Greg Debeljak is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Case Western Reserve University, a position he has held since 2004. Debeljak and his

Spartans Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...

compete at the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...

level as a member of the

Presidents' Athletic Conference The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Of its 11 current member schools, all private, liberal arts institutions of higher learning, nine are located in Western Pennsylvania. T ...

and

University Athletic Association The University Athletic Association (UAA) is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are highly selective universities located in Georgia, Illinois, M ...

Playing career

Debeljak graduated from Mentor High School and earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from

John Carroll University John Carroll University is a private Jesuit university in University Heights, Ohio. It is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts institution accompanied by the John M. and Mary Jo Boler College of Business. John Carroll has an enrollment of 3 ...

in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a two-sport athlete in college, competing on both the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and football teams. Debeljak played multiple positions for the Blue Streaks including defensive back, wide receiver and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He earned all-conference honors as a defensive back. As a basketball player, Debeljak helped his team claim two

titles. He also set the school record for most assists in a single game with 13.

Assistant football coach

Debeljak spent two seasons as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...

for the Blue Streaks following his graduation in 1988. He then spent eight years as a quarterbacks and wide receivers coach before becoming the team's offensive coordinator in 1998. Most notably, he recruited

Josh McDaniels Joshua Thomas McDaniels (born April 22, 1976) is an American football head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career in 2001 with the New England Patriots, where he served as the offensive coo ...

. After 12 seasons as an assistant for John Carroll, Debeljak was hired as an offensive coordinator by the neighboring Case Western Reserve University in 2001. With Debeljak as offensive coordinator, the

Case Western Reserve Spartans The Case Western Reserve Spartans are the varsity intercollegiate athletic teams of Case Western Reserve University, located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Case Western Reserve University competes at the NCAA Division III level. The Spartan ...

saw their first "back-to-back-to-back" .500 seasons since 1986. The Spartans saw success in the national ratings as well finishing in the top tree for both total offense and passing offense in 2002. In February 2004, head coach Joe Perella resigned after three seasons with the program. The university subsequently selected Debeljak as the new head coach of Case Western football.

Head football coach

Debeljak was named head football coach at Case Western Reserve on March 24, 2004 after serving the previous three seasons as offensive coordinator for the program. Debeljak had a rough start in his early years at Case Western but found significant success in the seasons following 2006.

2004

In his first year as head coach, Debeljak led the Spartans to a 5–5 overall record and 2–1 mark in

(UAA) play. The Spartans played their home games at Brush High School's Korb Field in nearby

Lyndhurst, Ohio Lyndhurst is a small city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and an eastern suburb of Cleveland. The population was 14,050 at the 2020 census. A small part of Lyndhurst was originally part of Mayfield Township. History The land currently c ...

while the DiSanto Field was under construction, which would be completed for the 2005 season.

2007

After a disappointing season the previous year, Debeljak and his team found success in 2007. The Spartans went undefeated in conference play and 11–1 overall with an appearance in the second Round of the

playoffs. The 2007 Case Western season ended with a 38–23 loss to the Wabash Little Giants. Debeljak was selected as one of five finalists for the NCAA Division III

Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award was an annual college football award given to the a head coach from each NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics amon ...

in 2007.

2008

The Spartans carried their success into the 2008 campaign with an undefeated regular season and a second consecutive UAA Title. Debeljak's achievements earned him the "Lee Tressel Ohio College Coach of the Year Award" in 2008. He was again a finalist for the NCAA Division III Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award.

2009

The 2009 Case Western team saw continued success with another undefeated regular season and their third straight conference championship. The Spartants repeated their record of 10–1 from the previous season and lost in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Case Western Reserve ended their regular season with a seventh-place ranking in the final

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

(AFCA) regular season poll—their highest regular season finish under Debeljak. Debeljak was again selected as one of five finalists for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award.

2010

On October 30 of 2010, the Case Western Spartans lost to the

Chicago Maroons The Chicago Maroons are the intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Chicago. They are named after the color maroon. Team colors are maroon and gray, and the Phoenix is their mascot. They now compete in the NCAA Division III, mostly as ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

's Stagg Field. This loss ended the Spartans' 38 game regular season winning streak going back to the final game of the 2006 campaign. The 2010 season ended on November 11 with a fourth straight win over rival

Carnegie Mellon Carnegie may refer to: People *Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name *Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie * Carnegie Building (Troy, New York), on the campus of Rensselaer Polyte ...

2011

The 2011 Case Western team ended with another win over Carnegie Mellon and a 9–1 overall record. The Spartans went undefeated in conference play and claimed their fourth UAA title in five years. On December 13, 2011, after 27 years with the

, the Case Western Reserve Spartans announced they would join the

(PAC) prior to the start of the 2014 season. Case Western Reserve was a founding member of the PAC in 1955 but left for the

North Coast Athletic Conference The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference composed of colleges located in Ohio and Indiana. When founded in 1984, the league was a pioneer in gender equality, offering competition in a then-unprecede ...

in 1984. They joined the UAA two years later. Rival Carnegie Mellon announced they would also join the PAC with the Spartans.

2014

The Spartans went 3–7 overall with a last place finish in their inaugural season as a member of the PAC.

2015

In 2015, the Spartans improved upon their previous season by going 7–3 overall with a third-place finish in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. This was Debeljak's tenth top-three conference finish in his 12 seasons as a head coach.

2016

The Spartans finished 9–1 finishing 2nd in the PAC and sharing the UAA champion title at 2–1.

2017

The Spartans finished the regular season an undefeated 10–0, sharing the PAC conference title with 10–0 Washington & Jefferson. In its final season of play, the Spartans also won the UAA title at 2–0. Coach Debeljak recorded his 100th career win against

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

during the ninth game of the season on November 4, 2017. In the first round of the

playoffs, Debeljak's Spartans shut out the

Illinois Wesleyan Titans Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...

28–0 in a game that saw heavy snow. In the second round, the Spartans were soundly defeated by the Mount Union Purple Raiders 45–16.

2018

The Spartans ended the year 8–2 finishing 2nd in the PAC and 2nd in the UAA.

2019

Head coaching record

References

External links

Case Western profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Debeljak, Greg 1965 births Living people American football defensive backs John Carroll Blue Streaks football coaches John Carroll Blue Streaks football players Case Western Spartans football coaches Sportspeople from Cleveland People from Mentor, Ohio Coaches of American football from Ohio Players of American football from Cleveland