In 1983, his Southern Illinois team went 13–1, the best record in school history, winning the 1983 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game.
There he worked for three years under Bill McDonald, who later served as head coach at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Dempsey moved on to Central Catholic High School, in Perry Township, Stark County, Ohio near Canton, in 1965.
[2] He succeeded Dike Beede, who helmed the Youngstown State Penguins football program from its inception in 1938 until his retirement following the 1972 season.
works alongside Mike Gottfried with the Team Focus program, a leadership camp for fatherless boys.
He has been involved in the program since its founding in 2000 and continues to act as the camp pastor and director of spiritual development, providing lectures and sermons.