On March 19, Ithaca College football’s new head coach Brandon Maguire announced that linebackers coach Will Margraff would be promoted to defensive coordinator, a position held by former head coach Michael Toerper since 2022.
Margraff Hire
Margraff, who spent only the last year with the Bombers, became the program’s youngest defensive coordinator this century at only age 26. Margraff brings four years of collegiate coaching experience prior to this year, but has also been around football his entire life as the son of the winningest coach in Johns Hopkins University history, the late Jim Margraff.
Maguire said the search for the position, which lasted more than a month and a half, was extremely competitive.
“We ended up bringing in four candidates on campus, but we posted that job and I think we had 80-plus applicants for it,” Maguire said. “So we had some really strong ones come in, jumped on a ton of Zooms and had a lot of phone calls. That was me doing most of those and then we got coach [Drew] Miller when he was able to jump in and help out.”
Although Margraff only has one year with the program, Maguire said his impact heading into and through Cortaca stood out when deciding on the position.
“The growth he showed throughout the year, that last three to four games, he played a large role in a lot of the game planning that went on. So you could tell he was ready to take on that responsibility, he has a great grasp of the system.”
Players weigh in
Soon-to-be junior All-American defensive back Joe Spirra said that he was excited about Margraff stepping into the role and Margraff’s energy has shown since last season.
“He’s very player-friendly, he always has his office door open and if we have a question he’ll get right back to us,” Spirra said. “He’s been bringing the juice a lot since last year. He’s confident in what players he has and he’s looking to build on what we had last season.”
For Margraff, this quick climb up the ladder was something he wanted to do at Ithaca and he feels he is ready for the opportunity.
“It’s one of those things that when you get into the business, everyone asks you, ‘What’s your end goal?’” Margraff said. “I always knew I wanted to be a defensive coordinator. … I was hopeful at some point that it would happen here. I didn’t know if it would be after one season, two seasons, three seasons. So maybe a little bit quicker than anticipated, but something that I was fully prepared for and really willing to work hard for.”
In terms of how the defense will look, Margraff does not have any plans to completely flip what Toerper had been running, echoing the sentiment Maguire has talked about with his offense.
“I think it’ll be very similar to what we’ve done in the past here,” Margraff said. “There are some wrinkles that I’m going to throw in defensively from a schematic standpoint, and there’s things Toerper, great mentor, but some things I don’t 100% agree with how we did. So I’ll change some of the teaching in some aspects. From a language standpoint, we’ll keep all of our language the same. I think we’re going to evolve this defense.”
Margraff will maintain coaching the linebacker position group along with his duties as defensive coordinator, just as Toerper maintained his role coaching the defensive backs during his time.
Coaching Departures
Margraff’s hiring was not the only move Maguire had to make after becoming head coach. Since then, defensive line coach Kerry Grigsby left to join Division ll Colorado School of Mines in the same position and tight ends/running backs coach Ben Mason left to become tight ends coach at Division l Fordham University.
The Bombers announced that they filled the defensive line and defensive back positions on March 31. Eddie Gonzalez lll, former Northern Colorado assistant coach and player under Maguire, will be taking over the defensive line for Grigsby, while the Bombers landed former Division l Florida A&M coach James Colzie lll to coach special teams and defensive backs. Colzie is by far the most experienced of all coaches now on staff, posting a 12-12 record in the Football Championship Subdivision and over 15 years of coaching experience, including multiple Division l stops.
Senior defensive lineman Jon Ramsey, though not officially a coach on staff, will also be helping during spring practices in hopes of making the turn into coaching according to Margraff.
Maguire said these new young hires will make an immediate impact on the shape of the team.
“Look, I’m 34, I’m a first-time head coach, the rest of our staff is under 30 right now, Maguire said. “Bringing someone in that has experience, that’s worked on the defensive side of the ball, that can help Margraff with things that could come up that he’s never had to deal with, would also help me when there’s a lot of head coach things coming up. Having someone that’s had that experience and had enough shots on goal, so to speak, with different situations is going to be super valuable for this team.”
Spring practice is now underway for the Bombers as this new look staff begins to shape their 2026 season aspirations.
