Hired in January of 2021, Shawn Daignault is entering his second season as the head football coach at Liberty High School.  Daignault, a 1995 graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, brings 25 years of coaching experience to the Hurricane program, with 21 of those being at the college level.

Prior to Liberty, Daignault served as the defensive coordinator at Northampton High School for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons.  While at Northampton he was a part of a staff that orchestrated a resurgence of that program that included an EPC North Championship in 2019. The Northampton defense saw immediate improvement upon Daignault’s arrival in 2018, giving up only 15.9 points per game after 7 consecutive seasons of giving up an average of more than 30.  In 29 games at Northampton, Daignault’s defenses posted 6 shutouts including 3 in a row during the 2018 season.

In 2009 Daignault moved to the Lehigh Valley and joined the staff at Moravian College where he coached defensive backs and outside linebackers at various times during two stints on that staff, ending with the 2017 season.

From 2006 to 2008, Daignault spent three seasons on the defensive staff at Stony Brook University on Long Island coaching linebackers (2006) and defensive backs (2007, 2008).  He also served as the Seawolves’ special teams coordinator during this time.  He was a part of a staff that guided the Stony Brook program from the non-scholarship ranks of FCS Division I football into the scholarships ranks, spending a year as an independent before joining the Big South Conference and eventually the Colonial Athletic Association.

Daignault spent the 2005 season coaching defensive backs at the University of Pennsylvania in the Ivy League and before that he was the defensive coordinator at the United States Merchant Marine Academy for three seasons. While at Kings Point, two of his defensive players were awarded the Freedom Football Conference’s defensive player of the year award (Kyle Franklin, 2002 and Frank Dore, 2003) Under Daignault’s tutelage the 2002 Mariners ranked 18th nationally in total defense and seventh in pass efficiency defense. The 2002 Mariner defense also led the Freedom Football Conference in most major statistical categories including sacks, interceptions, passing yards per game and passing efficiency defense.

In the fall of 1998, Daignault moved to Hartford, Connecticut to join the staff at Trinity College.  During his four years with the Bantams, he coached defensive backs (2000, 2001) and outside linebackers (1998, 1999). He also served as the team’s special teams coordinator for two seasons in 2000 and 2001. Daignault also earned a master’s degree in American Studies from Trinity in 2002.

Daignault’s coaching experience also includes a two-year period at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA where he worked with the defensive backs in 1997 and spent his only year as an offensive coach, working with tight ends in 1996.  After graduation he also spent one year coaching outside linebackers at Middlebury in the fall of 1995.