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<strong>2010</strong> Charger Football<br />
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR<br />
CRAIG BLANCHARD<br />
Many of the football teams with which Craig<br />
Blanchard has been involved during his life have<br />
been rivals of Hillsdale. He serves as the Chargers’<br />
defensive coordinator after spending four<br />
seasons as the team’s defensive backs coach. He<br />
carries the titles of assistant head coach as well<br />
as recruiting coordinator. Blanchard played<br />
his high school ball at nearby Jonesville High<br />
School, where he was named First-Team All-<br />
State in the 1976 season.<br />
From there, Blanchard went on to play at<br />
Grand Valley State University, where he starred<br />
as a tailback and defensive back. Blanchard<br />
netted First Team All-Conference honors for<br />
Grand Valley in 1980, his final two seasons with<br />
the Lakers. He also led the team in interceptions<br />
both seasons. Blanchard’s first college coaching<br />
stint at Hillsdale occurred between 1982<br />
and 1984, when he was the outside linebackers<br />
coach under Dick Lowry. In his first season, his<br />
unit set a school record for interceptions in a<br />
season with 32. Blanchard coached the defensive<br />
backs at Eastern Michigan University in the<br />
1986 season before taking a secondary position<br />
at Saginaw Valley State for six years. Blanchard<br />
earned his bachelor’s degree in 1981 from Grand<br />
Valley State.<br />
Since returning to Hillsdale, Blanchard has<br />
guided the Charger defense to some memorable<br />
games and seasons by the team and its individual<br />
players. After going 11 years without a shutout,<br />
Blanchard’s defense blanked Michigan Tech<br />
(2007) and the University of Indianapolis (2009)<br />
in two of the past three seasons.<br />
Following the 2009 season, defensive lineman<br />
Drew Berube was honored as Second-Team All-<br />
American by the American Football Coaches<br />
Association. Berube was one of several fouryear<br />
players Blanchard coached on defense in<br />
the 2009 season.<br />
He resides in Hillsdale with his wife Melanie<br />
who is a home health nurse at the Hillsdale<br />
Defensive Coordinator Craig Blanchard<br />
Community Health Center. They have four children:<br />
Lauren (26), Kathryn (25), Michael (21)<br />
and Aaron (18). Lauren is a graduate of Adrian<br />
College, while Kathy graduated from the University<br />
of Indianapolis. Both played collegiate<br />
softball. Michael is a senior on the Charger football<br />
team, and plays wide receiver.<br />
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR<br />
Nate Shreffler<br />
Nate Shreffler is the longest-tenured coach on<br />
the Charger football staff. In <strong>2010</strong>, he will enter<br />
the new role of offensive coordinator, while still<br />
retaining his previous responsibility of being the<br />
team’s offensive line coach.<br />
In February <strong>2010</strong>, Nate Shreffler, the longest-tenured coach on the<br />
Charger football staff, was named the team’s new offensive coordinator,<br />
replacing Barry Fagan. Shreffler will retain his role as the program’s<br />
offensive line coach.<br />
It’s not difficult for him to remember what it was like to be a football<br />
player - a Hillsdale College player. Shreffler played for the Chargers<br />
from 1989-1992. He was a part of the last Hillsdale team to win a league<br />
championship, and he hopes he can lead a tough and experienced group<br />
to those lofty heights each season.<br />
“I’ve always seen Hillsdale as a place I want to be, both as a player<br />
and as a coach,” Shreffler said. “I understand what the kids go through<br />
and the demands placed on them. It helps both ways that I’ve been<br />
there. A lot of them even have the faculty members I did when I was<br />
here.”<br />
Shreffler has spent time coaching the game at many levels. After<br />
receiving his degree in secondary education from Hillsdale, Shreffler<br />
coached junior high football in Glendale, Ariz. before returning to the college game.<br />
He served two years coaching the offensive line at Olivet College, and one season at the University of<br />
St. Francis in Ft.Wayne, Indiana before returning to his alma mater, where players he’s coached have enjoyed<br />
tremendous success.<br />
In 2003, Shreffler helped guide First Team All-GLIAC lineman Silas Johnson to a spot in the Cactus<br />
Bowl, an all-star game for Division II players. Shreffler also coached 2009 All-American Jared Veldheer<br />
throughout his highly decorated career. Veldheer was the second offensive ineman under Shreffler’s guidance<br />
to play in a postseason game, with his participation in the <strong>2010</strong> Texas vs. The Nation Bowl in February.<br />
His offensive line also enjoyed a banner season in 2002, when tailback Kevin Clive finished first in the<br />
country in all-purpose yards and third in the nation in rushing.<br />
Shreffler and his wife, Jill, reside in Hillsdale with their daughters Emma, Sarah and Grace.<br />
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