Bio

Gerald Cadogan, a Portsmouth native who played college football at Penn State after a decorated five-sport high school career at Portsmouth High School, officially became the fourth athletic director in the history of Shawnee State University, as a four-year institution, on July 3, 2023. Cadogan will be in his second academic year leading the Shawnee State Athletic Department when the 2024-25 academic year commences.

In his first season at Shawnee State, Cadogan oversaw 24 NAIA National Qualifiers between men's cross country, women's and men's swimming and men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field, with the men's cross country program winning the 2023 River States Conference Championship and the women's cross country program placing as the River States Conference Runner-Up. The men's cross country program posted two NAIA All-Americans (Aiden Kammler and Shawn Little) while the men's indoor and outdoor track and field programs each had two national top-10 finishers with Aiden Kammler and Justin Moore combining for three NAIA All-American honors between them. Moore ultimately finished third nationally in the shot put, the highest finish by any underclassman in the country in the event.

Additionally, the softball program proceeded to win its most games in 25 years en route to going 36-11 with a top-five winning season in program history, the first conference championship of any kind since 2010 by winning the River States Conference's East Division Championship and a River States Conference Tournament Runner-Up finish, while the baseball program more than tripled its win total from 2023, posted its first winning season in 10 years and its most wins in 10 years as a result (26-21).

The men's basketball and women's basketball programs each made River States Conference Semifinal appearances with the men's basketball program matching its second-most victories in a single-season in program history and winning a NAIA National Tournament contest for the second time in a postseason in program history, the men's tennis program set a new program record for victories in a single season and posted its first-ever double-digit winning season, with 10, and the women's tennis program matched a single-season program record with seven victories as a team.

In addition to overseeing three NAIA All-Americans under his watch during the 2023-24 season, Cadogan also had three individuals -- men's tennis players Keenen Lambert and Zayden Rinehart and men's cross country and track and field standout Aiden Kammler -- were named as College Sports Communicators Academic All-Americans.

Most importantly, Cadogan saw a school record 20 teams obtain NAIA Scholar Team honors, and began the first-ever Shawnee State Athletic Awards Ceremony, which awarded various awards such as Male and Female Athlete of the Year and Male and Female Coach of the Year among additional accolades.

A well-accomplished individual, Cadogan has served as the head coach of the boys and girls swimming programs at Portsmouth High School for the past 10 years in each discipline. He previously served as the head coach of the men’s track team and as an assistant football coach under current Portsmouth head football coach Bruce Kalb for the last nine years which ran simultanously to his duties as the boys and girls swimming coach at Portsmouth, and was Shawnee State's first head coach in the sport of swimming, which he led for four years before handing the keys off to his star pupil, Kenzie Pennington.

Cadogan entered his first season as the head coach of Shawnee State University men’s and women’s swimming programs, which debuted in the newly renovated Warsaw Natatorium in 2020. In his first season against outside competition and his second year as a head coach overall, Cadogan coached three Mid-South Conference Swimmer of the Week recipients in Cody Borsini, Kenzie Pennington and Wenjie Lu. Pennington, who earned all-conference honors in the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke, was named as not only the program's first-ever All-Mid-South Conference honoree, but its first-ever NAIA All-American as well following the season's conclusion. Pennington, along with De-Nicha Lewis, have been among the early standouts and faces for the youthful program which is just entering its fifth season of existence in the 2023-24 campaign.

Cadogan, who is a 2004 graduate of Portsmouth High School, was a decorated four-sport student-athlete during his time at PHS, ultimately lettering in football, basketball, swimming, and track and field while with the Trojans.

In football, Cadogan was a First-Team Division IV All-Southeast District and Division IV First-Team All-Ohio selection as an offensive lineman in 2003, helped lead Portsmouth to a 39-11 overall record during his four seasons as a varsity letterman under head coach Curt Clifford, and pushed the Trojans to a state semifinal appearance and two regional final appearances as a varsity hand. Those accomplishments led to Cadogan being named as an Ohio finalist for the Wendy’s High School Heisman, with the Portsmouth Daily Times following suit by naming Cadogan as its Sportsman of the Year.

Cadogan — who, as a football prospect, was ranked eighth in the state in the Class of 2004 with a three-star ranking and a .8556 composite ranking according to 24/7 Sports — signed with Penn State as the nation’s No. 335 overall prospect. He later became a two-year starter for the Nittany Lions at left tackle and earned Academic All-Big 10 honors three times while being named as an Academic All-American twice, and graduated with honors from Penn State while double majoring in psychology and rehabilitation services all while earning Consensus First-Team All Big-10 honors in his senior season.

Professionally, Cadogan was signed to the Cincinnati Bengals’, Carolina Panthers’, Indianapolis Colts’, Philadelphia Eagles’, and San Diego (now Los Angeles) Chargers’ practice squads before finishing his football career in the Canadian Football League with the Calgary Stampeders and the Toronto Argonauts, whom Cadogan won a Grey Cup with in 2012. Since that time, Cadogan has established himself as a prominent figure on the Portsmouth sidelines in one form or another.

In 2018, the Trojans, under the leadership of Cadogan and head coach Bruce Kalb, won their final four games to clinch the football program’s first playoff berth since 2007 as the offensive line, coached primarily by Cadogan and his brother, Nate, paved the way for Talyn Parker’s record-breaking 2,530-yard campaign that also featured 29 rushing touchdowns and a school-record 382-yard, five-touchdown performance against Chesapeake by Parker in a 55-39 victory.

However, Cadogan’s success as a swimming and track and field coach was even more pronounced.

In 10 seasons as the Portsmouth swimming coach, Cadogan’s led the Trojans to Scioto County Championships in over half of those years — and in track, Aiden Kammler, a senior student-athlete in the men's cross country and track programs at SSU, qualified for the OHSAA Division II 3200 Meter Run State Championship under Cadogan’s direction, ultimately finishing 15th in the event.  In the case of the swimming program, Cadogan raised its participation to host 35 boys and girls, and started a junior high program, which currently features over 20 swimmers on its roster.

In addition to his accomplishments in sport, the 37-year old — who has since obtained a master’s degree in education — has taught inside the Portsmouth City School District, currently runs his own football camp, the Gerald Cadogan Football Camp, which has hosted student-athletes from third through 12th grades, has volunteered his time with activities surrounding the Spartan Stadium Renovation Project, is the founder of the Portsmouth UNITY Project, and is the Director of Music and Worship at LifePoint Church in Portsmouth.

Cadogan currently resides in Portsmouth.