In late Nov. 2024, Davidson’s head football coach, Scott Abell, and many of his staff members left the program. The search for the 29th head coach in program history ended with Saj Thakkar. On Dec. 17, 2024, after spending the past two years as head coach for the Division II football program at Bentley University, Thakkar was hired to lead the Wildcats. Like many football coaches across the NCAA, Coach Thakkar began his career as an athlete, playing both quarterback and wide receiver at Fitchburg State University in his home state of Massachusetts. “I had a great playing experience. [I] played at a small school in the Northeast, and they always say the best coaches aren’t always the best players. I was someone that had to work for everything, every little thing […] but really fell in love with the process and all that goes into having a successful football team. And that’s where I really developed my passion for coaching,” Thakkar said.
After Thakkar finished playing in 2012, he coached the running backs at his alma mater for two seasons and then spent three seasons at State University of New York Maritime College, where he was promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He headed back to Massachusetts to Harvard University where, from 2018-2022, he served as the running backs coach. He then served for two years as an NFL Bill Walsh Fellow, participating in a program that intends to give minority coaches the opportunity to gain experience at the highest level by observing and gaining knowledge in offseason practices and workouts. “You’re a sponge when you’re in those situations—just trying to soak in as much knowledge as you can and different ways of doing things, whether it’s on field, off field, player development, running [an] organization,” Thakkar said when reflecting on his experience.
Post-fellowship, Bentley hired Thakkar as its head coach. Thakkar provided insight on this new role. “You’re in charge of everyone. So now it’s not just forming relationships or close relationships with the guys in your room. You have to develop close relationships with everyone who plays for you, everyone works for you: alumni, campus-wide relations, community. So there’s a lot more involved there,” Thakkar said. “I was prepared for what it was going to take. I wouldn’t say a lot really caught me by surprise or anything like that, but there is a different sense of responsibility, different things that are asked of you in that seat than when you’re a position coach.”
Thakkar’s 14-6 overall record at Bentley was strong, finishing second in the Northeast-10 regular season in both of Thakkar’s years. Along with team success, twenty-four players earned all-league honors and the team led the Northeast-10 with the most academic all-district selections.
With Thakkar came seven new staff members, including Keegan Kennedy who spent the season prior at the University of Richmond before joining the Davidson staff. Prior to Kennedy’s fruitful coaching career across the NCAA, he played on the offensive line at Northwestern. “I was awarded the Randy Walker Wildcat Warrior Award, which goes to the two toughest players on the team. And that’s something that I take great pride in and it’s something that’s carried over to my coaching career. Something that I coach every day is mental and physical toughness,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy overlapped with Thakkar at Harvard. “When I got [to Harvard] in 2019, [Coach Thakkar and I] clicked. He was coaching the running backs, I was coaching the offensive line. So there was a lot of carryover,” Kennedy described. He has a familiar face among the staff as they prepare for the 2025 season.
Miles Ahles, Davidson’s new defensive coordinator, traveled directly from Bentley with Thakkar. Ahles was a linebacker at Chapman University, where he received a degree in biochemistry. He then worked in the biotech industry for eight years and served as the defensive coordinator at a local high school in Southern California. His job led him to Boston, where he was eventually led back to coaching at Bentley with Thakkar. “I worked in product development when I was doing biotech, so I think that there’s a very organized kind of workflow. You try to build what the customer wants, you test, make sure you built what they wanted. And I kind of approach football somewhat similarly,” Ahles stated. “Each week you have to deliver a product on Saturday. Understanding what you want it to look like on Saturday, actually putting practice together to build what you want it to look like, is important.”
The remaining members of the staff under Abell recognize the new energy that has entered the building. Quinn Suber, a defensive assistant, has seen the players responding to this enthusiasm by taking greater charge. “All great teams are player-led teams, and I think we’re pushing towards that way to where the players are taking [more] precedence over the coaching staff. When it comes from a discipline standpoint, they understand what is asked of them and what they should be doing,” Suber claimed.
Davidson is incorporating new schemes under Thakkar’s supervision. “We’re more spread-based, more balanced as far as the run-pass attack. So it’s a really fun brand of football to watch. But we can only go as far as our players can take us. So it starts with the coaching and the teaching and building the foundation, which we’ll do through the winter and the spring and grow from there,” Thakkar explained.
Above all, the Davidson football staff plans to emphasize tenacity going forward. “We want to be the toughest football team in the country physically, mentally and emotionally. So, our off-season program has been hard and difficult, but because we’re building strong connections we’re creating a really positive working environment […] even though it’s hard, they are having fun,” Thakkar declared.