Ron Vanderlinden is a retired American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach. Vanderlinden was most recently the linebackers coach at

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

from 1997 to 2000, compiling a record of 15–29. Vanderlinden is known for his recruiting ability on the East Coast and within his native state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Early life

A native of

Livonia, Michigan Livonia ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Livonia is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 95,535. Originally organized as ...

, Vanderlinden is one of seven children born to parents Pete and Mary Vanderlinden. His father was one of 14 children born to Dutch immigrants of Flemish descent. Vanderlinden played high school football at Divine Child High School in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

, where he was a member of two state championship teams. His high school coach was Bill McCartney, who later became the only high school coach ever hired by

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

coaching legend Bo Schembechler. Vanderlinden reunited with McCartney as a coach after his playing career ended.

College playing career

In college, Vanderlinden played football as a four-year starting center at

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

Albion College Albion College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students as of Fall 2021 ...

and twice earned All-MIAA conference honors. He was part of the 1976 Albion Britons football team that achieved a perfect 9–0 record. Both the 1976 and 1977 teams have since been inducted into the Albion College Hall of Fame.

Early coaching career

In 1978, he started his career as a graduate assistant at

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

under Denny Stolz and also coached as a graduate assistant at

under Bo Schembechler. His first full-time coaching position was with Ball State, where he served under head coach Dwight Wallace for two seasons. From 1983 to 1991, Vanderlinden was a defensive line coach at

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

under head coach Bill McCartney, reuniting him with his high school football head coach. McCartney had also been an assistant at Michigan with Vanderlinden. During their time in

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

, Colorado won the 1990 National Championship. From 1992 to 1996, Vanderlinden served as assistant head coach and

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

at Northwestern. There he played a part in the reversal of fortunes of a struggling football program into a two-time

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

champion.Ron Vanderlinden Profile
Penn State University Official Athletic Site, retrieved January 15, 2009. Under his guidance, linebacker Pat Fitzgerald was named the 1995 and '96 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, a two-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

, and as the winner of the Bednarik Award and Nagurski Award.

Head coach at Maryland

In 1997, Vanderlinden was hired as the head coach of the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's college sports in the United States, varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate ...

, a team without a bowl game and only one winning season since 1990. In both the 1999 and 2000 seasons, Maryland narrowly missed achieving a winning season and bowl game bid by losing their finale and ended both years with a 5-6 record. Vanderlinden's staff recruited players who would be instrumental in the team's meteoric rise in 2001 to an ACC championship, a

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a college football post-season selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of America ...

game, and a top-ten final ranking. Some of these players included linebacker E.J. Henderson, quarterback Shaun Hill, and wide receiver Guilian Gary. Also during Vanderlinden's tenure, running back Lamont Jordan set the school record for single-game rushing with 306 yards. Vanderlinden was fired after the 2000 season, finishing with a 15-29 record overall.

Later coaching career

Vanderlinden joined the

Penn State Nittany Lions football The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University in college football. Penn State Nittany Lions, The Nittany Lions compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

team in 2001 as linebackers coach under

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

, where he oversaw the school's traditional "Linebacker U." He had helped develop a linebacker unit that included

2005 Butkus and 2005/2006 Bednarik award winner Paul Posluszny, a consensus All-American, 2003, All-

linebacker Gino Capone, and 2006 All-American and 2007 Bednarik Award winner Dan Connor. He has also recruited several prominent players such as

Allen Robinson Allen Bernard Robinson II (born August 24, 1993) is an American professional American football, football wide receiver. He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn State Nittany Lions, earning first-team College Fo ...

, Sean Lee and Gerald Hodges. On November 10, 2011 Tom Bradley announced that Vanderlinden and defensive line coach Larry Johnson would serve as co-defensive coordinators. In 2012, Vanderlinden was retained as linebackers coach under new coach Bill O'Brien. After parting ways with the Penn State program following the 2013 season, he joined Troy Calhoun's staff at Air Force as linebackers coach, and noted that he had no hard feelings for Penn State nor Bill O'Brien.

Personal

Vanderlinden and his wife, the former Lisa Eckstrom, have one son, Reid, and daughter, Chelsea. Reid is a 2013 graduate of

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and was a four-year football letterman. He later earned a master's degree at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

. Chelsea is an elementary school teacher.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

Air Force profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanderlinden, Ron Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American football centers Air Force Falcons football coaches Albion Britons football players Ball State Cardinals football coaches Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches Northwestern Wildcats football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Sportspeople from Livonia, Michigan Coaches of American football from Michigan Players of American football from Michigan