Excitement, resurgence and excellence are three words that aptly describe the Massachusetts Maritime football program under Jeremy Cameron’s guidance. Coach Cameron has been the head coach of Buccaneer football since 2005. The veteran mentor looks to continue that trend for the Buccaneers this fall.  Cameron has guided his squad to 32 victories over the past seven seasons, and Massachusetts Maritime continues to re-write the school record book as one of the most prolific attacks in the nation, with 28 school marks being set or tied in the last five years alone.  There’s no doubting that Cameron has added to the great pride and tradition of the program, as during this decade alone the Buccaneers have toppled rivals Maine Maritime, SUNY-Maritime and Coast Guard a combined eight times while scooping up a pair of Cranberry Bowl triumphs over rival Bridgewater State.  The buzz of enthusiasm along the banks of the Cape Cod Canal surrounding the program is directly tied to the hard work of its mentor, and he looks for that buzz to grow louder in 2017 and beyond.

A 1997 graduate of Springfield College, Cameron began his coaching career as the quarterbacks and running backs coach at Dean College in Franklin, Mass.  He left Dean to head south of the Massachusetts border in taking a position on the staff at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., where he served as the receivers coach / recruiting coordinator while also overseeing the Bulldogs’ strength and conditioning program. 

Cameron left The Ocean State in 2000 to join the staff at Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y. under the guidance of long-time coach Walt Hameline.  He spent three seasons working with the Seahawk receivers and quarterbacks while also serving as passing game coordinator, and after a year-long stint as the offensive coordinator at Poly-Prep High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 2003.  Cameron returned to the Wagner campus the following fall as the offensive coordinator.  That proved to be his final assistant coaching position, as Cameron came to Buzzards Bay in the winter of 2005 as the Academy’s head coach.

Awards have been commonplace in the Massachusetts Maritime program since Cameron’s arrival, as 48 Buccaneers have earned all-conference accolades during his tenure and three others (Walter Butler ’12, John Moriarty ’14 and Marshall McCarthy) earned All-New England and all-regional honors.  Last year, McCarthy was named as the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year accolades as well as being named as a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award as the top small college defensive player in the nation. ADD Johnson, ETC 

Cameron’s commitment to the overall development of student-athletes is evidenced by dozens of players earning conference all-academic citations, while both Moriarty and fellow 2014 graduate Brandon Rodrigues became the first Massachusetts Maritime cadets to earn Capital One Academic All-America accolades in 30 years in both 2012 and 2013.  Cameron’s efforts have not gone unnoticed, and he has earned the respect of his peers in the New England football community, including the nod as the 2009 / 2019 New England Football Conference Bogan Division Coach of the Year.

Cameron, who earned a degree in Health & Fitness from Springfield, resides in Sagamore Beach, Mass. with his wife, Katie, who serves as the Head Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Coach at Bryant University, and their three children Dolan, Riley, and Casey.

Mike Kelley became the Director of Athletics at the Academy in the Spring of 2018. Prior to assuming his role he served as the Assistant Director of Student Services in the Commandant's Office. Along with his duties as Director of Athletics, Coach Kelley is also the head baseball coach and an assistant on the football coaching staff. Mike is a 1999 graduate of the Academy with a degree in Facilities engineering. 

During his time at the Academy he was a standout on the football and baseball fields, captaining both teams in his season while receiving five All-Conference honors, three times in football, twice in baseball. He played for legendary Buccaneer coaches Don Ruggeri and Bob Corradi.  In 2009, Mike was inducted into the Massachusetts Maritime Academy Athletic Hall of Fame.

Coach Kelley has been a part of Jeremy Cameron's football coaching staff since Coach Cameron came to the Academy in 2005. He took the role of head baseball coach in 2016 upon the retirement of head coach Bob Corradi, becoming the second head baseball coach in Buccaneer program history.

Mike resides in Bourne with his wife Tammy and sons Ty and Drew.

Rear Admiral Francis X. McDonald, USMS, is the President of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, one of six state maritime academies in the country.  Founded in 1891, the Academy has been training business leaders, ship captains, engineers, and professional officers in the 19^th, 20^th, and now the 21^st century.  Offering seven undergraduate and three graduate majors, the Academy is one of two “special mission” public universities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.                                                          

Upon graduation from the Academy in 1985, McDonald pursued an engineering career and earned a Master of Science in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  He returned to his alma mater in 1995 to serve as Director of Cooperative Education, a role in which he developed and implemented the cooperative education program and dramatically increased placement rates for undergraduate interns and graduating seniors.  Appointed as Dean of Enrollment Management in 1999, he led the rebranding of the Academy which resulted in a dramatic increase in numbers and diversity of incoming freshmen.  He has since served as Vice President for Operations, heading up a major campus building expansion, and as Executive Vice President.  President McDonald holds a Doctor of Law and Policy from Northeastern University and has served as an adjunct professor in the Academy’s emergency management graduate program.  He assumed the role of President in August 2015 following unanimous votes of the MMA Board of Trustees and the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, with the rank of Rear Admiral conferred by the U.S. Maritime Administrator. President McDonald is active in or has served on several community and professional organizations including the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce, Barnstable School Committee,  Sturgis Charter School, Cape Cod Collaborative, and the Marine Society at Salem. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, President McDonald now resides in Marstons Mills with his wife Beth and their two children Kathryn and Harrison.

Background:

M.Ed. - Bridgewater State University
Student Affairs Counseling 

B.A. - Framingham State University
Sociology

Education:
B.A., College of William and Mary; M.A., George Mason University; Ph.D., University of Rhode Island