Saginaw Valley State University football coach Jim Collins is entering his fourth season at the helm of the Cardinal program.  In his tenure at SVSU Collins has coached a two-time All-American at the linebacker position and a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Defensive Back of the Year.  He has also produced 45 athletes that received all-academic honors, 22 coming from the 2010 season.  In his second season he helped lead the Cardinals back to the post-season with a 9-3 record for the first time in five years, placing the Cardinals 19th in the nation.  In his first season on the sidelines for the Cardinals he helped return Saginaw Valley State University back towards the top of the GLIAC standings with a 7-3 record.  
  
Collins came to SVSU from Capital University (Ohio), where his teams compiled a record of 44-13 over his last five seasons and reached the NCAA Division III playoffs each of the past three years.  In his 11 seasons at the helm of Capital University, turning around a football program that had not enjoyed a winning season since 1991 prior to a 7-3 finish by the Crusaders under Collins in 2001. He finished with an overall record of 66-51, setting school marks for victories in 2005 (10) and again in 2006 (11), and concluded the 2005-07 seasons ranked 5th, 3rd, and 15th nationally. His teams were eliminated from the playoffs by the eventual national champion each time.
    
Known for his innovative offensive mind, Collins has a tremendous reputation in the state of Ohio. He was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of the Year three times (2001, 2003 and 2006). He also won awards as the American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2005, the Football Gazette North Region Coach of the Year in 2006, and the Lee Tressel Ohio College Coach of the Year in 2006.
  
At Capital, Collins coached 13 All-Americans and two Academic All-Americans. His players also have fared well in the classroom, with more than 50 percent of them recording a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
  
Collins has ties to the state of Michigan, having served as a graduate assistant at Central Michigan University from 1989 to 1990. In 1991, Collins took over as the offensive coordinator at Illinois Wesleyan University, where he helped lead the team to its first ever birth in the NCAA playoffs. From there, Collins took his first head-coaching job at the University of Dubuque (Iowa), where he coached from 1994 to 1996 before taking over at Capital.
  
During his stops, Collins has shown a versatile offense. At Illinois Wesleyan, Collins directed the best rushing offense in school history in 1991, and then led the best passing offense in school history the following year. During his tenure at Capital, Collins’ teams set more than 40 school records, including most points scored, passing yards, total yards and touchdowns during the 2006 season when the Crusaders went 11-2 and finished third nationally in the D3football.com final poll.
  
Collins also has gained respect off the field, having been a member of the American Football Coaches Association Coaches Council as well as serving as the North Region chair of the NCAA Division III National Football Committee.  He is also on the Division II All-American Selection Committee as well as the AFCA Rules Committee.  He played his college football at Wittenberg University where he was a four-year letter winner, three-year starter, and earned honorable mention All-American honors his senior year as a wide receiver.

Collins resides in Saginaw with his wife, Brooke, and three sons: Zach (17), Ryan (15), and Brady (9).

 Tesfa Smith started his second stint with the Cardinal football coaching staff in 2007, where he was responsible for the running backs, a position he held from 2002-04.  For the past two season coach Smith has coached the linebacker position, which he last coached in 2001 for the Cardinals.  There, he was responsible for one of the best linebacking cores in the nation over the past two seasons.

Smith recently was the defensive coordinator at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois.He also was responsible for film breakdown and compiling data for defensive scouting reports and served as the academic advisor for the football team.

Smith was at SVSU from 1999-04, coaching linebackers, running backs and tight ends. Smith played his college ball at Lakeland College and was a four-year starter at linebacker. He was a two-time all-conference performer and was named conference defensive player of the year as a junior and senior.

Smith received his Bachelor’s Degree from Lakeland College in Marketing and International Business with a minor in Spanish. He has also completed his Master’s Degree at Saginaw Valley State in May 2001 with an emphasis in Business Administration.  Smith and his wife Brooke reside in Saginaw, Mich. with their twin daughters Adalie and Amarie.

Todd Stepsis enters his fourth season as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Saginaw Valley State University.

Since Stepsis has arrived on campus, the SVSU defense has produced numerous All-Conference selections and two professional football players (Matthew Black currently a defensive back with the Toronto Argonauts and Rob Calloway, a defensive tackle with the Detroit Lions).    In 2009, the SVSU defense was solid, ranking near the top of the GLIAC in every statistical category.  In addition to five All-GLIAC first and second team selections, senior linebacker John Jacobs was named the conference defensive back of the year and first team AFCA All-American.  Stepsis had a very impressive 2008 season as the Cardinals defensive coordinator. The Cardinal defense was ranked third in total defense in the GLIAC and produced three All-GLIAC defensive team members (two first team and one second team).  
  
In the previous seven seasons, Stepsis coached the defensive secondary under current Cardinal Head Coach Jim Collins at Capital University.  During that time, the aggressive Crusader defense produced a national player of the year, numerous All-Americans, and national rankings in several statistical categories.  Since 2001, there have been 21 all-conference and 3 All-American defensive backs.  Along with his coaching duties, Stepsis was also an assistant athletic director and adjunct faculty for the health and sports sciences department.
  
Prior to arriving at Capital University, Stepsis served a two -year stint as the defensive backs coach at Otterbein college and played four seasons of football at Ashland University, a bachelor’s degree in education and later a master’s degree in education.

Stepsis and his wife Angie live in Saginaw.  His daughter Zoe and son Zander reside in Columbus Ohio.

Andre Griffin enters his fourth season as running backs coach for Saginaw Valley State University.  Griffin coached Ronnie Lark to a 1,000 plus all-purpose yards last season, and looks to help Lark and the other running backs improve upon this number in the upcoming season.  In the 2008 season Griffin’s crew of running backs rumbled their way to a 1,379 yard rushing season, including the first individual 1,000 yard rushing season since 2005. In 2009 he led a group of rushers that averaged 196 yards a game.
   
Griffin spent the previous three seasons on SVSU Coach Jim Collins’ staff at Capital University, where he also served as running backs coach. During his three seasons at Capital, the Crusaders finished in the top five twice and went to the Division III quarterfinals twice.

Griffin, an Ohio State alum, played running back for the Buckeyes from 1998-2001. The son of two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin, Andre will not need to go far if he needs any advice to teach his running backs any tricks.

Griffin takes on a new responsibility this season as the liaison with the National Football League (NFL). 

Griffin has one son, Diante, with his wife Deanna.

Saginaw Valley State University head football coach Jim Collins announced the hiring of former SVSU standout Dan Fodrocy as wide receivers coach today (Jan. 5).

Fodrocy was a four-year letterwinner at linebacker for the Cardinals. He helped lead SVSU to the NCAA Division II playoffs three times during his career.  He ranks second in career tackles for loss (40) and sixth in career sacks (18).  He set the current school record for tackles for loss in a season with 20 in 2005 and his nine sacks in 2005 is currently ninth best all-time.

Fodrocy was a student assistant at SVSU in the spring of 2006 before moving on to Grand Valley State University where he coached wide receivers in 2006 and linebackers in 2007.  He coached running backs and quarterbacks in 2008 at the University of Arkansas at Monticello before spending the last two seasons at North Dakota State coaching tight ends.

As quarterbacks/running backs coach at Arkansas at Monticello in 2008 he coached both units to their fourth-best seasons in terms of output in school history and helped the program set a single season standard for total offense with 5,496 yards.  Quarterback Scott Buisson had the highest passing yardage total in school history (2,700) and second highest total offensive mark with 4,019 total yards.

At North Dakota State, his main responsibility was working with the tight ends.  In 2010 his unit caught 23 passes for 257 yards and five touchdowns.  More impressively, they helped block for 2,913 yards rushing and 27 scores.  While there, Fodrocy was also tasked with recruiting talent filled California, Florida, Pennsylvania and his home state of Michigan.

Fodrocy was a graduate assistant coach at Grand Valley State University for two seasons. The Lakers compiled a 27-1 record, including claiming the 2006 NCAA Division II National Championship and a pair of conference championships.  While at GVSU, he coached a group of receivers that caught 203 passes for 3,385 yards and 43 touchdowns.  The group was led by Eric Fowler, who caught 83 passes for 1,694 yards and 22 touchdowns

Fodrocy graduated with a bachelor's degree in fitness and sports management from SVSU in 2006.

Mike Ancona enters his fourth season as the offensive line coach for the Saginaw Valley State University Cardinals.  In his tenure at SVSU, Ancona has coached six offensive linemen to All-GLIAC honors and looks to improve upon this number in the upcoming season.

Ancona most recently was an offensive line coach for Head Coach Jim Collins and the Capital University Crusaders from 2000-2007.  During those years in Columbus, the Crusader offensive line anchored an offense that broke over 40 school records.  Prior to his days at Capital, Ancona spent 5 seasons as an assistant offensive line coach at John Carroll University in Cleveland.  In his 15 seasons as a collegiate offensive line coach, Ancona has helped shape one Rimington Award winner, eight All-Americans, and 21 All-Conference selections.

Ancona played for four seasons on the John Carroll University offensive line before coming over to the sidelines as a graduate assistant for the Blue Streaks in 1995.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in History in 1994.

Ancona resides in Saginaw, Michigan.

Josh Miller is entering his first season as defensive line coach at SVSU after spending the last season at Northern Michigan University.  During his one season at Northern Michigan, Miller helped to develop Wildcat team MVP Matt Forward.  Forward and Zach Anderson would also garner All-GLIAC honors as the two leading tacklers on the team in 2011.

Miller played on the defensive line for four years at SVSU (2004-07) where he was a three-time all-GLIAC selection and three-year captain. After college Miller played a season with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2008 and two seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2009-10 both of the Canadian Football League.

Miller is from Waterford, Mich. and is a 2004 graduated of Waterford Mott High School where he lettered in football, baseball and basketball. He graduated from SVSU in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science with a Coaching minor.

John Jacobs enters his first season as an assistant coach with the Cardinals and will work primarily with the defensive backs.  Jacobs was a standout player for the Cardinals from 2006-09, garnering AFCA All-American and GLIAC Defensive Back of Year honors in 2009.  He ranks second all time in tackles and first all-time in tackles for loss in SVSU history.  After leaving SVSU, Jacobs played for the Saginaw Sting, helping them to a 2011 UIFL Championship and was a member of the 2011 Gold Medal winning Team USA that completed in Germany in July of 2011. Jacobs currently resides in Saginaw, Mich.

Trent Boyd is in his first season with Saginaw Valley State University working with the tight ends.

Boyd comes to SVSU after spending last season at Michigan Tech as a graduate assistant working with the defensive secondary. Trent has also spent time as the running backs coach at Alma and as a volunteer assistant working with the quarterbacks at Central Michigan.

The Saginaw native worked from 2005-08 as an assistant coach at Nouvel Catholic Central High School, helping the Panthers to state championship titles in 2006 and 2007.

Boyd played football for one season (2004) at Saginaw Valley State and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 2009. He is currently working on his master's in public administration.

Eugene Marve is in his first season with Saginaw Valley State University working with the linebackers.

Marve was a member of the Saginaw Valley State football team from 1978-81.  Eugene was selected to the All-GLIAC team in 1979, 1980 and 1981, and was named an NAIA First Team All-American in 1980 and 1981.  He ended his career with 299 tackles, 124 of which came in the 1981 season, and nine sacks. 

Marve was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 1982 NFL Draft.  He played 11 seasons in the NFL with the Bills (1982-87), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1988-91) and San Diego Chargers (1992). He is also a member of the Cardinal Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2010.