Spring honorary coaches announced

UConn Athletic Communications – March 20, 2009 -- Honorary Coaches For UConn Blue-White Spring Football Game Announced

STORRS, Conn. (March 20, 2009) - Two former University of Connecticut head football coaches and a pair of former Husky student-athletes who played for them will serve as honorary coaches for the UConn Blue-White Spring Football Game on Saturday, April 18.

The game will be played at Rentschler Field and kickoff is slated for 12:00 p.m. with parking lots opening at 9:00 a.m. and stadium gates opening at 11:00 a.m. Both admission and parking are free.

Former UConn head coaches Walt Nadzak and Tom Jackson will each guide a side along with former players Ken Sweitzer and Rick Jackson.

The 2009 game marks the third year that former coaches and players have returned to coach in the Blue-White game. Last spring, former coaches Larry Naviaux and Bob Casciola were among the honorary coaches along with former players Ray Tellier and Brian Usher. In 2007, former Husky head coaches Rick Forzano and John Toner along with former players Gary Blackney and Rick Robustelli had the honor.

Nadzak was the head coach at UConn from 1977-82 and led the Huskies to a share of the ’82 Yankee Conference championship. He came to Connecticut after serving as the head coach and athletic director at Juniata College in Huntington, Pa., for eight years. In 1973, he led Juniata to the NCAA Division III national championship game. Following his coaching career at UConn, he served as Director of Athletics at The Citadel from 1985-2000 and now serves as a color analyst on the radio for the Bulldogs’ football games.

Jackson followed Nadzak as the head coach of the Huskies and posted a 62-57 record at the school from 1983-93. The 62 wins are the second-highest in school history as are his 119 games coached. He led UConn to Yankee Conference championships in 1983, ’86 and ’89. His UConn teams won eight games twice and seven games on two other occasions.

Jackson served as an assistant coach at UConn under Nadzak for five seasons before being named head coach. Jackson is a 1970 graduate of Penn State and was tri-captain of the 1969 Orange Bowl champion Nittany Lions. He also played in the 1967 Gator Bowl and 1968 Orange Bowl.

Sweitzer, a native of Madison, Conn., was the Yankee Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 1981 under Nadzak and earned All-Conference honors in three different positions during his Husky career – as a wide receiver in 1979, a quarterback in 1980 and ’81 and as a punter also in 1981. He remains fifth in school history in pass attempts with 692, fourth in completions with 345 and fourth in passing yardage with 4,949.

He is currently the owner of Sweitzer Insurance, LLC and a MaxGXL distributorship – both based in Madison.

Rick Jackson, a native of Fanwood, N.J., is the nephew of Tom Jackson and was a three-year letter winner for the Huskies and his uncle at wide receiver in 1989, ’91 and ’92. He made 25 receptions in his senior year of 1992 for 377 yards.