John Troxell ’94 is in his fourth season as the Fred M. Kirby II '42 Head Football Coach at Lafayette College.
Year three at the helm involved Troxell leading Lafayette to a second straight season finishing at .500 or better for the first time since the 2008-2009 seasons. The 2024 Leopards received national recognition, reaching No. 14 and No. 17 in the AFCA Coaches and Stats Perform polls, respectively. The Maroon and White featured an offense that was second in the Patriot League in passing and rushing. Defensively, the Leopards ranked first in the Patriot League in turnovers, collecting 23 in 12 games.
Saiku White ‘25 and rookies Mason Kuehner and Sean Kinney were recognized nationally. White was chosen as an AP FCS All-America First-Team Defense and Stats Perform All-America Third-Team after a season in which the senior led the team with 87 tackles and snagged three interceptions. He was also a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the best defensive player in the FCS. Kuehener was named to FCS Football Central 2024 Freshman All-America First-Team while Kinney secured his spot on the Sports Network Freshman All-America Team.
In addition, eight members of the Maroon and White garnered All-Patriot League laurels, headlined by first-team members White, Gabe DuBois ‘25 and Jamar Curtis to go along with five second-team honorees.
In just his second campaign on College Hill, he guided the Leopards to a Patriot League championship for the first time in a decade. Lafayette ran to a 9-3 record that surpassed the single-season win total from the previous 40 years. The Maroon and White jumped back into the top 25 polls for the first time since 2009, entering the rankings after a win at No. 11 Holy Cross that snapped the Crusaders' 18-game conference winning streak. Lafayette ascended to as high as No. 16 in the rankings and finished at No. 19 in the AFCA Poll and 21st in the Stats Perform poll.
The 2023 season saw Billy Shaeffer, Curtis and White garner All-America status. Shaeffer was named to the final three in the nation for the Buck Buchanan Award after leading the conference with 10 sacks (the second-most ever in a season at Lafayette and 10th in the nation) and 21.5 tackles for loss (fourth in the nation). Curtis was tagged as a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, finishing second in the nation in rushing (1,460 yards) to set a new Lafayette single-season rushing record. White helped guide a defense that led the Patriot League in scoring defense, rushing defense and red-zone defense.
Shaeffer, Curtis and White were three of 12 Leopards were named to the All-Patriot League teams. Jaylon Joseph earned Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors (the 12th in program history) and was selected as a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award. Troxell was the Patriot League Coach of the Year and singled out as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year after the swift turnaround.
Troxell was re-introduced to the College Hill community at a press conference on Dec. 14, 2021. He is the 29th coach in the program’s history, third who is an alum, and took over prior to the 2022 season.
Troxell began re-shaping the program in 2022, guiding the Leopards to a third-place finish in the conference standings, despite an offense that was significantly affected by injuries. Lafayette opened the season with a shutout of Sacred Heart in Troxell's debut and added conference road victories over Bucknell and Colgate before wrapping the season with a home victory over archrival Lehigh. The Leopards also took NCAA quarterfinalist Holy Cross to the wire in a 24-21 final. In 2022, Troxell saw Malik Hamm earn Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year honors, as the conference's first five-time All-Patriot League selection, before signing with the Baltimore Ravens.
Troxell came to College Hill after a 16-year head coaching stint at Franklin and Marshall College where he molded the program into a consistent winner. Prior to his arrival at the Lancaster, Pa. school in 2006, F&M had managed one winning season in the previous 13 campaigns. Four years later, after a full recruiting cycle, the Diplomats finished with a 9-2 record and continued to climb, subsequently reaching the postseason on nine occasions.
Troxell was twice named the Centennial Conference Coach of the Year winning most recently in 2017 and in 2009 when he was also a finalist for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year national award. The program’s high-water mark came in 2017 when the team was 10-1 and captured its conference championship. That season kicked off a span from 2017-21 when Troxell and Franklin and Marshall posted a cumulative mark of 31-13. In his 16 seasons, Troxell posted a 92-67 overall record, ranking second in career coaching wins at the school where he coached 111 all-conference selections.
Alumni engagement was integral to Troxell’s success at Franklin and Marshall and has been an important factor in his successful return to College Hill. He developed a mentoring and internship program utilizing the alumni network and played an integral role in mobilizing the group behind the construction of a $19.6 million football stadium project.
Troxell has been a key ingredient in program rebuilds at each of his stops, and his time on College Hill as an assistant coach on Frank Tavani’s staff was no exception. He served various roles as the running backs coach, recruiting coordinator and special teams coach from 2001-05. His selection as the recruiting coordinator in 2003 helped kick off a stretch of three straight titles for the Leopards in 2004, 2005 and 2006 that coincided with the program’s first three NCAA FCS Playoff appearances.
As an assistant at Lafayette, he mentored 2004 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year Joe McCourt '05 to a record-setting career. McCourt, the 2001 Patriot League Rookie of the Year, concluded his career as Lafayette's and the Patriot League's all-time leader with 50 rushing touchdowns and was second on the school's all-time rushing list with 4,474 yards while earning All-America honors in 2002 and 2004. He also mentored Brandon Stanford ’06 who set the current Lafayette single-season record for punt return yardage and ranks 11th in career receiving.
Prior to Lafayette, Troxell was part of a dramatic reversal at Muhlenberg College from 1997-2000 under head coach Mike Donnelly. He served multiple roles, working as the special teams coordinator (1997-99), quarterbacks coach and wide receivers coach (1997-2000) and offensive coordinator (2000). Muhlenberg progressed from a 1-9 season in 1997 to the Eastern College Athletic Conference title with a record of 9-2 in 2000. In 2000, under Troxell’s tutelage, the offense ranked 22nd in the nation and led the Centennial Conference in total offense (427.8 ypg) while averaging 31.0 points per game.
Troxell joined the Muhlenberg staff after serving as an assistant coach for three seasons (1994-96) at Columbia University under head coach Ray Tellier, beginning his career path of coaching at elite academic institutions. In 1996, Troxell oversaw a secondary that recorded the third-best passing defense in the country. The turnaround tendency first showed itself at Columbia in 1994 when the Ivy League school recorded its first winning season in 23 seasons. An 8-2 mark and the program’s best finish in 15 years followed in 1996.
His first extended stint on College Hill came as a student-athlete from 1990-94, when he earned his bachelor’s degree in government and law. Troxell was the starting free safety on the Leopards’ 1992 Patriot League Championship team and received the Unsung Hero Award as a senior. He completed his master’s degree in sociology and education in 1997 while on staff at Columbia.
The 52-year-old Troxell is native of Phillipsburg, New Jersey. He and his wife, Pamela, have two daughters, Summer and Capri.
updated 2/13/25
