Mike Whalen Mike Whalen ( born November 4 , 1960 ) is an American athlete and coach . He was a collegiate wrestler and football player at Wesleyan University . He spent six years as the head football coach at Williams College , where he won four consecutive Little Three football championships . He was hired as the head football coach at Wesleyan in March 2010 . Athlete . A native of Enfield , Connecticut , Whalen attended Enrico Fermi High School . As a senior , he was the State Class " LL " Heavyweight Wrestling Champion and placed 3rd at the State Open Championships . For football Whalen was All - CCIL on both offense and defense and an All - State honorable mention . He took a postgraduate year at Loomis Chaffee , where he was the New England Prep Champion and 3rd in the National Prep Wrestling Championships while being named 1st team All - Prep and All - State in football . Whalen would go on to attend Wesleyan University in Middletown , Connecticut . He was a four - year starter as an offensive lineman for the Wesleyan Cardinals football team before receiving his degree in 1983 . He was also the captain of the wrestling team at Wesleyan , earning All - New England and All - American honors three times . He was the first New England wrestler to win four consecutive New England championships . Early coaching career . Whalen began his coaching career at Springfield College as a graduate assistant in football and wrestling . After receiving a master ' s degree from Springfield in Physical Education , Whalen was hired as an assistant football coach at the University of Pennsylvania and was on the coaching staff of the undefeated 1986 Penn team . He next worked as an assistant coach at Lafayette and Colgate University , holding the position of associate head coach at Colgate . Williams . He was an assistant football coach at Williams College from 1996 to 2003 , including three years as the team ' s offensive coordinator . While working as an assistant football coach , Whalen also served as the school ' s head wrestling coach from 1996 to 2004 . In February 2004 , he was hired as head football coach of the Williams Ephs , succeeding College Football Hall of Fame inductee , Dick Farley . Whalen served six years as Williams ' head coach ( 2004 – 2009 ) during which he compiled a record of 38 – 10 ( . 792 winning percentage ) . In 2006 , he led Williams to an undefeated , untied 8 – 0 record and the New England Small College Athletic Conference championship . He also led Williams to four consecutive Little Three championships from 2005 through 2008 . Wesleyan . While at Williams College , Whalen had an undefeated 6 – 0 record against his alma mater , Wesleyan . In March 2010 , Wesleyan hired Whalen as its head football coach and assistant athletic director . At the time , Whalen told reporters , " This would have never , ever , ever happened if I didn ' t go here . That was a big , big draw for me , to come home , to come back to Wesleyan and see if we can put this thing back on track . " In his first year at Wesleyan , Whalen finished the year 4 – 4 , losing close games to Middlebury , 24 – 21 , and Trinity , 27 – 20 , while also losing to Little Three rivals Williams and Amherst . References .