D-II Extravaganza On Week 8 Of The Heisman Podcast
This week’s Official Heisman Trophy Podcast features a Division-II Football Extravaganza with a special spotlight on the Ferris State Bulldogs and their legendary coach, Tony Annese. The three-time D-II national champion reveals the shocking secret to his success: a crazy little thing called love. Also: no team in America practices better. Step into the F.O.L.D. with coach Annese. A scheduling conflict knocked current Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss off this week’s show, so instead we talked to the man who replaced him, redshirt freshman Wyatt Bower. The exciting dual-threat for the top-ranked Bulldogs tells us what it’s like to be a D-II quarterback. The show closes out with a much-needed expert tutorial on D-II from D2Football.com editor Chuck Bitner. Who’s ready to talk D-II football??
Listen to the full conversation here. Episodes and clips of The Official Heisman Trophy Podcast are available on all major podcast networks, including Spotify and Apple, as well on YouTube and TikTok.
About 45 miles north of Grand Rapids, in the smaller, quieter town of Big Rapids, Mich., Tony Annese has turned Ferris State into a Division II juggernaut. Since taking over in 2012, he has guided the Bulldogs to three of the last four national championships — 2021, 2022, and 2024 — and has them unbeaten and ranked No. 1 again. The setting isn’t flashy and neither are the facilities, but the results are undeniable.
“Big Rapids is kind of off the beaten path,” Annese said. “Our facilities are pretty mediocre, but our culture is elite. That’s what separates us.”
Annese’s story starts in the classroom. The son of a longtime Michigan high school teacher and coach, he spent 25 years teaching and 22 as a high school head coach before jumping to college.
“My father was a high school coach for 26 years,” he said. “I’d see former players come up to him in the grocery store and tell him what an impact he’d had on their lives. I thought, ‘That’s the greatest thing on Earth—to have that kind of impact.’”
He won three Michigan state titles and two NJCAA national championships at Grand Rapids Community College before taking the Ferris State job in 2012.
“I was already in the Michigan High School Coaches Hall of Fame before I ever coached a college game,” he said, laughing. “I didn’t plan on this life, but when Ferris called, I thought, let’s see what happens.”
Faith is one of the four cornerstones of the Ferris State program, built on an acronym Annese created: F.O.L.D.—faith, order, love, and discipline.
“Our motto is to be ‘in the fold,’ which means being intertwined together,” he explained. “When I took the job, there was nothing to sell except faith—faith that something special was going to happen. That faith paid off.”
He points to love as the real engine of the program.
“Love is power,” he said. “A lot of young people grow up in challenging backgrounds. They need love. When players feel loved, they give everything they’ve got.”
That belief system translates directly into how Ferris practices.
“We’re the best practice team in America,” Annese said flatly. “I’ve been to Alabama, Michigan, Florida, Tennessee—you name it. Nobody practices like we do. The pace, the intensity, the competitiveness—it’s constant.”
His players have become legends of strength and work ethic.
“I’ll never forget Justin Zimmer,” he said. “He went to Michigan’s pro day and benched 225 pounds forty-four times. Forty-four! That’s Ferris State football.”
Ferris didn’t become a dynasty overnight.
“It took time,” Annese said. “We were in the semifinals in 2016, the national title game in 2018, and lost 49–47 to Valdosta. That one hurt. But we stayed the course.”
When they finally won it all in 2021, the program had built itself from the ground up.
“Around here, you wouldn’t know we’ve won three national titles,” he said. “We never sit on our laurels. We don’t feel entitled. Every year, we start over.”
Annese’s loyalty to Ferris has become a defining trait in an era of job-hopping coaches.
“I’ve never been one of those guys always looking for the next gig,” he said. “People ask me why I don’t move up to the FCS, but last year we went to Montana, played in front of 28,000 fans, and took them to the wire. They ended up playing for the national championship. So I figure we’re already better than a lot of FCS programs.”
Not every challenge comes on the field. This past offseason, eight Ferris starters transferred to FBS programs, including quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss), linemen Lawrence Hadar (Michigan) and Bryce George (Iowa), linebacker Sefa Saipaia (Western Michigan), and others.
“I’m not going to lie—it hurt,” Annese said. “Some guys leaving felt like betrayal. But our response wasn’t to pout—it was to get better. We lost two Big Ten linemen, and our offensive line is better now than it was last year.” He paused, then smiled. “That’s the culture. Coaches coach. Players grow.”
He’s especially proud of Chambliss, who starts at Ole Miss this year.
“Everybody asks if I’m surprised. Heck no,” Annese said. “Trinidad didn’t want to leave. He was crying when we talked about it. But I told him, ‘Maybe you should test the waters.’ And he handled it like a man—no bitterness, no drama. That’s who we want to produce here.”
For all Ferris’s success, Annese is candid about the resource gap at the Division II level.
“I’ve got players who literally don’t eat sometimes,” he said. “Meanwhile, kids at the Power Five schools eat like kings. If NIL is about fairness, then let’s make it fair—give every college athlete, D1 to D3, a few thousand dollars a semester. That would change lives.”
Despite the obstacles, Annese remains grounded in his purpose.
“I tell people all the time, I’m not here to chase titles or money,” he said. “I’m here to change lives and win doing it the right way.”
Ferris State’s stadium might be small and its facilities plain, but its program has become a model of consistency, toughness, and love.
“We may be off the beaten path,” Annese said, “but our players know this is where you come to become the best version of yourself. That’s the real secret.”
