HEAD COACH JOHN MARZKA

On January 3rd, 2007, Albright College and Director of Athletics, Dr. Steve George introduced John Marzka as its head football coach. Marzka becomes the 20th head football coach in school history.

"Shortly after I graduated from college in 1991 I decided that I wanted to become a head football coach at the NCAA Division III level," Marzka said. "So after 16 years of preparation I'm extremely excited about this tremendous opportunity. As I researched Albright College and its rich football tradition, I began to realize that this was the job I had been preparing myself for my entire career. Albright has a great location, a beautiful campus, several recent and planned facility upgrades, and an outstanding academic reputation. These advantages coupled with the proud football tradition and alumni support will allow me and my staff to attract the very best student-athletes to Albright College. I am looking forward to leading this football program back to the top of the MAC and into the national spotlight. Most of all, I'm excited to have the chance to work with the young men in this program to help each one of them reach their full potential as people, students, and athletes."

Marzka comes to Albright after six seasons as the Associate Head Coach and offensive coordinator at Thiel College. He helped Thiel reach new heights in its football program, culminating in an 11-1 campaign in 2005 that included the school's first ever NCAA national-playoff berth and first Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship since 1972. Marzka's 2005 offense totaled 4833 yards in 12 games, averaged 33 points, and set 25 school records.

A native of Erie, PA, Marzka earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Allegheny College in 1991. He was a three-year letter winner and two-year starter at center for the Gators, and was a senior co-captain on the 1990 NCAA Division III National Championship team. Marzka was a two time first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) selection as offensive center and named a Champion First-Team All-American as a senior after garnering Honorable Mention All-American honors his junior year.

Marzka began his coaching career in 1991 at Erie Academy, where he worked with both the offensive and defensive linemen. In 1992, Marzka returned to Allegheny as the defensive line coach and assistant recruiting coordinator. In 1994 he became the offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator, and then served as the Gator's offensive coordinator for the 1996 and 1997 seasons. During his six seasons at Allegheny the Gators compiled a 55-5 regular season record, won four NCAC championships and reached the NCAA Playoffs on four occasions.

Through four seasons as Allegheny's offensive line coach (1994-1997), Marzka coached five All-Americans, two Academic All-Americans, and developed ten offensive linemen to the All-NCAC first-team. Under Marzka's guidance as offensive coordinator (1996-1997), the Gators led the NCAC in scoring and total offense in both seasons, as he coached five offensive All-Americans and 15 All-NCAC offensive players, with 11 earning first-team honors.

Following his tenure at Allegheny Marzka spent one season as the offensive coordinator at Division 1-AA Fordham University. The Rams set school records for scoring and total offense that season. In 2001 Marzka joined the staff at Thiel College, where he helped turn a perennial downtrodden program into a consistent championship contender in the Presidents Athletic Conference. The Tomcats went from "worst to first" in the PAC in only five seasons after the team experienced only one winning season in the previous 20 years. In his six seasons at Thiel, Marzka's offense set or tied school records 56 times, while he coached four offensive All-Americans, two Academic All-Americans, five All-South Region players, one South Region Co-Offensive Player of the Year, one South Region Offensive Lineman of the Year, and 43 All-PAC offensive players.

As the Tomcat's quarterbacks coach, Marzka developed the most successful quarterback in Thiel College history. Darrell Satterfield, a 2006 graduate, shattered 11 of a possible 16 school quarterbacking records in just two seasons as the signal caller. Satterfield was 18-4 as a starter, unprecedented by any quarterback in the 100+ year history of the program.

During his time at Thiel, Marzka also served as the team's Academic Advisor. Marzka developed and implemented an academic support program that helped the Tomcat football team achieve a team GPA higher than the all-male student average for the last 4 consecutive semesters. The program also greatly aided in retention as the Tomcat's senior classes rose from only two seniors in 2003 to 19 seniors for the 2006 season. During the Tomcat's record breaking 2005 season, 29 players attained a 3.0 or higher semester GPA while eight were named to the PAC Academic Honor Roll for attaining a 3.6 or higher GPA for the fall semester. For the fall 2006 semester a record 39 players attained a 3.0 or higher GPA, 13 were named to the PAC academic honor roll, and six players attained a perfect 4.0 GPA. For his efforts in academic excellence, Marzka received Thiel's 2006 Distinguished Innovator Award .

"John Marzka is the right man at the right time for this critical leadership position," said Dr. George. "Not only to lead us to a conference championship, and to where he has been as a player winning the NCAA Division III National Championship; but to truly inspire and educate the scholar and leader in each and every football player who straps on a helmet at Albright College."

John and his wife, Diane, reside in Reading and they have one son Riley, age 10.