Four have been deemed a match with one going through the process and eventually saving the life of another individual. Zwaan and West Chester University have been involved from the very beginning (approximately 14 years), and have had numerous students and athletes donate their marrow through the program. Zwaan helps run the initiative to collect names for the registry and get on the donor list. Zwaan teamed up with former Villanova football head coach, Andy Talley, and his "Be The Match" bone marrow program – a tradition that continues despite Talley's retirement from coaching. It has grown into an outstanding tradition at WCU spring games. Then, he has a couple of autistic children run for a touchdown at halftime with the football team cheering them on. He collaborated with the Autism Program at WCU to have an autistic student sing the national anthem. Four years ago, Zwaan started doing an "Autism Run for a Touchdown" at West Chester's annual spring football game. Initially, it started with the Philadelphia Autism Walk for six years, which raised money and awareness about autism. West Chester's football team, and Coach Zwaan, have been very involved with the Autism Awareness Program locally. His family has also established a fund to help those students throughout the year. 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. It started with 12 students the first year (2017) and has now grown to over 50 students this past Christmas. Zwaan, Division II's winningest active head coach with over 200 career wins to his credit, is the first representative from West Chester University to be nominated for the Good Works Team since All-America offensive lineman Doug Gilbert in July 2016.įor the past six years, Zwaan and his family have run a Christmas holiday program to help WCU's homeless students. Throughout his 25-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 over his two-and-a-half decades in the coaching profession. They look for exceptional leadership on and off the football field. A grand total of 136 football players across all divisions of college football have been nominated for that 22-member squad. The final 22-member team and honorary coach are selected by a voting panel of former Allstate AFCA Good Works Team members, current and former head coaches and journalists. Zwaan is one of 20 head coaches at all levels of the NCAA to be nominated. – Veteran football head coach and mentor for West Chester University's gridiron gang, Bill Zwaan Sr., has been nominated as the honorary coach of the 2023 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team it was announced by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Tuesday morning.
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