How Coast Guard Football Is Redefining Service Academy Trends with Offense
How Coast Guard Football Is Redefining Service Academy Trends with Offense
Discover how Coast Guard football is breaking service academy trends with a record-setting spread offense and star running back Harrison Hensley.
Harrison Hensley’s college football recruitment process was a little different (and a lot cooler) than most.
A Florida native and member of a military family, with his dad serving in the Army and having played sprint football at West Point, Hensley, as a high schooler, was determined to be the next in line to become an academy kid.
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Coast Guard found him and allowed him to do just that, and had a trick up its sleeve to entice him to commit. On top of going through the normal recruitment cycle you’ll find at any other college football program — touring the campus, building relationships with coaches, etc — the running back was invited as a ride-along on a Coast Guard flight, giving him a taste of the fast-paced life he’ll live once he graduates into the U.S. Armed Forces.
Between that experience and an opportunity to play college football, Hensley was quickly convinced to commit.
The Bears’ football team, featuring Hensley as the workhorse in an offense that’s been turning heads across NCAA Division III this season, is glad he made that decision.
“It’s been a journey,” Hensley said. “Coming in here, it’s not easy, in my experience … but it’s definitely been the most fun I’ve ever had (playing football).”
Take a look at the Coast Guard’s results so far this season and you’ll understand why. But first, it’s worth diving into the background of the oft-forgotten Bears in the world of service academy football.
Based in New London, Connecticut, the United States Coast Guard Academy is one of five service academies located across the country. Those academies’ football teams are well-known for being practitioners of the option offense; Army, Navy, and Air Force all do it at the D-I level, as does Coast Guard’s biggest rival, Merchant Marine, in D-III.
The Bears, however, buck that trend. Coach C.C. Grant, now in his sixth season in charge after spending 21 years before that as an assistant under longtime coach Bill George, instead runs a spread-based offense that is unique among his academy coaching peers.
That philosophy has slowly come together, with Coast Guard entering 2025 coming off back-to-back 5-5 seasons after under-.500 campaigns in 2021 and 2022. And so far this year, it’s made the Bears one of the most lethal offenses in D-III.
Across the country, only Saint John’s (Minnesota) and Wisconsin-River Falls have a more potent offense than the Bears (56 points per game), who’ve broken records and lit the stat books on fire during a 3-1 start to the season. Finding the on-field talent that’s mixed in with the inherent discipline and physical fitness needed to be a successful academy student has been a key part of Coast Guard’s sudden rise, and Grant is helping to concoct a blueprint for what could be a sustained success model for the program.
“We’re very truthful in the recruiting process; we let kids know that this is not an easy place,” Grant said. “It’s not for everyone … but if you can come here and make it here, it really is going to open the doors of opportunities to you, not only in the Coast Guard but also once you decide to retire from the Coast Guard.”
“For me, it’s just a great place to be. I’m in my 27th year here … these guys are a joy to coach. You think of yourself as a good coach, but you know what? Having the guys I’ve got, that’ll make you better.”
No game in Grant’s tenure, perhaps, has shown more evidence that his ideas are working than when the Bears hosted Nichols College on Sept. 20.
In front of over 3,000 fans on homecoming, Coast Guard and Nichols put on a show in a head-spinning 92-60 Bears win, with the 152 combined points breaking the record for the highest-scoring regulation game in D-III football history. Nine different Bears were involved in touchdown plays, in line with Grant’s philosophy to spread the wealth, with Hensley leading the way on the ground with 153 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
And speaking of Hensley, no running back in the country has had a hotter start to the season than him. His 695 rushing yards — highlighted by a 324-yard explosion in a season-opening loss to the University of New England — currently has him atop the charts among D-III’s rushing leaders this week, having made the most of his opportunities to simultaneously play football and prepare for a life in the service.
“A lot of our classes are more Coast Guard-focused. We’ll have our core classes that every college takes, but on top of that, we have a bunch of personal defense classes and navigation classes that will help us in our career,” Hensley said of his life as a cadet-athlete. “So I’m just taking what I can from that (to) be able to see what I want to do moving on to the future.”
“Since we spread the ball out so much, I think every play, you’ve just got to make the most of it. And even off the field, this team’s close. That’s the biggest reason I’m here, and it makes this place enjoyable. It’s just the brotherhood.”
Could that brotherhood take Coast Guard to heights not seen in decades? It remains to be seen, but there are encouraging early signs.
The Bears won their New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference opener last weekend on the road against WPI, rolling 49-21 as Hensley scampered for a team-best 133 yards while quarterbacks Elias Duncan and Sean Burns combined for 305 yards and five touchdowns. With the D-III playoff structure, winning the NEWMAC title is probably Coast Guard’s clearest path to the bracket, yet the Bears haven’t qualified since 1997.
Still, no one has been able to contain the Bears’ high-octane offense yet. And with proof that it can drop a basketball score on anyone, Coast Guard is ready to break out and become a service academy team no one forgets about.
“There’s a lot of kids around here who grow up thinking that maybe they want to be an academy kid,” Grant said. “And not everyone can play for Army, Air Force, and Navy. … Sometimes, they’re surprised to learn that there’s (another) academy in the Coast Guard, and we kind of show them where we fit and what we do, because we’re different.
“The fact that football is the best part of these guys’ day is special, and it’s truly a brotherhood. I tell these guys all the time, not everybody can do what they’re doing.”
FloCollege D3 Watch Schedule
Saturday, Oct. 4
- 12 p.m. ET, Catholic University vs. Wilkes
- 12 p.m. ET, Salve Regina vs. Springfield College
- 12 p.m. ET, MIT vs. Merchant Marine
- 12 p.m. ET, Ithaca vs. Rochester
- 1 p.m. ET, West Connecticut State vs. Juniata
- 1 p.m. ET, Guilford vs. Gallaudet
- 1 p.m. ET, Washington & Lee vs. Hampden-Sydney
- 1 p.m. ET, Bridgewater (Va.) vs. Shenandoah
- 1 p.m. ET, WPI vs. Norwich
- 4 p.m. ET, Whitworth vs. Pacific (Ore.)
- 4 p.m. ET, Puget Sound vs. Lewis & Clark
- 4 p.m. ET, Willamette vs. Pacific Lutheran
- 1:30 p.m. ET, Otterbein vs. Mount Union
- 1:30 p.m. ET, Capital vs. Heidelberg
- 4:30 p.m. ET, Linfield vs. George Fox
- 2 p.m. ET, Randolph-Macon vs. Roanoke
- 2 p.m. ET, Marietta vs. Ohio Northern
- 7 p.m. ET, Pomona-Pitzer vs. La Verne
- 6 p.m. ET, Centenary (La.) vs. Austin College
- 6 p.m. ET, Franklin vs. Muskingum
- 10 p.m. ET, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps vs. Cal Lutheran
- 10 p.m. ET, Redlands vs. Chapman
Sunday, Oct. 5
- 1 p.m. ET, Coast Guard vs. SUNY Maritime
D3 Rankings
- North Central (Ill.) (Prev. 1)
- Mount Union (Prev. 2)
- Johns Hopkins (Prev. 3)
- St. John's (Prev. 4)
- UW-La Crosse (Prev. 5)
- Salisbury (Prev. 6)
- UW-Platteville (Prev. 8)
- Wartburg (Prev. 7)
- UW-Whitewater (Prev. 10)
- Hardin-Simmons (Prev. 9)
- UW-River Falls (Prev. 11)
- Bethel (Prev. 12)
- DePauw (Prev. 14)
- Wheaton (Ill.) (Prev. 17)
- UW-Oshkosh (Prev. 19)
- John Carroll (Prev. 21)
- Carnegie Mellon (Prev. 20)
- Trinity (Texas) (Prev. 22)
- Central (Prev. 23)
- Hope (Prev. 15)
- Mary Hardin-Baylor (Prev. 16)
- Cortland (Prev. 24)
- Christopher Newport (Prev. —)
- Hampden-Sydney (Prev. —)
- Susquehanna (Prev. 13)
Dropped out: Grove City (Prev. 18); Berry (Prev. 25)
Others receiving votes: Linfield 35; Berry 31; Wabash 23; Maryville 19; Randolph-Macon 16; Baldwin Wallace 16; Alma 14; Muhlenberg 8; Brockport 7; Lewis & Clark 7; Utica 6; Grove City 4; Monmouth 2; Ursinus 2; Washington & Jefferson 2.
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