The New Haven Chargers will keep head coach Mark Powell permanently, according to Pete Thamel. Powell will have his interim designation dropped and he will sign a three-year deal that will last through the 2028 season.
Powell has navigated New Haven through its first FCS season. The Chargers announced the move from NCAA Division II to the FCS in early May, followed by the departure of former head coach Chris Pincince a week later. Pincince had been the head coach at New Haven since 2014, amassing a 76-34 overall record. New Haven had the awkward task of finding enough opponents to fill out as much of its schedule as possible, as the team wasn’t playing a full NEC schedule in its first year.
The Chargers sit at 4-5 overall heading into the season-finale on November 8 against Merrimack. New Haven opened with back-to-back road losses against Marist (31-14) and Mercyhurst (48-14) before winning its first game as an FCS program at Albany (24-17) in week three.
Three of the next four games came against D-II opposition, resulting in victories in those matchups. New Haven defeated Saginaw Valley State (35-28), Pace (28-14), and Western Connecticut State (69-0). The lone non-DII matchup was a 44-18 loss at Duquesne, but the Chargers sat at 4-3 overall heading into their final three games. New Haven lost 38-16 against Long Island, but played Sacred Heart tough in the 35-20 loss on November 1.
Powell was the defensive coordinator at Darien High School in Darien, Connecticut, for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He has previous experience in the FCS with Fordham as the Defensive Coordinator in 2022, Austin Peay as the DC from 2019 through 2021, Villanova as a defensive assistant in 2015 and 2016, and Yale as a defensive assistant in 2014. He’s the grandson of former Yale head coach Carm Cozza, who spent 32 years in charge of the Bulldogs, finishing with a 179-119-5 overall record and 10 Ivy League Championships. Cozza was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
New Haven is expected to play a full NEC schedule next season, as the FCS moves permanently to a maximum of 12 regular season games. New Haven is currently slated to play at South Dakota State (MVFC) on September 5 and will welcome Brown (Ivy League) on September 19 in the 2026 season, per FBSchedules.
Photo Credit to the University of New Haven Athletics
