and was featured in a special that aired on ABC. With the award, O’Boyle received a $50,000 cash award to support civic and charitable activities, as well as a $20,000 scholarship donation to the school’s alumni association. O’Boyle said he donated a large portion of the $50,000 to Friends of Pets, a regional organization that finds homes for rescued dogs, as well as placing unwanted pets.
O’Boyle was also one of five finalists for the award in 2008.
In addition to the Liberty Mutual award, O’Boyle has been named the RMAC Coach of the Year three times and the American Football Coaches Association Region 5 Coach of the Year two times. He was also named the Sportexe Division II Coach of the Year and Football Gazette National Coach of the Year in 2006. In 2006, O’Boyle was also the first Chadron State coach to be named the Lincoln Journal Star College Coach of the Year.
O’Boyle was a popular choice to become the Eagles’ 24th head coach when Brad Smith announced in December 2004 that he was stepping down from the position to become the college’s full-time athletic director.
O’Boyle had paid his dues. Besides coaching the offensive line throughout his tenure at CSC, he had been the offensive coordinator.
He has long been recognized as an exceptional offensive line coach, both from a technique and a motivational standpoint. After sharing the design of the offense and the play calling with Smith a couple of years, he took over as the offensive coordinator in 1999. Under his direction, the Eagles switched from the offset I to the spread formation as their basic offense.
The offense has been successful, particularly during his time as head coach. In six seasons, the Eagles have always finshed in the top half of the conference for total offense and have averaged over 29 points every season of his tenure.    
O’Boyle, 47, is in his second tour of duty with the Eagles. He spent the final three seasons of the 1980s as the offensive line coach, first as a graduate assistant and then as an assistant coach.
In 1990, he returned to his alma mater, Western Illinois University at Macomb, to begin a four-year stint as the Leathernecks’ offensive line coach. But in January 1994, he rejoined the coaching staff at Chadron State, and assumed greater responsibilities for the offense.
A native of Des Moines, O’Boyle is a member of a “football family.” Three of his five brothers have been or are high school head football coaches and the other two have been junior high head coaches and high school assistants.
He started at offensive guard at Western Illinois late in his freshman year and as a sophomore before suffering a fractured vertebra in his neck that ended his playing career. He then was a student assistant for the Leathernecks for three years before graduating and coming to CSC to work on his master’s degree, which he earned while serving as a graduate assistant.
During the summers, “OB,” as he’s known far and wide, has worked at numerous football camps, including the four team camps hosted by Chadron State.
O’Boyle is also a highly regarded speaker at coaches conventions.
During his years at CSC, O’Boyle has helped coach 13 All-Americans, including Danny Woodhead, who has played for the New England Patriots and New York Jets
O’Boyle earned a minor in art at Western Illinois, and is an outstanding artist whose work helps make the CSC football field one of the most attractive in the country, complete with the CSC logo in the middle and the words “Chadron” and “State” in both end zones.
Bill is married to the former Susan Wickard, a native of Minatare, Neb., who played volleyball at CSC and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the college. She is a guidance counselor at the Crawford Schools. They have a daughter, Cassie.