Paul Shaffner

Paul Shaffner

Paul Shaffner enters his fifth season as the head football coach at Buffalo State. In his first four seasons, he has paced the Bengals to a 12-27 record and has mentored 31 All-Conference players, as well as see the team compete in the New Jersey Athletic Conference for the first time in 2006.

Prior to coming to Buffalo State, Shaffner was a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletics Conference Coach of the Year as the head coach at Division II Glenville State (WV) where he spent four seasons, and led the Pioneers to a WVIAC championship in his second season. Off the field, he helped establish academic integrity as the team’s overall grade point average rose from 1.9 to above 2.5.
Active in college football for more than 20 years, Shaffner's coaching experience began as the defensive coordinator at Division III Maine Maritime Academy from 1983 through 1985. He spent the next two years as a graduate assistant coach on Joe Paterno's staff at Penn State University and enjoyed a Division I National Championship in his first season thanks to a Fiesta Bowl victory over the University of Miami.

He served as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Division I-AA Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., from 1988 to 1999, where he helped his team to two Patriot League championships and a Colonial League title. 

Shaffner currently serves as a member of the NCAA Football Rules Committee and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Rules Committee.  He has also formerly served on the AFCA Division II All-America committee and as an AFCA district representative.

A 1982 graduate of Ithaca College, where he earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in physical education, Shaffner served as a co-captain at center and played on the 1979 NCAA Division III National Championship team and 1980 National runner-up squad for the Bombers. He won the Sebring Memorial Award his senior year for the top Scholar-Athlete.

Paul and his wife Donna reside in Orchard Park with their three children, Jessica, Samantha and Jacob.