Trenton State College '75
Eric Hamilton is now in his 33rd season as the head coach for The College of New Jersey Lions as the 2009 season opens. The coach of eight New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) championship teams, Hamilton is in his fourth decade in the league, making him the senior member of the NJAC.
After 84 seasons of varsity intercollegiate football, the Lions own a record of 334-318-33 under the direction of nine different coaches. Hamilton owns a career record of 192-124-6 (.605 win percentage). He opens the 2009 season ranked among the active leaders in Division III coaches in terms of career victories.
He has now guided the Lions to seven postseason appearances in both the ECAC and the NCAA Division III Tournament. TCNJ has earned NCAA tournament appearances in 1990, 1996, 1997, and 2007, while garnering ECAC tournament bids in 1995 and 2003. In 2007, the Lions earned the NJAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA’s and advanced to the second round of the championships after sharing the conference’s championship crown. Hamilton continues to turn out quality teams and is a frequent participant at both athletic and educational clinics geared toward young student-athletes.
In 1977, then Trenton State College made perhaps its most daring coaching assignment ever in the selection of 23-year old Hamilton, who had starred for the Lions between 1971-74. At the time, he was the youngest collegiate head coach in the country.
Nine seasons later on November 16, 1985, that selection gained further credence in TSC's 28-0 victory over Ramapo College at Lions' Stadium. The win, Hamilton's 56th, made him The College's winningest gridiron coach, moving him ahead of Bob Salois, his former coach. Hamilton enters the 2008 season with an overall win-loss-tie record of 188-118-6.
Not only has Hamilton established stability in a program that had gone through five head coaches in five years from 1972-1976, but he has also established a winning tradition. From 1978 through 1983, Trenton State enjoyed six consecutive winning seasons, the longest success streak of its kind in the 87 years that the intercollegiate program has been alive. In the highly-competitive NJAC, Hamilton's teams have put together a 118-60-4 record, highlighted by league championships in 1980 (the first in TSC history), 1983 (shared with Montclair State and Glassboro State), 1988, 1990, 1994 (shared with Kean), 1996, 1998, and 2007 (shared with SUNY Cortland which TCNJ defeated 30-0).
After 32 seasons, his career winning percentage is .605, the highest of any TCNJ coach with more than five years of duty. His accomplishments have not gone unnoticed, as he has twice been selected Coach of the Year by the New Jersey College Football Writers Association (1980 and 1981) and as NJAC Coach of the Year by the conference coaches in 1983, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2007. He was also cited by D3football.com as the East Region Coach of the Year as well after guiding the Lions to the NCAA’s in 2007.
To date, Hamilton has produced 21 All-American performers (three Kodak/AFCA All-American, nine Associated Press All-Americans, one AFCA, eight Football Gazette, and one D3football.com), 68 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) All-Star selections, and 137 All-NJAC first team performers and three CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.
Active in the local community, Hamilton was honored in 1986 by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. The 1975 TSC graduate was cited as the organization's 1986 recipient of its Contribution to Amateur Football Award. Specifically, the Bordentown, NJ native was honored for his efforts in organizing and promoting the Mercer County area's 12th man Touchdown Club, which honors outstanding high school athletes each week during the regular season. Named the President of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1995, Hamilton also serves as the chair of the NJAC Football Coaches Committee and will represent the NJAC on the Division III Football Council. In 1995, Hamilton was inducted into TCNJ’s Alumni-Athletic Hall of Fame for his accomplishments as an All-American center with the Lion football team.
In December of 2002, Hamilton was named the recipient of the National Football Foundations Chapter Leadership Award for the Eastern Region and was recognized by the organization for his contributions to the sport. He has devotedly served the game of football in the Delaware Valley and in particular for almost three decades. He has served as president of the highly successful Delaware Valley Chapter since 1995. In the 45-year history of the chapter, they have awarded over a quarter of a million dollars in scholarships to local scholar-athletes and continue to operate as one of the most productive chapters in the country. The $45,000 awarded annually is the most by any NFF&CHF chapter in the country.
Headed by Hamilton and a strong board of directors, The Delaware Valley Chapter also sponsors the Sunshine Football Classic game every July in Lions’ Stadium, which helps grant the dreams and wishes of terminally ill, chronically ill, and handicapped children whose parents are under financial strain due to the child’s illness.
Also a 1974-75 National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete, Hamilton is a 1971 graduate of Bordentown Regional High School, where he earned all-area and all-league honors as an offensive center, in addition to participating in track and field. While at TSC, Hamilton earned all-conference awards three times and All-ECAC citations as a junior and senior. As team captain in 1974, he capped his playing career with an All-America berth on the Kodak, Associated Press, United Press International teams. In 1975, Hamilton graduated from TSC with a bachelor of science degree in industrial arts. The following fall, he joined coach Carmen Piccone's Lion football staff as a graduate assistant. He served in this capacity during the 1975 and 1976 seasons before moving up to interim head coach in January, 1977.
Hamilton, who has earned a master of education degree (M.Ed.) in student personnel services, is also assistant director for athletic development and alumni relations. Hamilton is a member of the American Football Coaches Association, as well as the New Jersey Football Coaches Association. In the spring of 2004, he completed his second consecutive three-year term on the Hamilton Township, (NJ) School District Board of Education chairing the facility/technology committee. In the spring of 2006, he returned for a third three-year term on the Board of Education and is serving as the President for the second year. In the spring of 2004, Hamilton was selected to serve a four-year term on the important NCAA football rules committee.
In 2007, he was named to the NCAA’s Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. The mission of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CSMAS) is to provide expertise and leadership to the Association in order to promote a healthy and safe environment for student-athletes through research, education, collaboration and policy development. This committee is charged with hearing drug-test appeals. The Sports Sciences Safety Subcommittee provides guidance on sports specific health and safety research and policy issues. This subcommittee also edits the NCAA Sports Medicine Handbook. Hamilton was a member of the Division III Football Rules Committee with his term ending in September of 2008.
He and his wife Kathleen have five children, sons Matthew, age 30, Jeffrey, age 28, daughter Kaitlin, age 24, and sons Ryan, age 19, and Colin, who is 17.
