Ithaca College names Toerper new head coach

When former Ithaca College football head coach Dan Swanstrom departed for the University of Pennsylvania this offseason after five seasons at the helm, Ithaca had many directions it could have gone when selecting his replacement. Would it be a familiar face or a fresh perspective? After a monthlong search, Ithaca announced that it had brought back Mike Toerper (Ter-per), a former defensive coordinator for the Bombers who helped make the defensive unit one of the nation’s best.

Toerper was on Swanstrom’s coaching staff from 2017 to 2019, holding opponents to just over 10 points per game. Those impressive results earned him a position at Division I College of the Holy Cross as the safeties coach, where he’s been for the past two seasons. The defensive success followed him, as Holy Cross allowed the fewest yards in the nation last season.

Many players he coached at Ithaca College are still on the roster, and their respect for Toerper was evident when the coach was introduced to the team. In a video posted by Ithaca College, Toerper enters a classroom after being introduced to the team by Athletic Director Susan Bassett and is immediately swarmed by a crowd of excited football players, who were overjoyed to see him back with the Bombers. Toerper gave his reaction to the warm welcome.

“I think everybody in this country right now has probably done enough Zoom this past year,” Toerper said. “We both agreed that, if I could turn around and tell them in person, it would be a special moment. I was not expecting to get mobbed the way I did. I thought it was going to be an exciting announcement, but those guys, that’s just who they are. They’re full of energy and a lot of fun to coach. It was most definitely one of the most special moments in my coaching career. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Toerper is familiar with the Bombers’ program and culture, but now, he gets to take it in whichever direction he wants. Having played Division I football at the University of Pittsburgh under former NFL head coach Dave Wannstedt, Toerper knows what kind of program he’d like to play for.

“College football is such a unique sport because you’re only guaranteed 10 games a year,” Toerper said. “There’s so much that goes into those 10 games for the rest of the year. The most important thing is being able to create an environment that our players are excited to come to work with us every day. I think the way that you do that is to make it a player-driven program. I’m sure that it’s pretty close right now. We have some strong leadership on the team that will help lift the guys up from different levels, and that helps create leadership among some of the guys that are younger.”

Coming back to Division III football after having success at Division I is evidence of how much Toerper loved his time in Ithaca. Toerper discussed his connection to the area.

“It really starts with family,” he said. “My wife [Leigh] is a Bomber. She graduated from Ithaca back in 2015 and was a standout track athlete. My brother-in-law played football here in Ithaca and played wide receiver. Her family’s 45 minutes away. I’m from York, Pennsylvania. It’s not too far down the road from here. To get a chance to raise our family — and hopefully some more family down the stretch here — around family, that was really important to us. But also the alumni, the administration, the people, the care that I felt during my three years here as a defensive coordinator was unlike anything I’ve ever been around.”

As mentioned earlier, Toerper has coached many of the seniors and juniors on the current roster. That connection to the players was another factor that brought him back.

“In the short term, it certainly was something that was exciting to me, especially being around a group of guys that a lot of them I coached and recruited, getting a chance to, let’s be honest, right the ship and finish some business that we think we have to take care of together,” Toerper said. “That was something that was really an exciting pull for me back to Ithaca. This place attracts great young men and guys that love the game of football who do the right thing for the right reason.”

Toerper has worked with the man he is replacing, Dan Swanstrom, at both Ithaca College and Johns Hopkins University. The two have a strong connection, and he is in regular contact with Swanstrom to ensure the transition goes as smoothly as possible. Now inheriting a team that was nationally ranked for the majority of last season, Toerper plans on taking the Bombers to even greater heights.

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