Photo by: Dajah Mincey/Davidson Athletics
Thakkar Ready to Lead 'Cats into New Era
8/29/2025 4:12:00 PM | Football
Davidson Opens the 2025 Campaign Saturday against Georgetown
DAVIDSON, N.C. — "Adapt and overcome."
Those three texted words arrived in Chris Clunie's inbox at a blurry-eyed, early-morning, mid-December hour.
They were from Saj Thakkar, one of the top candidates for the open head football coaching job at Davidson College. Thakkar, then the coach at Bentley University in Massachusetts, was due to meet Clunie, Davidson's athletics director, on campus in mere hours, but he was navigating some travel challenges, like a running back trying to finesse his way back to the line of scrimmage against an onslaught of unblocked defenders.
A mid-afternoon flight from Boston to Charlotte had turned into multiple delays and, ultimately, a 12:28 a.m. cancellation, leaving him 847 miles away and calling an audible. The gameplan was out the window. Thakkar had to just, well, adapt and overcome.
Of course, everyone else on the southbound flight was doing the same. Instead of waiting in line at the counter, Thakkar himself countered and stepped away from the crowd to call the airline. He finally caught a break when he secured a seat — the final seat, in fact — on a Charlotte-bound flight from Manchester, N.H., set to leave at 5:40 a.m. The Thakkars' home was, fortunately and conveniently, located in between the two airports.
"I took an Uber home, showered, changed into my suit, drove to the airport, hopped on the plane, flew down to Charlotte and then interviewed all day that next day from about 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.," he says.
Notice anything missing from that adjusted itinerary? Ah yes, sleep. The night before a day-long interview for what he hoped would be his next job, Thakkar didn't step foot into a hotel or crawl into a bed. Running on adrenaline, he settled onboard his flight, exhaled a bit and rested the best he could en route to Charlotte.
"He came in ready to go," says Clunie, who greeted Thakkar that morning with an open-ended, "What do you need?" and a smile. "It was such a crazy night before, getting in here. But the 'adapt and overcome,' was super positive. He was just so thankful for the opportunity overall. The travel disruptions didn't even impact him. And he still crushed it, obviously, and left such an impression. That's why he's here now."
Now eight months into the job, Thakkar leads his first Davidson team into the 2025 season on Saturday when the Wildcats host Georgetown at 1 p.m.
Thakkar's Path to Davidson
Thakkar's journey to the head coaching job at Davidson was, actually, quite quick by typical standards. At Saturday's kickoff, he's 34 years old and among the youngest college head coaches in any sport.
Growing up in Wakefield, Mass., sports was an early passion, and he gravitated to football. He learned a tough lesson early when he didn't make the required weight to play Pop Warner. Devastated to miss out while his friends played, he vowed to never let anything keep him off the field again.
His older brother, Bunty, was his mentor from birth. The two shared many days playing sports together in the backyard and around town, and Bunty's impact as a coach influenced Saj's career path. For more on that, click here.
Thakkar played at Wakefield High School, where he developed his love for the game and also competed in lacrosse and basketball. He set his sights on playing football at the next level and took an elective in TV production so he could mail out his highlights on DVDs.
"I was a quarterback that probably didn't have the best arm, wasn't the best athlete," he says. "But I'd like to think I knew the game pretty well, and that's why I became a coach. I always knew what to do, couldn't always do it, and I think the knowledge piece was awesome for me as I personally got into college."
At Division III Fitchburg State in his home state, Thakkar played quarterback and receiver and was a three-time academic all-conference selection.
By the time his playing career ended, he had long since decided that coaching was his career route. So, the spring of his senior year, Thakkar sent hundreds of emails to colleges and junior colleges of all levels and even to NFL teams, just trying to get his foot in the door. But while he awaited responses from cyberspace, opportunity knocked on-campus at Fitchburg State when his head coach, Pat Haverty, asked him to work with the running backs his senior spring. Before long, Thakkar earned a graduate assistant job for the next two years.
His first full-time coaching job came at Division III SUNY-Maritime, where he worked for three seasons and got the opportunity to coach the quarterbacks and call plays for the first time. Then came five years working as a Harvard assistant for Tim Murphy, the Ivy League's all-time winningest coach. There, he learned more about "recruiting at the national level and the organization of a program with a big name and what that means when you represent a logo that carries weight all around the world."
In April of 2023, shortly after being hired as offensive coordinator at Division II Bentley in Waltham, Mass., Thakkar was named the interim head coach, following a coaching change. By mid-June, the interim tag was removed. In two s
easons, he led the Falcons to a 14-6 record and two second-place finishes in the Northeast 10.
Then the opening at Davidson piqued his interest. He wasn't really looking for his next job, but it was the kind of program at the kind of institution that stood out. Thakkar had no prior connection to the college or the program and no inside track via a personal connection, but he tossed his name into the mix anyway. Throughout the process, he made the cut and stayed on the radar of Clunie and the search committee. Eventually, he was the last one standing.
"He's super personable, just a great personality, easy to talk to, has just a great disposition about him," says Clunie. "He's high-energy as well, so it's a good balance. He's just really confident in himself, confident in what he and his staff think they can do with this program."
When Thakkar got to campus and met with folks in-person, he sensed he was in the right place.
"There was an alignment here, and there was a vision here, and I knew that winning and student-athlete success was important to Davidson College," he says. "I left here thinking, 'This is a place I want to be.' That's all I could ask for in the interview process."
The next day, Thakkar was back home in his living room with his wife, Bobbi-Jo, and their children, Caiden and Ensley, when the phone rang. It was Clunie. Thakkar stepped away from the shine of the Christmas tree and from Gizmo, his drooling, English Bulldog and into another room to take the call.
Offered the job, he accepted immediately. He didn't even have to sleep on it.
Those three texted words arrived in Chris Clunie's inbox at a blurry-eyed, early-morning, mid-December hour.
They were from Saj Thakkar, one of the top candidates for the open head football coaching job at Davidson College. Thakkar, then the coach at Bentley University in Massachusetts, was due to meet Clunie, Davidson's athletics director, on campus in mere hours, but he was navigating some travel challenges, like a running back trying to finesse his way back to the line of scrimmage against an onslaught of unblocked defenders.
A mid-afternoon flight from Boston to Charlotte had turned into multiple delays and, ultimately, a 12:28 a.m. cancellation, leaving him 847 miles away and calling an audible. The gameplan was out the window. Thakkar had to just, well, adapt and overcome.
Of course, everyone else on the southbound flight was doing the same. Instead of waiting in line at the counter, Thakkar himself countered and stepped away from the crowd to call the airline. He finally caught a break when he secured a seat — the final seat, in fact — on a Charlotte-bound flight from Manchester, N.H., set to leave at 5:40 a.m. The Thakkars' home was, fortunately and conveniently, located in between the two airports.
"I took an Uber home, showered, changed into my suit, drove to the airport, hopped on the plane, flew down to Charlotte and then interviewed all day that next day from about 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.," he says.
Notice anything missing from that adjusted itinerary? Ah yes, sleep. The night before a day-long interview for what he hoped would be his next job, Thakkar didn't step foot into a hotel or crawl into a bed. Running on adrenaline, he settled onboard his flight, exhaled a bit and rested the best he could en route to Charlotte.
"He came in ready to go," says Clunie, who greeted Thakkar that morning with an open-ended, "What do you need?" and a smile. "It was such a crazy night before, getting in here. But the 'adapt and overcome,' was super positive. He was just so thankful for the opportunity overall. The travel disruptions didn't even impact him. And he still crushed it, obviously, and left such an impression. That's why he's here now."
Now eight months into the job, Thakkar leads his first Davidson team into the 2025 season on Saturday when the Wildcats host Georgetown at 1 p.m.
Thakkar's Path to Davidson
Thakkar's journey to the head coaching job at Davidson was, actually, quite quick by typical standards. At Saturday's kickoff, he's 34 years old and among the youngest college head coaches in any sport.
Growing up in Wakefield, Mass., sports was an early passion, and he gravitated to football. He learned a tough lesson early when he didn't make the required weight to play Pop Warner. Devastated to miss out while his friends played, he vowed to never let anything keep him off the field again.
His older brother, Bunty, was his mentor from birth. The two shared many days playing sports together in the backyard and around town, and Bunty's impact as a coach influenced Saj's career path. For more on that, click here.
Thakkar played at Wakefield High School, where he developed his love for the game and also competed in lacrosse and basketball. He set his sights on playing football at the next level and took an elective in TV production so he could mail out his highlights on DVDs.
"I was a quarterback that probably didn't have the best arm, wasn't the best athlete," he says. "But I'd like to think I knew the game pretty well, and that's why I became a coach. I always knew what to do, couldn't always do it, and I think the knowledge piece was awesome for me as I personally got into college."
At Division III Fitchburg State in his home state, Thakkar played quarterback and receiver and was a three-time academic all-conference selection.
By the time his playing career ended, he had long since decided that coaching was his career route. So, the spring of his senior year, Thakkar sent hundreds of emails to colleges and junior colleges of all levels and even to NFL teams, just trying to get his foot in the door. But while he awaited responses from cyberspace, opportunity knocked on-campus at Fitchburg State when his head coach, Pat Haverty, asked him to work with the running backs his senior spring. Before long, Thakkar earned a graduate assistant job for the next two years.
His first full-time coaching job came at Division III SUNY-Maritime, where he worked for three seasons and got the opportunity to coach the quarterbacks and call plays for the first time. Then came five years working as a Harvard assistant for Tim Murphy, the Ivy League's all-time winningest coach. There, he learned more about "recruiting at the national level and the organization of a program with a big name and what that means when you represent a logo that carries weight all around the world."
In April of 2023, shortly after being hired as offensive coordinator at Division II Bentley in Waltham, Mass., Thakkar was named the interim head coach, following a coaching change. By mid-June, the interim tag was removed. In two s
easons, he led the Falcons to a 14-6 record and two second-place finishes in the Northeast 10. Then the opening at Davidson piqued his interest. He wasn't really looking for his next job, but it was the kind of program at the kind of institution that stood out. Thakkar had no prior connection to the college or the program and no inside track via a personal connection, but he tossed his name into the mix anyway. Throughout the process, he made the cut and stayed on the radar of Clunie and the search committee. Eventually, he was the last one standing.
"He's super personable, just a great personality, easy to talk to, has just a great disposition about him," says Clunie. "He's high-energy as well, so it's a good balance. He's just really confident in himself, confident in what he and his staff think they can do with this program."
When Thakkar got to campus and met with folks in-person, he sensed he was in the right place.
"There was an alignment here, and there was a vision here, and I knew that winning and student-athlete success was important to Davidson College," he says. "I left here thinking, 'This is a place I want to be.' That's all I could ask for in the interview process."
The next day, Thakkar was back home in his living room with his wife, Bobbi-Jo, and their children, Caiden and Ensley, when the phone rang. It was Clunie. Thakkar stepped away from the shine of the Christmas tree and from Gizmo, his drooling, English Bulldog and into another room to take the call.
Offered the job, he accepted immediately. He didn't even have to sleep on it.
WEEK 2: Coaches Corner with Head Coach Saj Thakkar presented by Atrium Health.
Tuesday, September 02
Davidson coach Saj Thakkar's inspiration
Friday, August 29
2025 Davidson Football -- GridIron Club Kickoff Call
Friday, August 29
FY25 Davidson Football Coaching Staff Feb Zoom
Monday, February 10