Over the past 10 football seasons, Northeastern State University, who historically has had a rich football tradition has gone a combined 12-93, coming off of a 1-10 season which left them in last place in their conference a year ago. These one-sided seasons by the RiverHawks though are not here to stay in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university has gone in a new direction this off-season, not only becoming an independent program for the 2024 season, but also rebuilding the team, starting with new head coach Darrin Chiaverini.
Chiaverini comes to Tahlequah with a lot to offer both on and off of the football field for the NSU football program.
The California native has evidently been a football star since high school, being named a USA Today honorable mention All-American at Corona High School where he has since been inducted into the school’s hall of fame. Coming off of his incredible success in high school, he earned the opportunity to play football at the collegiate level with the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado.
At U of C, Chiaverini caught a combined 97 passes over 4 seasons for 1,199 yards and six scores. He pieced together a senior season that was worthy of All-Big 12 honors and put him in a position to be drafted in the 5th round by the Cleveland Browns in the 1999 NFL Draft.
After being drafted by the Cleveland Browns, Darrin Chiaverini etched his name into the Browns’ record books as he still holds a record for most catches in a single game by a Browns rookie with 10. He finished his rookie season with 44 combined receptions, adding to his career total of 62 for 662 yards and 7 touchdowns. Chiaverini played 7 years of professional football between the Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons and Austin Wranglers prior to joining the sidelines as a coach.
While being able to relate to the NFL dream that many student athletes have coming into NSU, having lived them himself, Chiaverini has also coached a number of players towards the NFL level and has done so successfully.
It was in 2008 when Chiaverini first found a home on the sideline, serving as the offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Mount San Antonio College. The gig was followed by a stint at UCLA, coaching alongside his former coach at Colorado, Rick Neuheisel where he got his feet wet at the FBS level as a special teams assistant, setting himself up to be a special teams coordinator at Riverside City College between 2010 and 2014. He then bounced back to the FBS level, at the FBS level he coached at Texas Tech, Colorado and UCLA prior to taking a head coaching job last season at Chaffey College in California, completely turning around the team, taking a 2-8 football program and turning them into 11-0 conference champions within just one year.
The rebuild at Chaffey last season is just one of the rebuilds he has been a part of thus far. He has also helped turn things around at Riverside City College during his time there (going 40-5 in 4 seasons) as well as Colorado in 2016, helping them go from 4-9 to 10-3. With NSU coming off of over a decade of losing seasons themselves, Chiaverini will look to rebuild and bring RiverHawks football back in the win column as well.
Talking about the opportunity to coach and rebuild Northeastern State University’s football program, he had said in an interview, “(Before taking the job) I looked at Northeastern State. I looked at the background of the great history and tradition, having two National Championships, 21 conference championships, 94 All-Americans, that’s a big deal. That’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears that have gone into this program by previous coaches, players and community members and I saw an opportunity to help bring back that pride and tradition to Northeastern State.”
Since being hired at the end of December by the RiverHawks, Chiaverini has been working non stop on building a championship caliber roster in Tahlequah. He, and the new staff at NSU has signed 41 new players to date and hope to continue to bring in talent as the 2024 football season approaches.
This will be his first season in Tahlequah, Oklahoma with the Northeastern State University RiverHawks, and he looks to make an impact right away, starting with spring ball which will kickoff on March 26th, and ending with a spring game on April 27th. He encourages fans and alumni to come out to practices and the spring game to see and be a part of what he is building at Doc Wadley Stadium in Tahlequah this year. He explained that he’s “excited to get out there and coach.” and, “I’m excited to show fans and alumni that something special is building in Tahlequah.”
As stated, spring football for NSU will run at the end of March, through April, making a statement on April 27th with the first spring game under head coach Darrin Chiaverini. Coach Chiaverini is beyond excited himself to bring his talents, his knowledge and success within the game of football to the football program at Northeastern State, and the fans, the alumni and community in Tahlequah should be equally excited for what is to come for the future of the program.
JZ MEDIA 