Lou Esposito () 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 with ...

coach and former player. He is the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

. From 2005 to 2009, Esposito was the head football coach at Saint Joseph's College in

Rensselaer, Indiana Rensselaer is a city located along the Iroquois River in Marion Township, Jasper County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,859 at the 2010 census, up from 5,294 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Jasper County. Saint ...

, where he compiled a record of 29–25. In 2016, he served as the first head coach in the history of

Davenport University Davenport University is a private university with campuses throughout Michigan and online. It was founded in 1866 by Conrad Swensburg and currently offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees; diplomas; and post-grad certification progra ...

, finishing with a record of 6–5 in his one season at the helm before accepting a position at Western Michigan.

Playing career

Esposito graduated in 1995 from

Manalapan High School Manalapan High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school located in Manalapan Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Freehold Regional High School District. The school serves students in ...

Manalapan Township, New Jersey Manalapan Township (, ) is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located within the Raritan Valley region and is a part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the t ...

, where he played football and wrestled. He played college football at the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

, where he was a four-year letterman from 1997 to 2000. Following his time at Memphis, Esposito played two seasons with the

Memphis Xplorers The Memphis Xplorers were a professional arena football team. They were a 2001 expansion member of the af2. They played their home games at DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi (a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee). The team's logo featur ...

, a professional arena football team in the

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

league. His roommate during those years was Tim Lester, who had played

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 ...

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, Michigan, Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region a ...

Coaching career

Esposito began his coaching career with the Xplorers in 2003, then left in 2004 to become defensive coordinator at Saint Joseph's College in

where Tim Lester, his arena football roommate, had just been hired as the head coach. When Lester left after one season to become quarterbacks coach at Western Michigan under new head coach

Bill Cubit William John Cubit (; born October 14, 1953) is an American football coach and former player. Cubit was the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, first on an interim basis in the 2015 season and then promoted t ...

, Esposito succeeded Lester as head coach at Saint Joseph's. Esposito coached at Saint Joseph's for five seasons, from 2005–2009. During his tenure, Saint Joseph's became a member of the

Great Lakes Football Conference The Great Lakes Football Conference (GLFC) began operations in the 2006 season, with six institutions competing. After the 2011 season the remaining institutions moved into the Great Lakes Valley Conference. A previous incarnation of the confere ...

and won the conference twice. Esposito's overall record at Saint Joseph's was 29–25. Following the conclusion of the 2009 season, Esposito resigned to become the defensive line coach at Western Michigan under Cubit (Lester had left WMU several years prior). A. J. Ricker, the offensive line coach, succeeded him at Saint Joseph's. Esposito left Western Michigan after the 2012 season, heading an hour and a half north up

U.S. Route 131 US Highway 131 (US 131) is a north–south United States Highway, of which all but 0.64 of its 269.96 miles (1.03 of 434.46 km) are within the state of Michigan. The highway starts in rural Indiana south of the state line as a sta ...

to become defensive coordinator at

Ferris State Ferris State University (FSU or Ferris) is a public university with its main campus in Big Rapids, Michigan. It was founded in 1884 and became a public institution in 1950. Ferris is the ninth-largest institutions of higher education by enroll ...

Big Rapids, Michigan Big Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,601 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Mecosta County. The city is located within Big Rapids Township, but it is politically independent. Big Rapids is home o ...

, succeeding Ryan Oshnock. He stayed at Ferris State for a single year before accepting the head coaching job at

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

, roughly halfway between Big Rapids and Kalamazoo. Esposito was Davenport's first head coach and oversaw the recruiting of its initial class, a practice season in 2015, and the program's first full season in 2016, during which he compiled a record of 6–5. After that initial season, Esposito resigned to return to Western Michigan, this time as defensive coordinator under his old roommate Tim Lester, who had just been hired as the head coach there, replacing

P. J. Fleck Philip John Fleck Jr. (born November 29, 1980) is an American football coach and former wide receiver. He has served as the head coach for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team since 2017. Born in Sugar Grove, Illinois, Fleck played colle ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Western Michigan profile
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Af2 coaches American football offensive linemen Davenport Panthers football coaches Ferris State Bulldogs football coaches Memphis Tigers football players Memphis Xplorers players Saint Joseph's Pumas football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football coaches Manalapan High School alumni People from Manalapan Township, New Jersey Players of American football from Monmouth County, New Jersey {{2000s-collegefootball-coach-stub