GAME DAY INFORMATION
GAME DAY PROGRAM

West Chester University football will close a very long and successful chapter in its storied history Saturday when the Golden Rams take on Clarion University in the final game of the 2023 season. For you see, it will also be the final game for Golden Rams' head coach Bill Zwaan, who announced his retirement last weekend after 21 years at the school. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. at John A. Farrell Stadium.

This will be the 26th all-time meeting between the Golden Eagles and the Golden Rams, with West Chester holding a 22-3 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to the 1960 season. The teams have met sparingly over the years, competing against one another just nine times since the start of the 2000 season.

The Golden Rams have won six straight meetings in the series with the Golden Eagles, with Clarion's last win coming on Oct. 12, 2002 at Memorial Stadium.

PUT ON SOME PURPLE AND PACK FARRELL STADIUM
After the game, we encourage everyone to stick around in the bleachers for a special recognition ceremony for Coach Zwaan. We will line the path from the field to the Michael Horrocks Statue to cheer him on as he leaves the stadium one more time and embarks on a new chapter of his life. There will also be a "pay-as-you-go" reception at Barnaby's on High Street in West Chester after the game.

FLOCK TALK
Twenty-one years, twenty seasons is a long time. It's a long time to do anything – especially coach football at the same institution. Saturday, one of the most iconic figures in coaching will put a lid on a career that has been nothing short of spectacular.

Division II's current active wins leader will go for No. 217 on Saturday against the Golden Eagles.

Over the past two decades, Zwaan has put together one of the most impressive coaching resume's in all of Division II. He is 162-76 in that span. He has won six Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division titles and in 2018 added an outright PSAC Championship crown to his list of accomplishments. Additionally, he has copped Coach of the Year plaudits five times and guided the Golden Rams to the NCAA II playoffs a school-record 10 times. He has steered the institution to the national semifinals twice. His 21 years of service to Golden Rams football is the second-longest stint as head coach in school history.

Overall, Zwaan is 216-90, including his six seasons at Division III Widener University just down the road. He still owns the highest winning percentage in school history at Widener and led that institution to the Division III national semifinals.

In the fall of 2021, Zwaan surpassed two coaching milestones for victories when he earned his 200th career win at home against Edinboro in the third game of the season and then became West Chester University's all-time winningest head coach when he topped College Football Hall of Famer, W. Glenn Killinger, with his 148th win at the school against Bloomsburg on Homecoming Weekend.

Throughout his 26-year head coaching career, Zwaan has been the catalyst for the Promise Program at West Chester University, donated his time to the Autism Awareness Programs in the Philadelphia area, helped spearhead the "Be The Match" bone marrow program headlined by former Villanova head coach Andy Talley, gotten involved with the Thanksgiving Dinner Project through the Neuman Center on WCU's campus, partnered with the Intellectually Disabled Students Internship Program supported through the Ram Initiative Program and worked with the Travis Manion Foundation Heroes Run … and that is just the tip of the iceberg for Zwaan's community engagement.

For the past six years, Zwaan and his family have run a Christmas holiday program to help WCU's homeless students. It started with 12 students the first year (2017) and has now grown to over 50 students this past Christmas. Each holiday season, the Zwaan's get the university and the local community involved and have been able to give homeless students close to $100,000 worth of gifts, gift cards and holiday dinners. His family has also established a fund to help those students throughout the year. That fund is called the Promise Program.