On a warm summer morning in New Jersey, former University of Delaware offensive lineman Joe Susan, AS '77, '82M was busy "loading the ark."

After nine years as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Princeton University, Susan had been named head coach at NCAA Division
I-AA Davidson, and it was time to round up the various pets collected by wife, Cynthia Berry Susan, CHEP '75, and children, Matt, Jessica and Julia, for the journey to their new home in North Carolina.

Davidson College announced the selection of Susan as its new head football coach--the 24th head coach in school history--in April. He replaced Tim Landis, who took the reins at St. Mary's College in California after seven seasons at Davidson, where he led the Wildcats to records of 8-2 in 1998 and 8-3 in 1999.

The affable Susan joked that he went into the interview with Davidson Director of Athletics Jim Murphy a very confident man. After all, he played on Blue Hen football teams that trounced Davidson 63-6 at home in 1976 and 41-7 at Davidson in 1977.

"I told them I was undefeated against Davidson, and undefeated at Davidson," Susan says, conceding that the use of that line was an iffy proposition, given that the 1976 game is a "day that will live in infamy" in the annals of Wildcat football.

Evidently, Murphy did not mind. "I basically spent four weeks on the phone, talking to many good candidates and references," Murphy said during a press conference to introduce his new coach. "But, when it was all said and done, Susan rose to the top. He is familiar with a strong academic environment and understands the commitment our student-athletes make to their studies and to their football."

Susan coached at Bucknell and Princeton before taking the job at Davidson, but he is very much a Blue Hen at heart. He maintains close ties with current and former Delaware players and coaches, and he credits the Blue Hen football program with helping him become a head coach.

"I was fortunate to play at Delaware," Susan says. "I had an opportunity to reach educational goals while also playing at a great level of football. I made good friends, and the friendships have lasted," Susan says, citing, among others, former Hen teammates Steve Verbit, Gregg Perry and Bob Sabol.

He also keeps in contact with UD offensive coordinator Ted Kempski and head coach Tubby Raymond.

"Whether he'll admit it or not," Susan says, "Tubby has been a role model for many people in this profession. He is an important reason why I do what I do. We had good teachers and good coaches but, more importantly, we had good people. That is something I try to carry over as a coach."

Susan came to Delaware to play football thanks to an injury and a multicultural recruiting visit. "Going into my senior year of high school in South River, N.J., I was being actively recruited by many of the bigger schools. Then, I suffered an injury early in the season."

While the injury made Susan a less attractive recruit to the major football powers, he turned the experience into a positive. "It enabled me to be exposed to schools like Delaware, the Ivy League, the military academies," he says, adding that his choice came down to Delaware or one of the Ivy schools.

That choice was cemented when former Blue Hen coach Irv Wisniewski paid a visit and spoke to Susan's grandmother in her native Russian. "When he left, she said, 'You're going to Delaware,'" Susan recalls.

Not one to disobey his elders, Susan enrolled, and never had cause to doubt the wisdom of his decision.

Susan said the Blue Hen teams of the mid-1970s were very talented and very proud. As a freshman offensive lineman, he recalls battling the late Jeff Cannon--an accomplished defensive lineman--as a member of the scout team that lined up against the varsity in what was called "Monday Night League."

"The first time I hit him, I got kind of lucky," Susan recalls. "Jeff took offense to that. The next time I went to hit him, I found out what it is like to go against a man of his abilities."

But, the teams were also very close- knit. "The offensive line group was always unique and very close," he says. "They kind of took me under their wings and showed me the ropes."

The 1974 team finished 12-2 and went to the NCAA Division II title game, falling 54-14 to Central Michigan. Susan also was a member of the 1976 team that went to the NCAA Division II playoffs, losing 28-17 to Northern Michigan in the quarterfinal round.

Upon earning his bachelor's degree, Susan was searching for direction. He enrolled in graduate school, studying physical education with an emphasis in exercise physiology, and took a position as a graduate assistant coach with the football team. He was on the staff in 1978, when Delaware again reached the Division II title game, a heartbreaking 10-9 loss to Eastern Illinois.

"While in graduate school, I came to a crossroads. I could choose a career in exercise physiology or biomechanics or go into coaching," Susan says. "I chose poverty."

But, while coaching might not be the highest paying of career choices, it offers much in the way of the human spirit. "The job I do is not a job," Susan says. "It is something that changes as the year evolves, and as the years go by.

"My ability to work with young people keeps me young. The types of kids you are interacting with are continually changing because their environments are continually changing. You have to change the way you teach to reach them. Kids can spot someone who doesn't know what they're doing a mile away. In the same way, they also can spot someone who is not sincere."

Susan says Davidson, which won a school record eight games each of the last two years, should be competitive in 2000.

"We have a chance to be a very effective team again this year. We have a corps of senior leaders, so we have a chance to be successful. The challenge is to put the right people in the right positions, to put them in positions to be successful."

The basis for his success, Susan says he believes, is having been part of the Blue Hen tradition. "I feel very fortunate to have been part of Delaware football. When you are going through something, you are worried only about the next play, the next game, the next season. But, when you step away, you realize how fortunate you were to have been a part of the program. That is a testament to the types of people who have been here."

With that, he went back to the family ark and, after making sure pets and human passengers were comfortable, set sail down I-95 to extend the Delaware tradition to Davidson.