Dec. 30, 2004

EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lafayette head football coach Frank Tavani, the 2004 Patriot League Coach of the Year, has signed a contract extension that will keep him patrolling the Leopard sidelines through the 2010 season, Director of Athletics Bruce McCutcheon announced today.

"Frank has done a great job of bringing the program back to a championship level," McCutcheon said. "I look forward to his continued excellent leadership as we move ahead."

In 2004, Tavani guided a team picked to finish fifth in the Patriot League to an 8-4 record and the first postseason football appearance in school history. With its 24-10 win over Lehigh in the regular season finale on Nov. 20, Lafayette claimed the Patriot League championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs. Lafayette's eight wins were the most in a single season since 1992.

Tavani was recognized on a national level following the season, as he finished sixth in balloting for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year honor.

"I'm looking forward to continuing to build upon the foundation that we have laid for this program over the past five seasons," Tavani said. "The future is exciting for Lafayette football and I'm proud to have the opportunity to be a part of that."

Tavani has led Lafayette to 20 wins over the past three seasons, the best mark since the program won 22 games from 1981-83. In five seasons as the head coach at Lafayette, Tavani has coached 20 Academic All-District selections, two Academic All-Americans, one Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year, 15 players who earned All-Patriot League honors and two Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year selections.

Tavani has posted a 24-32 record in five seasons as the head coach at Lafayette. He inherited a struggling program prior to the 2000 season and, after winning just two games in 2000 and 2001, turned the corner with a 7-5 campaign in 2002. Lafayette, picked to finish seventh in the Patriot League in 2002, posted the second-best turnaround in Division I-AA that season, improving its victory total by five games over the previous season.

Tavani spent 13 years as a member of the Lafayette staff prior to assuming the head coaching position on Dec. 11, 1999. He was named the program's associate head coach in 1994, and served in that capacity until being named the head coach. Working primarily with the offense throughout his Lafayette tenure, Tavani has recruited and coached each of Lafayette's top four all-time rushers and has mentored a 1,000-yard rusher in nine different seasons.

Lafayette, which finished the 2004 season ranked 19th in both The Sports Network and ESPN/USA Today Top 25, is tentatively slated to open the 2005 season on Sept. 3 at Marist.