Energy and expectations are running high at NSU under second-year head coach Darrin Chiaverini

"It's going to be an exciting year for us in year 2 in 'The 'Quah. The first year, we wanted to become competitive. The mission in year two is to win football games. And that's our goal."

Expectations and excitement are high for the Riverhawks under second-year head coach Darrin Chiaverini. It's almost a complete roster overhaul for NSU in 2025, with Chiaverini and his coaching staff bringing in 20 mid-year transfers and 40 freshmen. He says this year's team is light-years ahead of last year's team at this point.

"I thought we had a decent team going into that first year. But going through the MIAA conference and seeing the teams that we played, we didn't match up in some of those games. Now I feel like we can match up. We've got good speed at our skill positions. We've gotten bigger in the trenches on offense and defense," says Chiaverini.

One of the biggest reasons for the improvement of the talent on the roster has been the renewed focus on recruiting Green Country.

"Our opponents in the MIAA, especially in the surrounding areas, were beating us with our own players. What I mean by that, they were beating us with kids from Jenks. They were beating us with players from Bixby and Owasso, and Wagoner and Muskogee. We want those kids coming here. And now that I'm here, we're circling the wagons," says Chiaverini.

NSU finished the 2024 season with a 2-9 record, but four of those losses came in one-score games. Now the Riverhawks say they're ready to get over that hump and put some wins on the board in 2025.

"We've got to coach them better, and then we've got to take of the football on offense, and we've got to stop the run on defense. Our biggest Achilles' heel last season was too many turnovers offensively, especially in the second half of football games. And not being able to stop the run in the second half," says Chiaverini. "We've got to play better football, we've got to coach better, we've got to play better. And I think we're going to do that in year 2."

This will be the second year for NSU to play as a Division Two independent, and Chiaverini says this year's schedule will provide plenty of tests.

"Saginaw is really good football team in week one. We play a team out west who's nationally ranked. We're going to play West Alabama, who's nationally ranked. We're going to play West Florida, who's nationally ranked. We're going to play North Alabama, who's a Division One FCS opponent. We have a really solid schedule," says Chiaverini.

The Riverhawks are embodying the NSU G.R.I.T.: guts, being relentless, being intentional and having toughness. And fans are buying in as well.

"We want the surrounding areas, we want our alumni, we want our university to understand we're putting in a lot of hard work. We're going to play good football and we're going to win games in the fall, " says Chiaverini.