West Virginia Wesleyan Names One of its Own as New Head Football Coach
By Connect-Bridgeport Staff on January 11, 2019
SUBMITTED BY WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE:
West Virginia Wesleyan College has named long-time assistant, Tony Testa ‘07 as its new Head Football Coach. Testa follows Del Smith ‘05, who resigned this week to pursue a new career opportunity.
Testa has been a member of the Wesleyan coaching staff since 2013, where he has served as the offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. This past season he was WVWC’s offensive coordinator. While at Wesleyan, his offensive lines paved the way for Wesleyan’s career rushing leader Michael Anderson. The 2016 team gave up the fewest sacks of any team in the Mountain East Conference.
Testa has also played a significant role in the football team’s community initiative, which cumulated over 2,500 hours of community service over the past three years. The ‘Cats in the Community’ have been integral members of the Get Up, Get Moving, Read Aloud, and Dropout Prevention programs in the Upshur County school system. Other initiatives have included the Appalachian Impact mentoring program, Upshur County Parish House food and clothing drives, assisting flood victims in southern West Virginia with furniture drives, and traveling to Clendenin to rebuild a flood-damaged bridge. The team also partnered with World Vision disaster relief and completed a Bone Marrow Donation Registry in association with the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation and Be the Match.
“We are excited that Tony has accepted the opportunity to lead Wesleyan’s football program,” noted President Dr. Joel Thierstein. “Tony has a great rapport with our players and has been instrumental in leading our program’s community service initiatives. He has a great understanding of the caliber of student-athlete we strive to attract and retain. We are confident our program will exemplify Wesleyan’s mission under his leadership.”
Prior to returning to Wesleyan in 2013, Testa worked as an offensive consultant and running backs coach at Baldwin-Wallace University. He also spent one season at The Apprentice School in 2009. He began coaching at Marietta College.
A native of Parkersburg, Testa was a four-year letter winner at Wesleyan and earned second team All-West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) honors in 2005. He was a part of both the 2002 and 2003 WVIAC Championship teams under Coach Bill Struble ’76.
