FB: Liberty League

[The Man]

I am hearing that the winds of change are swirling on the South Hill of Ithaca, NY. I don't know anything for certain but I would not be shocked if by next week big changes are announced.

Toerper going to East Hill to be Swanstrom's new DC, I suppose.

https://footballscoop.com/2025/12/10/sources-ivy-league-school-parting-ways-with-defensive-coordinator

Toerper to Cornell as DC. Hopkins OC to Ithaca as new HC. 🤫

[ICGrad]

Coaches are adults -- and not just in the 18-year old legal sense, as in the fully developed brain sense-- they make more money than (most) of us to do what they do, and I think this makes them fair game for reasonable criticisms of performance.

I doubt this is true at the D3 level, but agree with everything else you said. Spot on.

Well, I know Toerper makes more than me, Fitzpatrick too, that's for sure. You fellas may be backing up the old Brinks trucks to the house, but I'm sure not, haha

I mean, I have almost 30 years experience as a programmer and work at a Fortune 100 company. I'm not rolling in dough, but I've been plugging away at this long enough to be doing ok.

[ICAlum16]

I would gladly welcome anyone from the Hopkins staff to the Ithaca staff

I am hearing that the winds of change are swirling on the South Hill of Ithaca, NY. I don't know anything for certain but I would not be shocked if by next week big changes are announced.

Toerper going to East Hill to be Swanstrom's new DC, I suppose.

https://footballscoop.com/2025/12/10/sources-ivy-league-school-parting-ways-with-defensive-coordinator

Toerper to Cornell as DC. Hopkins OC to Ithaca as new HC. 🤫

[IC798891]

It is official

https://athletics.ithaca.edu/news/2025/12/14/head-football-coach-michael-toerper-to-depart-ithaca-college.aspx

Closing the book on the Toerper Head Coach era at IC:

35-10 overall
23-2 in the Liberty League
3-2 in the NCAA playoffs
2-2 in Cortaca

Of his 10 losses, 7 of them came to teams that finished the season ranked 9th or higher in the final D3football.com poll.

And before the "he did his best work with Swanstrom's recruits" comments start, it's worth noting that he was the team's defensive coordinator through the 2019 season, and that the 2020 season giving everyone extra eligibility means that quite a large number of the defensive players who were part of the 2022/2023 playoff teams were indeed still "his" guys

[NEd3ALUM]

It is official

https://athletics.ithaca.edu/news/2025/12/14/head-football-coach-michael-toerper-to-depart-ithaca-college.aspx

Closing the book on the Toerper Head Coach era at IC:

35-10 overall
23-2 in the Liberty League
3-2 in the NCAA playoffs
2-2 in Cortaca

Of his 10 losses, 7 of them came to teams that finished the season ranked 9th or higher in the final D3football.com poll.

And before the "he did his best work with Swanstrom's recruits" comments start, it's worth noting that he was the team's defensive coordinator through the 2019 season, and that the 2020 season giving everyone extra eligibility means that quite a large number of the defensive players who were part of the 2022/2023 playoff teams were indeed still "his" guys

A great run. Aside from Hopkins OC, who else might IC consider? Coach Green at Hobart?

[IC798891]

A great run. Aside from Hopkins OC, who else might IC consider? Coach Green at Hobart?

I'm not really sure how this Hopkins OC thing has started, other than it being a thing that might make intuitive sense. I doubt the college has "considered" him in this rather brief opening (I know they've probably known for a few weeks, but still.)

This does feel a little different than the past two searches. The post-Welch search had a strong internal candidate in Mark McDonough, and the post-Swanstrom search had a kinda sorta internal guy in the very recently departed Toerper (who could not be recruited Swanstrom, as Dan was not a Head Coach and worked on the other side of the ball)

This one feels like it's got no "obvious" people who will apply. No longtime former coaches are out there for the taking, otherwise we'd have seen them pop up in the last two searches.

I wonder if someone like McGonagle at Endicott sees the ceiling there vs. a place like Ithaca. I'm sure Ithaca would love to start recruiting New England again.

(The total heel move would be calling up Blumenhauer and offering to top his Cortland salary by 20%, BTW)

[XREDDRAGON77]

Coach Blu leaving Cortland to go to IC doesn't seem as that crazy of an idea! I liked him when I met him at an alumni event, but the chance to go home when you're already 30 minutes away?

[ICAlum16]

Did anyone see the tweet response Frank Rossi had to the Ithaca X post about the Toerper departure?

He tweeted "This is the best-case scenario for probably everyone involved" which I thought was a little strange. Obviously Frank is a known Union guy, which I have no problem with and I love what he does covering D3 and very much think he covers Ithaca fairly, but what do you think he means by this? Did Toerper wrong him in some way? Did he just think that Toerp had reached his ceiling and wasn't going to win a big game?

I know from people in the world that Toerper is kind of polarizing in the sense that people in the program love him but he maybe has some during game/post game actions that rub people the wrong way. So it wouldn't surprise me if at some point he took issue with something Frank said at some point. It could be a whole lot of nothing but it feels like there is something deeper there.

[IC798891]

Frank's refusal to answer the very basic question of why this is supposedly the best-case scenario for Ithaca is proof he's just saying it to get a response and rile people up.

He certainly doesn't have his finger on the pulse of how Ithaca feels about Toerper, that much you can be sure of.

His personality wasn't for everyone, but Toerper was an excellent coach, whose down years produced regular seasons on par with anything produced by Welch or Swanstrom this past decade and whose 2022 and 2023 seasons gave Ithaca playoff wins in back to back years for the first time since 1985 and 1986 -- yes you read that correctly. He was enthusiastic about Ithaca, and speaking from experience, a willing campus partner.

[unionpalooza]

Not sure what the Rossi/Toerper beef is, but if you're a Union fan, you learned all you ever needed to know about Toerper when had to be physically restrained by his own staff after berating a Union player in the handshake line after Ithaca's win at Union last year. Ithaca's a great school and a great program and deserves better.  I'm sure they will do just fine identifying the next HC - it's about as attractive a position as they are in D3.  I think the real challenge is finding a candidate who is not only a great coach but also interested in settling into the position for the long haul, rather than using it as a stepping stone (see, Swanstrom, Toerper, Poppe, Fitpatrick, etc.).

 

[Jonny Utah]

This all stems from the allegation that Union targeted Wingfield 2 years ago and put him out for the season. 

Everything after that stems from this allegation. 

Even this year (although not discussed on the board) I heard Union people (not sure if it were players coaches or fans) acted unsportsmanlike after the game.  I didn't care enough to ask the Ithaca people I knew were there but I saw the comments on social media.

I'm guessing Frank got his info from Union sources who have a different version.  I've also talked to Union people who didn't know about the Wingfield allegation but did know about Toerper going off on Union players and staff last year.


Anyway that's all I know from the allegation standpoint. I do remember the play Wingfield got hurt on, you can't tell what really happened as there was a pile.

[Jonny Utah]

And yea these jobs being stepping stones are going to be like this forever I'm guessing.  Doesn't mean it puts Union or Ithaca in a bad spot though, as it seems they have done ok with the coaching changes so far.

Would have been interesting to see if Toerper would have left if Swanstrom was at Penn and not Cornell as Toerper has some family ties to the Ithaca area.

One thing about the Ivy Leagues I found interesting is that new head coaches seem to keep more of the old staff than you normally see.  Although I'm guessing swanstrom relieved Backus of his duties, he kept some of the old staff.  The new Harvard coach kept the entire staff after Tim Murphy retired.

Anyway I have no clue who Ithaca plans to get for the next HC.  I don't mind as much as I used to though if someone wants to move on.

(And to ICs point I don't think Endicotts coach would come to Ithaca, he's probably moving up or staying)

[IC798891]

I'm not going to get into the whole Ithaca/Union beef because there's no resolving we said/they said nonsense.

I can merely say this: No one in the Ithaca athletic department cares the least bit about what Frank Rossi thinks about Toerper's departure from South Hill.

I also know that the list of people, schools, conferences and Division 3 football websites who've had more than enough of Frank grows every year.

[UfanBill]

This all stems from the allegation that Union targeted Wingfield 2 years ago and put him out for the season. 

Everything after that stems from this allegation. 

Even this year (although not discussed on the board) I heard Union people (not sure if it were players coaches or fans) acted unsportsmanlike after the game.  I didn't care enough to ask the Ithaca people I knew were there but I saw the comments on social media.

I'm guessing Frank got his info from Union sources who have a different version.  I've also talked to Union people who didn't know about the Wingfield allegation but did know about Toerper going off on Union players and staff last year.


Anyway that's all I know from the allegation standpoint. I do remember the play Wingfield got hurt on, you can't tell what really happened as there was a pile.

Speaking of being able to see what really happened...May I refer all to THIS year's Union vs Ithaca game when early in the game Bombers LB Henry Takacs took a cheap shot at Union QB Patch Flanagan. Launching himself and hitting Patch in face with what was rightfully deemed targeting. Could that have been on purpose and on Toerper?..Not accusing just adding it to the mix. 

...Could Utica H/C Blaise Faggiano be interested in returning to his alma mater?

[Pat Coleman]

I don't remember where this falls in the Wingfield timeline, but the Toerper beef with Frank Rossi was in place by the time the Ithaca-North Central game took place in the 2022 quarterfinals.

I was not aware it was still persisting, but haven't talked to Frank much in the past 12 months.