New London’s Tywan Jenkins knows what it takes to run a successful high school football program having played for the likes of Jack Cochran, Jeff Larson and Juan Roman.

Jenkins plans to bring the Whaler way with him to Bunnell High School of Stratford. The 2011 graduate was announced as the Bulldogs new head coach last Friday at the young age of 26.

“Jack Cochran would get any resource for his players,” Jenkins said. “The same thing with Jeff Larson. The same thing with Juan Roman. The same thing with Tommie Major. They all reached into the community, and I plan to install that into my staff and bring a little bit of New London to (Bunnell) because we made a blueprint in New London that worked.

“New London football has always been the glue of the community. … I want Bunnell football to be the glue of the community.”

Jenkins was a starting offensive lineman for New London’s 2009 and 2010 playoff teams, the latter which played for the Class M title. He was selected to The Day's All-Area team in 2010. He moved on to Southern Connecticut State University to play football and majored in special education.

“A lot of (my career decision) came from knowing Juan Roman,” Jenkins said. “I saw the work that he did as a probation officer and was so influential to me. It made me want to help people in a different way.

“Karen, the wife of (former New London superintendent) Nick Fischer, she was very influential in helping me with my college essay and everything. She told me to find a problem in this world and try to solve it. My mother, Alicia, works with people with disabilities, the older generation, and that always inspired me, but I never thought I’d want to do it.”

Jenkins started to think about coaching after learning what it was like playing college football.

“I knew my time in football was running out,” Jenkins he. “I had always been the biggest kid (at New London). When I got to college, both my guards were 6-foot-6, and my tackles were 6-7 or taller. Being a 6-1, 290-pound kid, I wasn’t (physically) impressive anymore for me to succeed.

“My one advantage was my IQ for the game. I was a coach on the field. (We once had) a freshman quarterback, and I was helping him with audibles as the center. … I studied the best way to block using angles. It wasn’t how I could move you, but how I could move you in the smartest way possible. And that sort of started this whole thing as coach).”

Jenkins teaches special education at Norwalk High School and spent the past two seasons as Stamford’s defensive coordinator, even though he’s partial to offense.

“My natural instincts are protection having played offensive line, blocking for Casey Cochran of Josh Clement,” Jenkins said. “I always took it personal (keeping them safe).

“I told Juan Roman, ‘I don’t know if I could do that. He said, ‘Yes, you can. Just think what would frustrate you (and an offensive lineman).”

Jenkins began getting looks from other high schools for their head coaching jobs while he was coaching at Stamford.

“I knew deep in my heart that I wanted to coach in a place like New London,” Jenkins said. “It would’ve been great to come back, but they just didn’t have the opportunities at the time.

“The reason why I was attracted to the town of Stratford is it’s very much like New London. You go down Ocean Avenue and there are million-dollar houses. Then you go down Crystal Avenue and see some things people never see.”

Bunnell has gotten very used to winning. It went 25-7 the last three seasons under former coach Sean Mignone and was a CIAC quarterfinalist in 2016 and 2018.

Asked what made Jenkins the right choice, Bunnell athletic director Wayne Thrall said, “Just his football acumen. He brings a lot of knowledge and his vision for what he wanted to do with the program.”

n.griffen@theday.com