Jon Poppe finished his first season as the head coach of the Union College football program in 2023.
Poppe’s first season in Schenectady was an impressive one, posting a 10-2 record and reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in program history. He was the first Union football coach to reach the NCAA Tournament in his first season at the helm of the program and set a new record for wins in a season by a first-year Union head coach, surpassing the eight wins of Bill Smith in 1900 and Union Athletics Hall of Famer Al Bagnoli in 1982.
The Garnet Chargers started the 2023 season with six straight wins and outscored their first five opponents by an average of 45.0 points per game, led by a dominating defense that finished its season fifth in Division III by allowing only 224.9 yards per game and eighth with 11.4 points per game conceded. The team had 15 players named to the All-Liberty League teams, including five first-team selections.
Before coming to Union, Poppe spent the last five years as secondary and special teams coach at Harvard University, where his units were consistently among the best in the country at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Series (FCS) level.
Poppe brings more than a decade of coaching experience in the Ivy League to Union. Poppe has built Harvard into one of the country’s top special teams units during his second tenure in Cambridge, ranking third in the FCS in blocked punts and fourth in blocked kicks during the 2022 season. He was recognized by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston as the FBS/FCS Assistant Coach of the Year in 2020 after helping the Crimson defensive unit lead the nation in rushing defense and rank third in interceptions. In 2019, Harvard led the FCS in blocked kicks (9) and blocked punts (7), while ranking top-20 nationally in punt return defense and net punting.
The Harvard secondary also enjoyed great success under Poppe’s leadership. The defensive unit ranked among the top five in the country in rushing defense in each of the last two campaigns, while the Crimson ranked eighth in the FCS in interceptions during the 2021 season as well.
Before his second stint at Harvard, Poppe led the secondary and served as recruiting coordinator at Columbia University, where he spent three years working under legendary coach and Union Hall of Famer Al Bagnoli on a staff that included Union football’s all-time leader in wins, John Audino.
Poppe began his time in the Ivy League as the assistant secondary coach at Harvard from 2011-14, coming after one season as the assistant secondary coach at the College of the Holy Cross in 2010. He began his collegiate coaching career at the Division III level, serving as a graduate assistant coach for two years at Springfield College (2008-09) after one year as an intern assistant coach at King’s (Pa.) College (2007).
Poppe is a 2007 graduate of Williams College, spending three seasons as a starter in the secondary. As a senior, he was named an All-East Region honoree from Don Hansen’s Football Gazette and a first-team All-NESCAC pick in helping the Ephs to an undefeated 8-0 season.
