The Office of Intercollegiate Athletics announced Feb. 22 that Michael Toerper, defensive backs and special teams coordinator at Johns Hopkins University, will be the new football defensive coordinator for the upcoming season.

He will be joining head coach Dan Swanstrom, who was hired in December, immediately.

Toerper is replacing Mark McDonough ’01, who held the position for six years. McDonough was one of three finalists for the head coaching position, which Mike Welch ’73 held for 23 years before retiring at the conclusion of the 2016 season.

Before becoming defensive backs and special teams coordinator at Johns Hopkins, Toerper was a wide receivers coach there from 2010–12. He also worked with Swanstrom from 2010–13, when Swanstrom was the offensive coordinator and associate head coach there.

Toerper was a walk-on on the University of Pittsburgh, where he eventually became a scholarship player and a defensive back and special teams contributor. After he had graduated, in 2008, he coached at Duquesne University for one season as a defensive assistant.