| Position: | Joel E Smilow '54 Head Coach of Football |
| Years at Yale: | 10th Year |
Jack Siedlecki (pronounced sid-LECK-ee), the Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Football, has coached Yale to a pair of Ivy League Championships and has posted a 64-45 (44-33 Ivy) record in 11 seasons at New Haven. Last year, Siedlecki, who has guided the Bulldogs to 17 wins over the last two seasons and was named 2007 New England Coach of the Year by the sports writers, came within a game of coaching the Blue to its first perfect season since 1960. His 2007 squad went 9-1 and earned a top 20 ranking in the major FCS Polls. The latest title was a share of the 2006 Ivy crown after finishing 8-2 (6-1) with a 34-13 win at Harvard on Nov. 18. That Yale squad was picked fifth in the pre-season poll before reeling off seven straight wins and finishing No. 25 in The Sports Network final rankings. Siedlecki, who will be a head coach for the 21st season in 2008, owns a 120-67-2 (.640) overall mark and has seen almost every Yale offensive record altered during his Bulldog days. The former Amherst College head coach was named Yale's 32nd football mentor on Dec. 19, 1996. Siedlecki replaced the winningest coach in Ivy League football history, Carm Cozza, who retired in 1996 after 32 seasons. The Turnaround National Attention Breaking Records, Earning Honors Before Yale A Renaissance Man The Leader The Beginning Personal YearSchoolRecordNote
1988Worcester Poly4-4
1989Worcester Poly8-2
1990Worcester Poly8-0-1Only undefeated season
1991Worcester Poly7-3
1992Worcester Poly9-2AFCA District I Coach of Year/Conference Champs
1993Amherst3-5Took over 0-8 team from 1992
1994Amherst5-3
1995Amherst5-2-1
1996Amherst7-1AFCA District 1 Coach of Year/Little Three Champs
1997 YALE1-9Eighth place
1998YALE6-4Second place, H-Y-P Champs
1999YALE9-1Ivy Champs, H-Y-P Champs, New England Coach of Year
2000YALE7-3Third place
2001YALE3-6Seventh place
2002YALE6-4Third place
2003YALE6-4Second place
2004YALE5-5Fourth place
2005 YALE 4-6 Fourth place
2006YALE8-2Ivy Champs
2007 YALE 9-1 Second Place, National Ranking No. 21 New England Coach of Year
Total 120-63-2
Siedlecki put the finishing touches on one of the most amazing transformations in college football when Yale beat Harvard on Nov. 20, 1999, before 52,484 in Yale Bowl. That last-minute win, broadcast live on national TV, not only gave the Bulldogs a share of the 1999 Ivy League title and a second straight H-Y-P title; it meant that Siedlecki's squad had gone from 1-9 his first year to 9-1 two years later. The third-year Yale coach was named the New England Sports Writer's 1999 Coach of the Year. The Bulldogs broke 53 school records and ranked eighth in the Lambert/Meadowlands voting. All of this came after the Elis lost the season opener and then reeled off nine straight wins.
Siedlecki's Bulldogs, who have led the nation (both I-A and I-AA) in fewest turnovers twice, have produced four All-America offensive players while helping to change the face of the game in the Ivy League.
Many of his prize pupils have replaced each other as the most prolific offensive players in the history of the program. Yale became the first college football team to win 800 games with its victory over Dayton at Yale Bowl on Sept. 16, 2000. Under Siedlecki, Yale players have been named first team All-Ivy 34 times, and the Elis have broken a slew of records, including individual career marks for passing yardage, rushing yardage and every important receiving standard.
Siedlecki, who has 32 years of college coaching experience, compiled a 20-11-1 record at Division III Amherst in four seasons and was the 1996 American Football Coaches Association District I Coach of the Year after going 7-1 and winning the New England Small College Athletic Conference championship. He replaced another New England coaching legend in Amherst's Jim Ostendarp, who had led the Lord Jeffs, for 32 seasons. Siedlecki turned around an Amherst program that had gone 1-14-1 the two previous seasons, including 0-8 in 1992. He had a 36-11-1 mark in five campaigns as head football coach at Division III Worcester (Mass.) Polytechnic Institute, where his 1990 team went 8-0-1 and the 1992 squad had a 9-1 record and was ranked first in the ECAC New England poll. Siedlecki, who has been both an offensive and defensive coordinator, was the 1992 AFCA Kodak District I Coach of the Year at WPI. An assistant coach at the University of Albany (1976-79), Wagner College (1980) and Lafayette College (1981-87), Siedlecki has coached three different teams (Albany '77, Wagner '80, WPI '92) in the national playoffs. He and Harvard head coach Tim Murphy were roommates as assistant coaches at Lafayette, while Siedlecki also coached with Pennsylvania mentor Al Bagnoli at Albany.
Yale's football mentor has coached four different positions since entering the college coaching business in 1976. He has concentrated on inside linebackers and the offensive line and has been both a defensive and offensive coordinator. Siedlecki served as both head coach and offensive line coach from 1988 to 1996. In addition, the Yale coach has been involved in four of the longest and most storied rivalries in college football: Yale-Harvard; Yale-Princeton; Lafayette-Lehigh and Amherst-Williams.
The Yale mentor is a leader off the field as well. Siedlecki serves on the American Football Coaches Association All-America selection committees and is the president of the FCS Coaches executive committee for 2008-09.
Siedlecki is a 1974 graduate of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., where he earned letters playing both running back and linebacker and earned a B.A. in history. His finest day in a Union uniform came in 1972 when he scored three touchdowns in a 38-21 win over RPI. He also coached (the youngest person ever to do it) and played for the Glove Cities Colonials, a semi-pro squad in New York. Siedlecki, also a letterman in baseball as a pitcher, was a three-sport star at Johnstown (N.Y.) High School, where his father served as head coach for more than 20 seasons.
Siedlecki, born July 23, 1951, and his wife, Nancy, have three children: Kevin; Jackie, and Amy.
Siedlecki's Head Coaching Record