One Beat. The motto of the Ithaca College football team emphasizes togetherness and an almost brotherly connection. This season, the Bombers have relied on three new coaches who all have deep roots with the program.
On March 24, the Bombers announced the hiring of assistant coaches Ben Mason, Will Margraff and Will Gladney ’20. Mason was brought in to coach both running backs and tight ends, while Gladney was brought in to coach wide receivers and Margraff to coach linebackers.
Linebackers coach Will Margraff
While both Mason and Gladney played college ball, Margraff grew up around football. The son of legendary Johns Hopkins University football coach Jim Margraff, Will was around football all his life. After graduating from the University of Maryland in 2022, Will took a defensive quality control job at the University of Pennsylvania. There, Margraff worked with former Ithaca College coaches Sean Reeder and Dan Swanstrom. Later on, as an outside linebackers coach at Marist, Margraff worked with former Bombers coach Tom Biscardi. Margraff said his relationships are what led him to Ithaca.
“I think between those three guys, having been here before and the way they talked about how the school itself was and the culture of the team, I knew it was someplace I wanted to be,” Margraff said. “I have known [head coach Michael Toerper] since I was 10 years old, so once he gave me the phone call and told me that there may be an opportunity to come here, I said ‘If I get a chance to work with Coach Toerper at this place I’ve heard such great things about, I’d be an idiot to turn it down.’”
Before coming to Ithaca, Toerper coached receivers and defensive backs for Jim Margraff at Johns Hopkins. Not only did Margraff know Toerper from a young age, but he knew Swanstrom as well. Will said Swanstrom and Toerper were both key in crafting what his coaching philosophy was.
“Coach Swanstrom, we actually both went to Rhodes College and he got inducted into the Hall of Fame at Rhodes during the fall while he was coaching at Ithaca,” Margraff said. “My brother and I gave his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, so the ties run really deep. … I’ve called him to ask for advice and he has always been honest with me, helped me out. I know he’s always a phone call away.”
Sophomore linebacker Bobby Lombardo said Margraff mixes in a great combination of a serious and friendly relationship.
“[Margraff] is very upfront and honest,” Lombardo said. “He tells us what we need to do, he keeps it professional but also loose. It’s a very good player and coach relationship, but it’s also a good coach and friend relationship.”
Running backs/tight ends coach Ben Mason
Mason coming to the program furthers what is a Bombers’ family line. Mason’s father Bob Mason, a two-time all-American, played defensive tackle for the Bombers from 1985-87 and Mason’s brother Dan, played running back and tight end for the Bombers from 2019-23. Mason did not go to Ithaca; instead, he played fullback, defensive line and tight end at the University of Michigan from 2017-20. Mason turned his success under Jim Harbaugh into a four-year NFL career where he spent time with the Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots, Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Chargers. Mason said he immediately pursued coaching after his NFL exit.
“I just love the game of football and really want to be around it,” Mason said. “I was always told as a player, play as long as you can and then coach as long as you can. Opportunity presented itself at [the U.S. Military Academy]. I knew a guy over there by the name of John Loose [’87]. He’s an Ithaca grad who graduated back in the ’80s and went to school with my dad. I started volunteering in the middle of the year to get my foot in the door.”
With his experience of playing fullback, Mason started his career as an offensive analyst in a fullback’s dream offense, the triple option, at Army West Point. Mason said that longtime West Point head coach Jeff Monken taught him a lot about how to lead from the front.
As a player, Mason had the opportunity to play under both of the Harbaugh brothers and briefly Bill Belichick. Mason said while those names are some of his greatest mentors, he wants to take what he has learned from them and make his own story.
“I definitely try to take a little bit from everybody, but at the end of the day, you have to take the good bits and pieces from each and morph it into your own,” Mason said. “Those are some of the greatest mentors that I’ve had in my entire life and I’m super thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to be around some great coaches.”
Lombardo said Mason’s experience playing at such a high level has shown in Mason’s knowledge of the game.
“[Mason] knows little details about special teams that you wouldn’t even think of and that hands-on experience he has is something that I would say very little, if no other team in the country has,” Lombardo said. “Not even just on special teams but in the tight end room and offense in general, the experience that he brings is tremendous.”
Wide receivers Coach Will Gladney ’20
Gladney’s ties run directly to putting the shoulder pads on for the Bombers. In 2019, Gladney walked out of Butterfield Stadium as the program leader in career receiving yards and touchdowns. Gladney played professionally in Germany and spent time as a trainer before making his way back to IC. Gladney said his relationship with Toerper is different now, but they have the same goal.
“[Toerper’s] on the defensive side of the ball, so it was really competing against him and his guys essentially to a certain degree,” Gladney said. “Now that I’m coaching under him, we’re all together. Back then, we were together because we’re one team, but I just vividly remember the battles between us in practice, me chirping at him, him chirping at me. He’s making me better, I’m making his defensive backs better. That was how our relationship was when I played, now that I’m coaching underneath him, it’s a lot different.”
Gladney spent last year coaching high school ball at Saint John Neumann High School in Naples, Florida. Gladney said he wanted to coach at a level where all players love the game and that’s what brought him to college. Gladney said he wants to unlock the talent the Bombers’ wide receiver group possesses.
“We have a lot of guys that have potential, but I tell them all the time, potential is just potential, now you have to go execute,” Gladney said. “Now you have to go make those plays consistently. Now you have to show up to practice every single day wanting to be better.”
Lombardo emphasized the connections in the staff and said those connections play into the culture the team is trying to sustain.
“One of the things we preach is culture and our team is super close,” Lombardo said. “The coaches are super close because they have all those deep-rooted connections and it just makes a very great environment for the team.”
