One of the school’s most successful athletic programs, the Ithaca football team also ranks among the top programs in the nation. The many highlights of Bomber football include the following:
• Three NCAA Division III National Championship - 1979, 1988 and 1991
• Seven appearances in the Division III National Championship game, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
• Totals of 48 playoff games and 31 wins (both among the Division III leaders).
• A .667 all-time winning percentage, with 542 wins in program history.
• Eight Lambert/Meadowlands Cups, presented to the top small-college program in the East each season; and nine Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) team of the year trophies.
• ECAC championships in 1984, 1996, 1998, 2004 and 2017.
• 153 All-Americans since 1940.
Since 1967, Ithaca’s Division III teams have been guided by coach Jim Butterfield (1967-93), a 1997 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, Mike Welch (1994-2016), a player and assistant coach under Butterfield, and Dan Swanstrom (2017-21) and current head coach Michael Toerper - who took over the program ahead of the 2022 season.
Michael Toerper took over the football program for the 2022 season as he was named the 11th coach in March 2022. Toerper guided the Bombers to a historic year in which IC finished 12-1, matching the second-most wins in single season history. The Bombers won their first outright Liberty League title and reached the NCAA Quarterfinals. Toerper and his staff were named Liberty League and D3football.com Region 3 Coaching Staff of the Year. Toerper was also named AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year. Sixteen players would be named All-Liberty League, while five of those were tabbed all-region. Bahamonde, A.J. Wingfield and Matt DeSimpliciis were honored with Liberty League Special Teams, Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year by the Liberty League. The Bombers were one of the most well-rounded teams across Division III as they ranked within to the top 10 each week in numerous offensive, defensive and special teams categories. Ithaca capped off its first undefeated regular season since 1986 with a 34-17 victory over Cortland in the 63rd Cortaca Jug Game at Yankee Stadium on November 12 in front of 40,232 fans, which set the second-highest attendance mark in Division III history. IC would go on to win NCAA games over UMass Dartmouth (63-20) and Springfield (31-20).
The Bombers repeated as Liberty League champions in 2023 with a perfect 6-0 record. IC would go 9-3 on the season and reached the second round of the NCAA Division III Championship. Ithaca played the hardest strength of schedule in the country this season as 17 members of the team were named All-Liberty League, including Offensive Player of the Year Jalen Leonard-Osbourne and Defensive Player of the Year Ben Stola.
In 2024, Ithaca went 6-4 and finished second in the Liberty League with a 5-1 mark. The Bombers faced a grueling schedule, which featured four NCAA teams and the defending national champions. Despite that, the Bombers still allowed just 12.5 points per game as senior captain and safety Jake Connolly was named Liberty League Co-Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-Region 2 by D3football.com and was first team defense by the Liberty League. Jalen Leonard-Osbourne etched his name into numerous career categories at the conclusion of the season to cement his place as one of the top running backs in program history.
The 10th head coach in school history, Dan Swanstrom, was officially introduced in January 2017. In his first season at the helm, Swanstrom revitalized Ithaca's offense and the Bombers went 8-3 on the season, including an ECAC Bowl victory over Salisbury and a win in the 59th Cortaca Jug Game, 48-20, to snap IC's seven-game losing streak in the rivalry. Ithaca averaged more than 370 of offense in 2017, while the defense held its opposition to 284 yards per game. In Swanstrom's second year with the program, IC once again went 8-3 behind one of the best defenses in DIII. Ithaca, which was also ranked within the top 25 by D3football.com for the first time in three seasons, allowed just 12.8 points and 259.5 yards per game. Pat Minogue '19 would be named First-Team All-American by the AFCA as a linebacker, as well as Liberty League Defensive Player of the Year. Will Gladney '20 was the Liberty League Offensive Player of the Year in 2018.
In 2019, Ithaca hit the big stage as the 60th Cortaca Jug Game was played in front of an NCAA Division III record crowd of 45,161 fans at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The Bombers came away with a 32-20 victory in that contest and finished the season with an 8-3 record. IC was ranked as high as No. 8 during the season and averaged nearly 38 points per game. Gladney went on to become the program's all-time leading receiver in receptions, yards and touchdowns, while transfer quarterback Joe Germinerio set single season passing records for yards, completions, attempts and yards per game. Gladney, John Hadac and Nick Garone were all named All-Americans.
The 2020 season would be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the Bombers returned to action and went 8-2 on the season, and were ranked within the top 25 most of the season, finishing 20th. IC averaged over 30 points per game and allowed just 11.6 per contest. The Bombers lost two games by a combined four points on the year - 14-11 to RPI and 28-27 to Cortland. Nicholas Bahamonde was named Liberty League Special Teams Player of the Year and Jalen Hines was named Rookie of the Year.
Following Butterfield’s retirement in 1993, Welch was named Ithaca’s ninth head football coach. His first team finished the regular season with six consecutive wins to earn the program’s 12th NCAA playoff berth. The Bombers posted playoff wins over Buffalo State (in overtime) and Plymouth State and nearly reached the Stagg Bowl, losing, 23-19, in the semifinals to Washington & Jefferson. Ithaca slipped to 5-4 in 1995 but was back in the postseason hunt again in 1996. The Bombers capped a 7-3 season with the ECAC Northeast championship, thanks to a 27-21 win at Worcester State. In 1997, a seven-game winning streak put Ithaca in the playoff race, but back-to-back losses by a total of eight points in the season’s last two games knocked the Bombers out of postseason contention.
The 1998 team won eight of 10 regular-season games, and then defeated Hartwick, 40-6, in the ECAC North championship. A year later, Ithaca made its 17th postseason appearance, reaching the ECAC Northwest championship. In 2001, the Bombers made a run in the NCAA tournament for the second time under Welch. After a 9-1 regular season, the 2001 team traveled to Montclair State and Rensselaer to post two playoff wins.
The Bombers then fell to Rowan to end the successful season. The 2003 season saw road wins over Brockport and Montclair State in the NCAA playoffs before a snowy loss at Rensselaer in the national quarterfinals. The 2005 team reached the NCAA playoffs for the 15th time and the 2007 and 2008 teams reached the NCAA postseason as well. Ithaca returned to the NCAA playoffs in 2013 after winning the Empire 8 Championship and earning automatic qualification to the NCAAs. The Bombers won a first-round game at Butterfield Stadium, a 20-17 win over Framingham State.
Welch announced his retirement from the program prior to the start of the 2016 season. The Bombers would go 5-5 that year to give Welch an overall coaching record of 169-78 over 23 seasons. The 1973 Ithaca graduate was inducted into the College's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.
When Butterfield arrived at Ithaca in 1967 for his first collegiate head coaching post, Ithaca’s schedule included top teams like Lehigh, West Chester, and C.W. Post. His first seven seasons produced a 29-29 record before the program took off in the 1974 season.
Ithaca won 10 straight games that season, scoring over 25 points in all but one of those games. An NCAA playoff win over Slippery Rock put Ithaca into its first Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, where the team lost to Central (Iowa), 10-8. Ithaca won the Division III team offense title that year, averaging 487.9 yards per game, a total topped by only four teams since. The Bombers were back in the national championship game a year later, posting 10 straight wins (five by shutout). In one of those shutouts, a 61-0 win over Springfield, Ithaca’s defense set Division III records for fewest total yards allowed (minus 50) and fewest rushing yards allowed (minus 94). In the playoffs, the Bombers topped Fort Valley and Widener before losing to Wittenberg, 28-0. All-Americans Jerry Boyes, a quarterback, and running back Dave Remick were mainstays on those first two Stagg Bowl teams.
Wittenberg again eliminated the Bombers from the postseason in 1978, a season that saw Ithaca lead Division III in rushing offense (averaging 320.1 yards per game). A year later the Bombers upset the three top seeds on the way to the school’s first national championship in any sport. Linebacker John Laper, the school’s career leader in tackles, and running back Bob Ferrigno, who tops the program in postseason rushing yards, were two of the top players on that team. The Bombers were back in the Stagg Bowl in 1980 and 1985, and reached the semifinals in 1986.
The 1988 season brought another national championship. The Bombers were 9-1 in the regular season, posted an overtime win over defending champion Wagner in a first-round playoff game, avenged their regular-season loss to Cortland in the second round and defeated Ferrum in the semifinals to earn a sixth Stagg Bowl visit. Ithaca’s 39-24 win over Central gave the program its second national championship. The Bombers set four playoff records: most points (159), first downs (91), net yards rushing (1,377) and total offense (1,719 yards).
Two freshmen who played in the 1988 championship game—quarterback Todd Wilkowski and kicker Matt Sullivan—were back in the Stagg Bowl again in 1991. Wilkowski set a number of school passing records as a senior. After a week-four loss to Springfield put postseason hopes in jeopardy, Wilkowski (who was inducted into Ithaca’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002) engineered two scoring drives in the final minutes the following week against American International en route to a 23-20 win. Ithaca won its remaining four regular-season games and then beat Glassboro State, Union, and Susquehanna in the playoffs to set up the Stagg Bowl return.
In the national championship game, Wilkowski passed for 262 yards and two touchdown passes and Jeff Wittman rushed for three touchdowns as Ithaca defeated Dayton, 34-20. Ithaca’s 94 first downs and 1,867 yards in total offense were NCAA playoff records. Ithaca made its 11th appearance in the NCAA postseason in 1992, but had its three-year streak broken in Butterfield’s last year.
Butterfield was named Kodak Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association in 1988 and 1991, and earned District I honors from the same organization seven times: in 1974, from 1978 to 1980, and again from 1984 to 1986.
Following Ithaca’s national championship seasons in 1979, 1988, and 1991, Butterfield was presented the Stan Lomax-Irving T. Marsh Award as eastern coach of the year by the New York Football Writers Association. The 1988 season also brought him Division III coach of the year recognition from Chevrolet. National recognition came to his players as well, with 85 of his Bombers winning 150 All-American spots.
Already a member of the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame, Butterfield added to his long list of accomplishments in 1997 when he became the first member of the Bomber football program to earn induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Ithaca’s football program began in 1930, under coach Leonard Schreck. At that time, Ithaca played a five-game schedule that included freshman teams from St. Lawrence and Colgate, and varsity teams from Mansfield, Hartwick, and Cortland.
Coach Bucky Freeman took over in 1931 and led the Bombers to their first winning season, a 3-2 mark. His 13-year tenure featured nine winning seasons. Freeman coached back Ken Patrick, who still ranks among the program’s rushing leaders with 1,500 yards.
Football was discontinued from 1943 to 1945. Between 1946 and 1957, Pete Hatch, Joseph Hamilton, and Art Orloske served as Ithaca’s head coaches.
The hiring of Dick Lyon in 1958 produced a resurgence in the program. On the heels of a 2-5 season, Lyon’s first team posted a 6-1 record in 1958. That team, captained by lineman John Fasolino, a member of the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame, held the opposition to eight points or fewer in six of seven games.
In 1959, an incentive was added to the already competitive Ithaca-Cortland rivalry. Team captains Dick Carmean from Ithaca and Tom Decker of Cortland joined to donate a traveling trophy, named the Cortaca Jug, to be presented to the winning team each year. Today the matchup is one of the most prominent in Division III. The last eight Cortaca Jug games held in Ithaca have attracted crowds of 9,500 or more.
Ithaca posted three straight 6-2 records from 1962 to 1964. Among the standouts of the period were 1962 All-American running back Bill O’Dell and Sam Curko, a guard, linebacker, and kicker who earned All-American honors in 1963. In 1965, the Bombers finished 8-0 for the program’s first undefeated season. Quarterback James Harris passed for 1,269 yards and nine touchdowns that year.
Lyon’s teams posted a winning record every season. In 1967, he joined the football staff at Army, opening the door for the arrival of Butterfield.
