Chet Foraker begins his first season at Belhaven in 2014 and will serve as an assistant coach on Mumme’s staff while also serving as the Head Coach of the Blazers Junior Varsity program.
Foraker comes to Belhaven with some experience on a Mumme staff, serving as an Assistant Running Backs Coach at McMurry in 2012. During the 2012 season, the running game in Mumme’s Air Raid attack accounted for 15 of the War Hawks’ 45 offensive touchdowns, a higher percentage (33%) than any other year in the Mumme era at McMurry.
Prior to arriving at McMurry, Foraker spent the 2011 campaign at Malone University in Canton, Ohio. Foraker worked with the Pioneers in his return to coaching football, serving as the Tight Ends Coach.
Foraker had a 13-year coaching career at the small college and high school levels from 1959-72. The Ohio native had three stints at high schools in the Buckeye State, including Galion, Bucyrus, and Noth Royalton. The Bluffton College, now Bluffton University, graduate also coached at Mt. Vernon Nazarene College and Travecca Nazarene College before returning to his alma mater in 1972 at the offensive coordinator for the Bluffton Beavers.
After walking away from coaching in 1972, Foraker had a long and distinguished career in the textbook publishing business, with the bulk of his time spent with industry giant McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. He retired from the publishing business in 2005 as the Vice President and National Sales Director for the SRA School Division of McGraw-Hill, Inc.
At that time in life, Foraker , as he states, “felt a strong desire that God was leading me back into what I feel I was created to do, which was to impact the lives of young men involved in athletics - especially football - through coaching.”
At that point, Foraker began positioning himself for his return to coaching, going through extensive reading and video work while shadowing several prominent coaching figures, including Mumme, to learn the “Air Raid Offense” in his preparation to return to a full-time coaching position.
Chet and his wife Marie have five children and 15 grandchildren. Foraker holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Bluffton in 1959. Foraker also earned a Masters of Education degree in School Administration from Bowling Green State (Ohio) University in 1963.
