Chadron State College Men's Football

2025 - Head Football Coach Jay Long enters his 14th season leading Chadron State's football program back to prominence. The CSC alum is responsible for steadying the program with a focus on tradition, culture, and community, in the midst of Chadron State football's greatest adversity. Now with the foundation laid, Long and the Eagles look to build on the success of the past while ushering in a new era of program history. From its inception, Long was one of the college's foremost leaders in the rebirth of Elliott Field at Don Beebe Stadium, as a part of the CSC Sports Complex project. It was the first comprehensive renovation of the stadium since it was built in 1929. The newly renovated facility opened just in time for the start of the fall 2018 football season. During Long's coaching tenure the Chadron State program has seen 10 All-America selections, 13 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, numerous All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and All-Region awards, one Harlon Hill Trophy Finalist, and the first NFL draft pick that CSC has produced since 1989. Thanks in part to Coach Long, CSC has produced at least one All-RMAC First Team selection each season since the college joined the league as a full member in 1992. The Eagles are the only RMAC program to do so. Long's teams have been nationally relevant, even playing competitively against several NCAA Division I FCS opponents. In 2013 his squad received an invitation to play under the lights at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. In 2022 the Eagles were featured on ESPN+ as they took on FCS Utah Tech. Another hallmark of his tenure is the offensive line play. With Long mentoring the men in the trenches, his teams have finished in the top three in the RMAC each season since 2013 for fewest sacks allowed, leading the league three times. They have led the conference in rushing offense twice. Under coach Long, CSC has 19 All-RMAC offensive linemen including 12 First Teamers, and in 2013, the Cleveland Browns selected offensive guard Garrett Gilkey with their seventh pick in the NFL draft. Among the other highlights of the Coach Long era: CSC had the No. 1 third-down conversion percentage in the nation in 2013, along with the league's best rushing offense and fewest sacks allowed The team led the conference for the second consecutive season in sacks allowed and third-down conversions in 2014, had the best net kickoff average, and was second in scoring average The 2015 team again led the league in kickoff coverage and had the second best pass defense. The Eagles were the top passing defense in the RMAC, allowing only 179.5 yards per game through the air in 2016 In 2017 the team led the RMAC in kickoff return average, net punting, opponent fourth-down percentage, and were second in sacks produced and red zone defense The Eagles offense in 2018 gained the fourth-most yards per game in program history, and its average yards per rushing attempt was seventh-best all-time. In 2019 the Eagles boasted the No. 2 offense in the RMAC and the 21st total offense in NCAA Division II  CSC was one of only 10 NCAA Division II programs nationwide to take the field in the fall of 2020 Long is the 25th head football coach at CSC and the third who also played for the Eagles. Orin Weymouth and Ruffus Trapp also played and coached for Chadron State; however, a former football player hasn’t coached for the school since 1937. Long spent three seasons as the head coach at Black Hills State in Spearfish, S.D., where he guided the Yellow Jackets through the transition from the NAIA to the NCAA with a 15-15 record before coming to Chadron State in 2012. His overall career record, including his time at BHSU, is 54-43. Due to sanctions imposed on Chadron State College by the NCAA, for infractions not linked to his tenure, the NCAA does not recognize nine of his wins from 2012. Prior to being the head coach at Black Hills State, he was an assistant coach at the school from 2003-09. During that time, he served as the offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, recruiting coordinator and the strength and conditioning coach. The Yellow Jackets won two conference titles and appeared in the NAIA playoffs two times while Long coached the offensive line. Long, who graduated from Chadron State College in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in science, was a two-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference selection at center and also earned Farm Team All-American honors. He also wrestled at heavyweight and qualified for the national tournament for the Eagles. Long and his wife, Kresi, have three children, Carson, Kaelee and Alivia.

Allison Wood (formerly Curtis) was hired as an assistant athletic director for sports medicine in November 2023. In her role, she oversees all health care for Chadron State Athletics and Eagle student-athletes and is a member of the department's administrative team.  Wood serves as the head athletic trainer for several Chadron State sports, including Eagle football, and coordinates medical services between Monument Health (CSC's official health care provider) and Chadron Hospital for student-athletes. She also coordinates with insurance providers, creates beginning-of-year student-athlete education curriculum, and ensures that CSC's treatment and injury management plans are NCAA compliant. Wood has been at Chadron State since 2021 in a variety of capacities. She worked for CSC as an athletic trainer while employed by Monument Health from 2021-2023, serving football, men's basketball and softball. Wood also served as a graduate assistant athletic trainer at CSC during the 2020-2021 academic year, where she worked with the Eagles' women's basketball program. Prior to CSC, Wood worked at Greeley West High School in Greeley, Colorado as an athletic trainer from 2018-2020.  She earned her bachelor's in athletic training from the University of Northern Colorado in 2018 and her master's in organizational management from Chadron State in 2022. Wood is a member of the National Athletic Training Association and the American College of Sports Medicine.  Wood and her husband, Jameson, were married in 2025.   

Deunte Moody joined the Chadron State football staff as a coaching assistant ahead of the 2025 season, working with the program's defensive backs.  Moody is beginning his coaching career at Chadron State after a five-year playing career at RMAC rival Black Hills State University, where he appeared in 40 games at cornerback for the Yellow Jackets and was a three-year starter. In his career, Moody racked up 75 tackles, including 48 solo stops, and 25 pass breakups. Moody had 13 PBUs in 2022, which was tied for the RMAC lead that season.  Moody graduated with a media degree from BHSU in 2024. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Moody attended Robinson High School, where he won an Arkansas 4A state championship as a senior in 2019.

Moore joined the Chadron State football staff as a coaching assistant ahead of the 2026 season. Moore will primarily work with the offensive line and also assist in recruiting efforts.  A native of Kearney, Nebraska, Moore played for Concordia University (Neb.) from 2021-25. He appeared in all 30 possible games across his last three seasons in the program and started all 10 games during his final season. During Moore's redshirt junior season in 2024, the Bulldog offense averaged 38.5 points and 469.7 yards per game, both school records. Concordia achieved a No. 17 national ranking in NAIA in both the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Moore graduated from Concordia with a bachelor's degree in education in 2025.

My name is Nick Gossage and I am from Colorado Springs Colorado. I went to Fort Hays State University on a football scholarship where I played Offensive line from 2018 to 2021. I moved back to Colorado Springs and began coaching the Offensive Line at Liberty High School. I then moved to Chadron Nebraska where I just finished coaching my first season at Chadron State. 

2024 - Chadron State College named former Eagles wide receiver and CSC All-Century team member Micah Smith to the football coaching staff as the offensive coordinator on January 30, 2020.   Since hanging up his cleats at Chadron State in 2007, Smith has strung together 12 consecutive years of coaching at NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA, Nebraska State College System, and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference institutions. In addition, he had one year as offensive coordinator to Eagles’ great signal-caller Jonn McLain, who played his senior year at Chadron High for Smith, before joining the Eagles in 2009. Under Smith in 2021, the Eagles were third in the RMAC for both passing yards per game and passing efficiency, totaling 2,618 yards through the air and 23 touchdowns, compared to only 10 interceptions. Three offensive players were named to the All-RMAC teams following the season. Two more earned all-conference honors in 2022. In his first season running the CSC offensive attack, the Eagles recorded more yards per game than all but one of the NCAA Division II teams playing football in the fall of 2020.   Smith last coached at NAIA Mayville State University in fall of 2019. As the MSU offensive coordinator, Smith tutored the North Star Athletic Association's leader for total offense per game. He also increased the team's scoring output by nearly 25 percent in his only season there.   Smith received the title of interim head coach at Mayville for several weeks, after the departure of the head coach, who was former CSC defensive coordinator Jeff Larson.   Prior to Mayville, Smith spent five seasons at Division I FCS Eastern Illinois University, first as tight ends coach but later as co-special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach. The Panthers were 24-16 in the Ohio Valley Conference during those years, earning an FCS playoff berth in 2015. In addition, Smith contributed to the nation’s ninth-best passing attack as wide receivers coach in 2018, and mentored four all-conference and one All-America selection during that term.   Stints as position coach at Division III Wabash College and CSC’s conference rival Fort Lewis preceded the Eastern Illinois job. At FLC, Smith coached one season under coaching legend John L. Smith.   Smith’s first college coaching job was at Wayne State College in Nebraska. There, as a graduate assistant with wide receivers responsibilities, he oversaw the rise to All-America status of both Frederick Bruno and former CSC offensive coordinator Logan Masters, in 2009.    Smith is the youngest of three children of longtime CSC head football coach Brad Smith, a CSC Hall of Famer, Class of 2010, and the winningest coach in Chadron State history. Brad was named to the RMAC All-Centennial Team as head coach in 2009, the RMAC Hall of Fame in 2011, and the Nebraska Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2020.   Micah Smith received his master's degree from Wayne State and his bachelor's from Chadron State, where he earned a place as the punt returner on the school's All-Century team, helping the Eagles to two conference titles and two playoff berths.  He and his wife, Jadrianne have two daughters and a son, Joslyn, Rowyn and Zaylyn.

2024 - Former Chadron State College safety and graduate coaching assistant Clint Sasse joined the CSC coaching staff as a full-time assistant coach for the CSC football team in April 2019, and was elevated to defensive coordinator following the 2020 season. In his first full season as coordinator, Sasse led a defensive unit which yielded only 22 points per game and held opponents to less than 150 yards rushing and under 200 passing, on average. The defense also allowed one of the lowest third-down conversion rates in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Senior cornerback Bobby Peele earned All-RMAC First Team honors under his watch in 2021. In 2022, four defensive players - Tayven Bray, Hunter O'Connor, Brendan Brehmer and Peele - received all-conference recognitiion. O'Connor was also an All-Region and All-America selection. Under Sasse's coaching, O'Connor broke the RMAC single-game tackle-for-loss record with nine and the CSC single-season sack record with 16 sacks on the season.  As linebackers coach, Sasse helped Jeremiah Makahununiu, Noah Kerchal, and Travis Wilson all to rank among the top 10 players in the RMAC for tackles per game, with five teams participating. He also coached linebacker Tyler Lewis to All-RMAC Second Team honors in 2019, and Wilson led the conference in total tackles. Sasse came to Chadron State following a brief stint at Montana Tech, where he was hired early in 2019 as a full-time defensive line coach and assistant special teams coordinator. Prior to Tech, Sasse was head football coach for two seasons at Lee Williams High in Kingman, Arizona, where he was head coach for two years and defensive coordinator for one.  Sasse was the coaching assistant responsible for defensive backs at Chadron State while obtaining his graduate degree in 2014 and 2015. Under his watch cornerback Jordan Jones led the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in pass breakups as a sophomore in 2014, sophomore safety Ryan Wood made All-RMAC First Team, senior cornerback Lane Haller made Second Team, and junior safety Cole Montgomery garnered honorable mention. In 2015 Montgomery and Wood received honorable mention. As a safety for the Eagles from 2009 to 2013, Sasse accumulated 119 total tackles and five tackles-for-loss for 16 yards, adding two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. He played in 37 games, starting 16, as CSC compiled a 31-14 record and made the 2012 NCAA Division II Playoffs. Sasse is a native of Martin, South Dakota, and is married to another prominent CSC athletics figure, the former Kelsy Wood. A native of Hemingford, Wood was a two-time All-American in the heptathlon and 4x400 relays for CSC track and field in 2016. The couple has one son, Kal.

Wilson returns to the Eagles coaching staff as a full-time coach working with the Quarterbacks after stops at the Division 2, NAIA, and FCS levels. Previously Wilson was on the defensive side of the ball working as a defensive analyst at Montana State University. With the Bobcats he worked wit the safeties/nickels and helped the bobcat defense to the second round of the FCS playoffs.   Prior to Montana State Wilson took his first full time position as Special Teams Coordinator and Wide Receiver coach at Louisiana Christian University. While he was there LCU had their 2nd best season in program history. He also led a special teams's unit that had 7 blocked kicks, 3 special teams' touchdowns and was ranked in the top 10 of NAIA in kickoff return and punt return average. As well as blocked kicks, touchdowns and net punt average. He also helped receiver Micah Dunn become 3rd all-time leader in receptions and 5th in total yards. In 2021 Wilson was a coaching assistant at Chadron State College working with the Tight Ends. There he helped lead Chadron State to a 6-5 record and mentored Peter Krohn who has become an All-Conference football player and a top weapon for the Eagles.  Wilson started his coaching career in 2019 at Montana State University - Northern where he coached the Running Backs and Tight Ends. He spent 2 years there helping the Lights improve in both the run and pass game and helped them through the COVID season where they had one of their best offensive outings as a team.  He started his playing career at quarterback at College of Sequoias Junior College and later transferred to Montana State University-Northern, where he was the starting quarterback in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Wilson totaled over 8,000 yards passing and 1,00 rushing and had a total of 68 touchdowns in his collegiate career earning Offensive Player of the year in both his junior and senior years.  Wilson graduated from MSU-Northern in 2019 with a bachelor's in health promotion and has a master's degree in organizational leadership/sport management.  From Fresno California, Wilson now lives in Chadron with his Fiancé Becky Brown.