Carlin Carpenter, head football coach, 1979-2002

Carlin Carpenter led the Bluffton football team for 24 seasons before retiring following the 2002 campaign.

He holds the record for most wins by a football coach in Bluffton history, with 103, and was named the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference co-Coach of the Year in 2000. That year, he guided the Beavers to a 7-3 record, a national ranking and a share of the HCAC championship.

Carpenter led his 1987 and 1988 teams to the NAIA national playoffs; the 1988 team, along with the 1985 Beavers, have been inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame as well. From 1985-90, Carpenter’s teams compiled a 44-13 record and were nationally ranked each year. At the time of his retirement, his head coaching tenure was the longest among Ohio’s collegiate head football coaches.

When he came to campus in 1979, Carpenter also started his college teaching career with a position in the health, physical education and recreation department as an assistant professor. From 1980-2003, he was athletics director as well.

Before joining the Bluffton community, Carpenter was an assistant coach at Marshall and Ohio universities and at Defiance College. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology at Defiance and a master’s degree in HPER and special education at Ohio University.

Since his retirement, Carpenter has kept busy as an adjunct instructor in the health, fitness and sport science department. In his free time, he enjoys fishing and spending time with his family.