In 2025, the Cornell football program welcomed new defensive coordinator Michael Toerper. The former Ithaca College head coach didn’t have to move far, only a short trip across the hill to join a list of former Bombers’ products in Division l football.
The Ithaca College to Cornell coaching pipeline originated from former head coach Dan Swanstrom, who left his offensive coordinator job at Penn University to become the commander of the Big Red in 2024. Joining him was former Ithaca College offensive coordinator Mike Hatcher and offensive line coach Sean Reeder.
Swanstrom said that when searching for assistants, he wanted to have people around him who knew his program.
“There are always people that you really trust, and there are very specific things that I want in an assistant coach,” Swanstrom said. “I wanted to grab the coaches who fit exactly what I was looking for.”
The Intricacies of Moving From Division l to lll
It is common for coaches to bring along assistants they are familiar with to a new job, but the switch from Division III to Division I is much less common, especially within the same town. While Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) hiring percentages are not available, Athletic Director U shines a light on the trends that are typical in hiring a Division I football coach. Only 3.2% of coaches hired into the Group of 5 in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) have come from anywhere other than Division l or the NFL.
“I have a system, things that are important to me, and there were assistants who checked all those boxes,” Swanstrom said. “You try to pursue them, and you try to get them here.”
(Billy Wood / Ithaca Week)
When Hatcher joined the Big Red, he had over 16 years of collegiate coaching experience. The catch, however, it was all at the Division III level. Currently, Hatcher is the only offensive coordinator in the Ivy League to have not coached in either Division I or the NFL prior to acquiring their current position. This has not phased Hatcher, as he said the differences between the program at IC are not as drastic as one would think.
“I always thought that the Ithaca program, especially my time with Dan, was run under an FCS model,” Hatcher said. “So I really felt stepping over from Ithaca to Cornell, I knew I had an understanding of what a Division I model was, in terms of organizational structure. Dan continued a lot of the programming that we were doing there together. He’s evolved it, he’s grown it to match the FCS calendar.”
Hatcher uniquely spent two seasons at IC coaching under Swanstrom and two seasons coaching under Toerper. Now that the three currently hold the highest roles on the Cornell staff, Hatcher said their prior time together has helped them develop as coaches for this moment.
“In my mind, you develop [communication] through reps, you develop that through time together,” Hatcher said. “I thought our time together at Ithaca has really allowed us to be seamless in our transition here and to better our processes here.”
IC Player Involvement
Along with assistants with ties to Ithaca, there are former IC players who have found positions on Swanstrom’s staff. This includes offensive lineman Colin Norton, who served as an offensive analyst from 2024-2025, along with receiver Julien Deumaga, who has served as a content coordinator and football operations coach since 2024.
Deumaga was already working with content at Cornell prior to Swanstrom’s hiring. Deumaga said the two ran into each other in the hallway, and Swanstrom brought him on board on the spot. Deumaga also shared that the coaching staff’s strong bond is something that has made the program tightly woven on all levels.
“Since all the coaches have been together in the past, the coaching staff was pretty much aligned,” Deumaga said. That made it much easier to get the kids and students aligned. Everyone’s super bought in, the improvements within this program from when I first got here on day one till now, it’s night and day.”
Over the past two seasons, the Big Red have compiled an 8-12 record. They will look to make the jump when they open up against Colgate University next fall.
