WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Mark Powell's story begins on the sidelines of Yale, growing up attached to the side of his grandfather, the legendary Carm Cozza. Cozza is the Ivy League's winningest head football coach of all time. Powell, now back in the New Haven area, has his own program and a chance to emulate what his grandfather did.

Any time a new position is earned, it's natural to look back at the process. For Powell, the process of becoming the face of the newest Division I football program began early in 2025, although it was not exactly the plan.

Originally, Powell had an offer to be the defensive coordinator at another school. When he learned that New Haven Football was also looking for a shot caller on defense, he reached out, went through the process, and was brought aboard. 

As the defensive coordinator, Powell began building relationships with his players–among them were incumbent members of a back-to-back conference champion powerhouse. Those relationships would come into play in a huge way on May 6, the day when New Haven Athletics changed forever.

On that day, the University of New Haven announced it had accepted a bid to join the NEC, a Division I FCS conference. With that, came a change in leadership at the helm of the program, and now Powell, the recently-hired defensive coordinator, was now given the keys to the program at the most crucial point in the history of the University.

No pressure.

Only one year earlier, Powell had been coaching at the high school level. So, how did he wind up with the job of interim head coach at a school that had just announced it would be moving up to the pinnacle of college athletics?

Well, fittingly enough, Powell was out on the road building more relationships, this time with recruits. Building relationships is one of the most important aspects of coaching Powell learned from his grandfather. 

"I got a phone call. [They] said I was in a different seat. I took it from there and ran with it," the New Haven, Conn. native said.

The first person he called after that conversation was his wife. As a father of two young boys and a defensively minded coach, Powell is no stranger to chaos. Just now, the amount of chaos had grown exponentially. 

All in all, Powell had done a remarkable job of getting the majority of New Haven Football players who had entered the transfer portal back out and built a brand new schedule in the span of two weeks.

Adversity is something Powell has gone through before. During his collegiate playing days, he medically retired following a doctor's recommendation. To help get through those days of not being able to play the sport he loves, he leaned on his support system, saying "it was the people that got me through it. My [defensive coordinator] at the time, John Loose, a mentor of mine, pulled me in and said 'don't let your football mind go to waste just because you can't play. Come be a student assistant.'"

Following his days at Lafayette College, while Powell and his wife were expecting their first child, Powell's mother passed away in July 2021. In September, his first son, Hunter, was born. He remembers that time as "one of the hardest things I've ever gone through. She died in July and my son was born in September. She never got to meet him, and that's something that was really, really hard."

"People got me through that one too. At the end of the day, I think, you can know everything in the world, but if you don't have a great support system that can get you through those things in life, life becomes very lonely. And I think, at any point in time, it's the people who get you through the situation."

That's why Powell's why is his family. As much as he enjoys and loves coaching college football, his family has always been his why.

"The players see me as Coach Powell. But I'm also dad. I'm also Mark. I want them to see me in that light because that's something I learned from my grandfather. When I first got here, I met with everyone on defense and asked them 'why are you at New Haven and why do you play football?' Why I do what I do everyday is because of my family. My players are my family, too. They see me be a dad, and I think it's important because they see why I'm doing it. If you understand the way I am, you're going to buy in to what we're doing."

With Powell's family around the team becoming a normal sight, it looked like the program was beginning to build something of itself and gather momentum as the summer months rolled on. It had landed transfer quarterback AJ Duffy (St. Augustine, Fla./Rancho Verde), a former four-star prospect and Florida State University recruit, who has already won two weekly awards as the NEC's top offensive player in three weeks. Sebastian Conwell (Bowling Green, Ky./Greenwood), another transfer, has come in and provided a calming influence on a defense that recognized him as a captain. Joshua Tracey (Bridgeport, Conn./Avon Old Farms) had been at Post University and UConn before arriving in West Haven. He was recognized as a Preseason First-Team All Conference wide receiver prior to ever donning the Blue & Gold.

What happened after that?

The Blue & Gold started the season with back-to-back losses. In week three, CAA powerhouse UAlbany looked like a daunting test for the program. The wheels could have fallen off very fast.

Instead, it responded with a 24-17 win on the road at UAlbany on Saturday, September 13. It marked New Haven's first-ever win as a Division I program. In that game, Duffy threw three first-half touchdown passes en route to earning his second NEC Offensive Player of the Week recognition and Conwell sealed the game, picking up a sack on fourth down in the red zone as the clock was bleeding closer to overtime.

Now, on the verge of hosting its first game, Powell remembers back to his childhood, having grown up in this neighborhood.

"It's probably the coolest thing ever to be completely honest. My high school is literally across the street. When I run, I run around my high school. I get to be a Division I head coach where I'm from. Like, this is my home. I drive by my childhood house on my way to work everyday. It's very hard to put into words. I moved so much to get here. I moved all around the country. I moved eight times. To be able to come back and do it where I'm from is the coolest thing ever. I can't really put it into words because I get to do what I love, where I love doing it. This is home for me. I have so many memories in this area."

"I also think the vision of this place is really awesome. I think the University of New Haven has to think differently. I think they have to operate a little bit differently. And I love that. I think you have to have a growth mindset and this place is growing.This place is doing different things to grow. It's so awesome to be a part of because we get to help build this. A foundation was laid for decades. Anytime you build an addition on a house, you have to go up or you have to go out. If you do it the right way, you can build something beautiful."

Of course, no program goes through such a dramatic transition without receiving any help. Powell and the program have received significant contributions from alumni and full support from University leadership over the summer to help them get to where they are on Saturday: the first team in program history to host a game as a Division I program.

So, while Powell's Chargers might not have come out of the gates and lit the world on fire, the team is still finding ways to compete in all aspects of life. Each player practices the program's core values, and has stuck with the family made up of Powell, his staff, and all 174 other players.
 

Because the people is the why.