{"id":7305,"date":"2025-02-17T16:53:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T21:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/?p=7305"},"modified":"2025-02-19T13:15:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T18:15:18","slug":"cortland-hires-tom-blumenauer-to-be-next-head-football-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/2025\/02\/17\/cortland-hires-tom-blumenauer-to-be-next-head-football-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortland Hires Tom Blumenauer to Be Next Head Football Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Cortland announced Thursday that they would be hiring former Franklin &amp; Marshall head coach Tom Blumenauer. Blumenauer met with the team for the first time on Saturday and expressed his gratitude and excitement. &nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJuice.\u201d That was the word that several Cortland football players used to describe Coach Blumenauer&#8217;s introductory meeting. A word that many players associate with high energy. That description was fitting, considering Coach Blu\u2019s entrance was met with everything from cheers to fist pumps to barking noises and even a standing ovation. That reaction was appropriate, especially for a group of guys whose offseason has been filled with so much uncertainty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;Fired up to be a Red Dragon&quot; &#8211; Coach Blu<br><br>Our new Head Coach, Tom Blumenauer, has arrived. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jffeT8PMLe\">pic.twitter.com\/jffeT8PMLe<\/a><\/p>&mdash; SUNY Cortland Football (@CortlandFB) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CortlandFB\/status\/1890779897070543200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In December, Curt Fitzpatrick announced that he would be stepping down as head coach and taking the same position at Colgate University. This jump has been a long time coming for Coach Fitz. In four seasons, Fitzpatrick led Cortland to a 45-5 record,&nbsp;four conference championships, four playoff appearances, and a National Championship in 2023. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was far from the only coaching change. Offensive Coordinator Pat Rotchford followed Fitzpatrick to Colgate and will serve as their offensive line coach and run game coordinator. Cornerbacks coach Taj-Amir Torres resigned from his&nbsp;position, and just this Friday, Defensive Coordinator Steve Cushing announced that he would be taking over as head coach at his alma mater, Misericordia University.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no denying that Coach Blu will have big shoes to fill, but that is something that he understands. It is clear that he does not lack confidence, and his new players can see that. \u201cAs soon as he walked in, you could tell he was ready to get after it,\u201d said senior linebacker, Matt Lotter. Junior defensive back, Alex DeRosa said: \u201cHis initial message \u2018we\u2019re just getting started\u2019 reflects a clear vision not to rebuild, but to sustain and elevate the program\u2019s dominance.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not much building will need to be done anyway. Blumenauer inherits a very talented roster that features a group of upperclassmen who know what it takes to win a National Championship, and an extremely motivated group of underclassmen. \u201cThis was the best job in the nation, and I wanted in\u201d says Blumenauer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After all, there are not many jobs at the Division III level where you get to compete for a National Championship or even play in some of the big games that Cortland does each season. None bigger than their yearly matchup with Ithaca. A matchup that Blumenauer knows all too well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blumenauer began his playing career at the University of Connecticut, before transferring to Ithaca as a junior. He spent two seasons as an outside linebacker for the Bombers and was a two-time All-Empire 8 selection. After graduating in 2007, Blumenauer spent a year on the Ithaca coaching staff as a student assistant. Blumenauer understands all there is to know about Cortaca and comes in with the perspective of not just a coach but as a player too. \u201cAt first you kind of question it&#8230;but when you think about it, it is an advantage for us because of how bad he wants to beat them,\u201d said senior offensive lineman, Jayden Lont.&nbsp;\u201cIn the meeting, he made it clear that his Bomber life is in the past, and he is a Red Dragon now,\u201d added Lont. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cortland and Ithaca don\u2019t meet until the final week of the regular season, and the first game&nbsp;is still well over six months away, but it\u2019s hard not to get excited. This historic rivalry gains a new chapter, and the Red Dragon\u2019s trip to Butterfield Stadium in November will mean a whole lot more this time around. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spring practices don\u2019t begin until the end of March, but many players are very eager to get back on the field. One player in particular is junior wide receiver, Joe Iadevaio. Iadevaio was sidelined for the entire 2024 season with a torn ACL. The injury came after a stellar sophomore season, highlighted by two touchdown receptions in the National Championship. \u201cI can&#8217;t wait to get to work with him [Blumenauer] and get back to playing, especially coming off an injury,\u201d said Iadevaio. \u201cThe whole team is excited about Coach Blu, and I can\u2019t wait to see what the future holds for this group.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Cortland football team has been dealt a difficult hand this offseason, but if you ask any of the players, they will tell you that adversity is a good thing. The hiring of Coach Blumenauer ends what has been a hectic process, to say the least. A new era of Cortland football begins this fall, and the players have a lot to be excited about. Just ask Matt Lotter, \u201cWe would run through a brick wall for this guy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cortland announced Thursday that they would be hiring former Franklin &amp; Marshall head coach Tom Blumenauer. Blumenauer met with the team for the first time on Saturday and expressed his gratitude and excitement. &nbsp; \u201cJuice.\u201d That was the word that several Cortland football players used to describe Coach Blumenauer&#8217;s introductory meeting. A word that many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":408,"featured_media":7320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured-news-article","8":"category-sports","9":"entry"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/IMG_4028-e1739760211360.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/02\/IMG_4028-e1739760211360.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Brady Feliciotto","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/author\/brady-feliciotto\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/408"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}