Calcagni joins Gulf Coast staff

PERKINSTON — Chase Calcagni is the new Mississippi Gulf Coast wide receivers coach, and Bulldogs boss Jack Wright is bringing in a coach with an impressive resume at the NCAA Division I and high school levels.

Calcagni, who has worked at South Alabama and Central Arkansas, is also plugged into the college landscape that is undergoing the most change.

"He has a really strong background in the current recruiting and personnel space, which is a huge part of running any college football program in modern times," Wright said. "He has his pulse on the transfer portal and how it affects junior college players, both coming and going. He has a great background being a part of some great offenses. He has coached a lot of different positions on offense and is able to develop relationship with players and affect them in a positive way." 

Calcagni has some Perkinston connections, having worked with Steve Campbell, who won a national championship at Gulf Coast, for six years. 

"He always spoke amazing things about this place, and when I was at South Alabama and Central Arkansas, we recruited and signed a lot of guys here," Calcagni said. "I've been recruiting this school for quite some time, and I know how great a program it is."

At Gulf Coach, he will take over a wide receivers room that already has proven talent. He's also hit the recruiting trail running to assemble another strong group for the 2025 season.

 "We're going to work our tails off," he said. "We'll be crisp and clean. The most important thing about being a receiver is having great chemistry with your quarterbacks, being on the same page. We have to run our routes appropriately, and we have to get a lot of reps with the quarterbacks because every receiver is different."

Calcagni had a successful stint as the offensive coordinator at Baker High School in Mobile for the 2021-2023 seasons, where the Hornets rewrote the offensive record book. Baker averaged 8.8 yards per play, and the 2023 team ranked second in the state of Alabama by averaging 445.1 yards. Calcagni was also the special teams and recruiting coordinator. During Calcagni's time at Baker he helped 20 players sign to play college football including four Division I wide receivers.

Prior to that, he spent three years at the University of South Alabama. He served as director of player personnel and recruiting, handling roster management and recruiting strategies. He also served as an offensive analyst and was the program's liaison between the football program and high school coaches as well as NFL teams. At South, he recruited or helped contribute to three Jaguars being drafted and 12 being picked up as undrafted free agents. Two of the three draft picks were wide receivers Jalen Tolbert (third round) and Kawaan Baker (seventh round) and three of the 12 UDFA's were wideouts.

In 2017, Calcagni was the outside linebackers coach and special teams assistant at Armwood High School in Tampa, Fla. The team advanced to the Class 6A state championship game, finishing 15-1. The Hawks set a school record with seven shutouts and allowed 6.1 points per game. They also set state records with 224 tackles for loss and 66 sacks. Armwood sent 17 players to Division I schools, including three from his position group. One of Calcagni's position players, Jerome Ford, is on the Cleveland Browns roster.

Calcagni was on the University of Central Arkansas staff in 2015-16, serving as an assistant for defensive line, quarterbacks and linebackers. The team went 17-7 overall and 15-3 in the Southland Conference. The 2016 team went 10-3 and scored the Bears' first-ever home FCS playoff victory. Calcagni also helped with NFL Liaison responsibilities during his time in Conway, helping recruit or contribute to four Central Arkansas players being drafted and two being picked up as undrafted free agents.

He started his coaching duties at the University of Findlay in Ohio, where he was the safeties and cornerbacks coach. Calcagni also served as a special team assistant and video coordinator. In Calcagni's first year as a college coach, he coached and produced All-American safety Harold Jones-Quartey. Jones-Quartey signed as an undrafted free agent after the season, went on to start for the Chicago Bears as a rookie and later won a Super Bowl with the Eagles.

Calcagni graduated with bachelor's in kinesiology and P-12 teaching, with a coaching endorsement from the University of Arkansas in 2014. At Central Arkansas, he earned a master's in school leadership, management and administration in 2017. He is married to Lauren Calcagni, a special education teacher who works as an autism evaluator with Goodwill Gulf Coast.

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