Tim Pendergast (born August 15, 1958) is an American former

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. He served as the head football coach at

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

in 2000 and at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

from 2001 to 2003, compiling a career head coaching record of 9–28. Pendergast graduated from

State University of New York at Cortland The State University of New York at Cortland (SUNY Cortland, C-State, or Cortland State) is a public university in Cortland, New York. It was founded in 1868 and is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. History The State Univ ...

and earned a master's degree from

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca (town), New York, Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a Music school, conservatory of music. Ithaca College is known for its media-related programs and entertainment program ...

, where he began his coaching career as an assistant in 1980. He was then an assistant coach at Cornell from 1981 to 1989. He first served as the freshman coach from 1981 to 1982 before being named the

defensive backs In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

coach in 1983. After a stint as an assistant for Northwestern he was hired as the defensive backs coach for

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. In 1993, he accepted the same position for

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

. He was promoted to

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 ...

in 1995. In 1997, he reverted back to his role of defensive backs coach when he was hired by Memphis. Pendergast was fired from his position at Cornell in November 2003. He 2003 Cornell team lost its final nine games to finish the season with a record of 1–9 and last place in the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

. The nine-game losing streak was the second-longest in the history of the

Cornell Big Red football The Cornell Big Red football team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I Division I (NCAA)#Football Championship Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college fo ...

program, topped only a ten-game losing streak in 1975 and 1976 under head coach

George Seifert George Gerald Seifert (born January 22, 1940) is an American former football coach. He served as the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers and the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Seifert owned the second-greatest winnin ...

. In his three seasons as head coach Cornell, Pendergast's teams had an overall record of 7–22 with a mark of 5–16 in Ivy League play.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendergast, Tim 1958 births Living people Cornell Big Red football coaches Hamilton Continentals football coaches Ithaca Bombers football coaches James Madison Dukes football coaches Maine Black Bears football coaches Memphis Tigers football coaches Northwestern Wildcats football coaches UConn Huskies football coaches Ithaca College alumni State University of New York at Cortland alumni