Former Head And Assistant Coach Ron Vanderlinden To Receive The AFCA’s 2024 Outstanding Achievement Award
October 22, 2024
Ron Vanderlinden, a former head coach at Maryland and longtime assistant coach at Colorado, Northwestern, Penn State and Air Force, has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 AFCA Outstanding Achievement Award. The AFCA Board of Trustees created the Outstanding Achievement Award to recognize AFCA members, past and present, who have achieved outstanding success while coaching football. Vanderlinden will be honored during the 2025 AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Vanderlinden was a two-time All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association honoree at center for Albion College in Albion, Michigan. After his playing days were over, Vanderlinden began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green in 1978. He moved on as a GA at Michigan from 1979 to 1980 before getting his first full-time coaching assignment at Ball State as offensive line coach. After two years at Ball State, Vanderlinden was hired as the defensive line coach at Colorado in 1983 by Bill McCartney, his high school head coach. He would spend nine seasons in Boulder, helping the Buffs to the 1990 national championship.
Vanderlinden moved to Northwestern in 1992 with former Colorado assistant Gary Barnett as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. Together they turned the Wildcats into a two-time Big Ten championship team. In 1997, Vanderlinden received his first and only head coaching job at Maryland. He won 15 games during his four years with the Terrapins and produced recruiting classes that helped Maryland win the ACC title in 2001.
In 2001, Vanderlinden joined Penn State as linebackers coach and helped produce several All-Americans such as Paul Posluszny, Gino Capone and Dan Connor. He would serve as co-defensive coordinator in 2011, then back to linebackers coach for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. After 13 years with the Nittany Lions, Vanderlinden would end his career at Air Force as inside linebackers coach. In his six years with the Falcons, he would help Air Force to three seasons of 10 or more victories and a Mountain West Conference division title in 2015. Vanderlinden retired after the 2020 season with 43 years of college coaching experience.
Vanderlinden and his wife Lisa have a son, Reid, and a daughter, Chelsea. He was a member of two state championship teams at Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Michigan, under McCartney.
Past Outstanding Achievement Award winners include: Tim Marcum, Tampa Bay Storm (2003); Joe Moore, Pittsburgh, Temple, Notre Dame (2005); Homer Smith, Davidson, Pacific, Army (2006); Ted Kempski, Delaware (2007); Ken Donahue, Alabama, Tennessee, Memphis, Mississippi State (2008); Roland Christensen, Wisconsin-La Crosse, Winona State (2009); Bill Hickey, Notre Dame, Coast Guard, Swarthmore, Princeton (2012); Joe Kines, Jacksonville State, Clemson, Florida, Alabama, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida State, Texas A&M (2013); Woody McCorvey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi State, Clemson (2014); Mike Terwilliger, East Stroudsburg (2015); Randy Hart, Tampa, Iowa State, Purdue, Ohio State, Washington, Notre Dame, Stanford (2016); George Belu, Marshall, Denison, Miami (Ohio), Colorado, NC State, LSU, Indiana, Wake Forest, Ohio State, Arizona Cardinals, Ohio Dominican (2017); Joe Whitt, Sr., Auburn (2018); Jerry Brown, Northwestern (2019); Bill Faircloth, Wake Forest (2021); Ken Browning, North Carolina (2022) and Greg Davis, Texas A&M, Tulane, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Iowa (2023).
The American Football Coaches Association was founded in 1922 and currently has more than 11,000 members around the world ranging from the high school level to the professional ranks. According to its constitution, AFCA was formed, in part, to “maintain the highest possible standards in football and in the coaching profession” and to “provide a forum for the discussion and study of all matters pertaining to football.”
For more information about the AFCA, visit www.AFCA.com. For more interesting articles, check out The Insider and subscribe to our weekly email.
If you are interested in more in-depth articles and videos, please become an AFCA member. You can find out more information about membership and specific member benefits on the AFCA Membership Overview page. If you are ready to join, please fill out the AFCA Membership Application.
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Ron Vanderlinden, a former head coach at Maryland and longtime assistant coach at Colorado, Northwestern, Penn State and Air Force, has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 AFCA Outstanding Achievement Award. The AFCA Board of Trustees created the Outstanding Achievement Award to recognize AFCA members, past and present, who have achieved outstanding success while coaching football. Vanderlinden will be honored during the 2025 AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Vanderlinden was a two-time All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association honoree at center for Albion College in Albion, Michigan. After his playing days were over, Vanderlinden began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green in 1978. He moved on as a GA at Michigan from 1979 to 1980 before getting his first full-time coaching assignment at Ball State as offensive line coach. After two years at Ball State, Vanderlinden was hired as the defensive line coach at Colorado in 1983 by Bill McCartney, his high school head coach. He would spend nine seasons in Boulder, helping the Buffs to the 1990 national championship.
Vanderlinden moved to Northwestern in 1992 with former Colorado assistant Gary Barnett as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. Together they turned the Wildcats into a two-time Big Ten championship team. In 1997, Vanderlinden received his first and only head coaching job at Maryland. He won 15 games during his four years with the Terrapins and produced recruiting classes that helped Maryland win the ACC title in 2001.
In 2001, Vanderlinden joined Penn State as linebackers coach and helped produce several All-Americans such as Paul Posluszny, Gino Capone and Dan Connor. He would serve as co-defensive coordinator in 2011, then back to linebackers coach for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. After 13 years with the Nittany Lions, Vanderlinden would end his career at Air Force as inside linebackers coach. In his six years with the Falcons, he would help Air Force to three seasons of 10 or more victories and a Mountain West Conference division title in 2015. Vanderlinden retired after the 2020 season with 43 years of college coaching experience.
Vanderlinden and his wife Lisa have a son, Reid, and a daughter, Chelsea. He was a member of two state championship teams at Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Michigan, under McCartney.
Past Outstanding Achievement Award winners include: Tim Marcum, Tampa Bay Storm (2003); Joe Moore, Pittsburgh, Temple, Notre Dame (2005); Homer Smith, Davidson, Pacific, Army (2006); Ted Kempski, Delaware (2007); Ken Donahue, Alabama, Tennessee, Memphis, Mississippi State (2008); Roland Christensen, Wisconsin-La Crosse, Winona State (2009); Bill Hickey, Notre Dame, Coast Guard, Swarthmore, Princeton (2012); Joe Kines, Jacksonville State, Clemson, Florida, Alabama, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida State, Texas A&M (2013); Woody McCorvey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi State, Clemson (2014); Mike Terwilliger, East Stroudsburg (2015); Randy Hart, Tampa, Iowa State, Purdue, Ohio State, Washington, Notre Dame, Stanford (2016); George Belu, Marshall, Denison, Miami (Ohio), Colorado, NC State, LSU, Indiana, Wake Forest, Ohio State, Arizona Cardinals, Ohio Dominican (2017); Joe Whitt, Sr., Auburn (2018); Jerry Brown, Northwestern (2019); Bill Faircloth, Wake Forest (2021); Ken Browning, North Carolina (2022) and Greg Davis, Texas A&M, Tulane, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Iowa (2023).
The American Football Coaches Association was founded in 1922 and currently has more than 11,000 members around the world ranging from the high school level to the professional ranks. According to its constitution, AFCA was formed, in part, to “maintain the highest possible standards in football and in the coaching profession” and to “provide a forum for the discussion and study of all matters pertaining to football.”
For more information about the AFCA, visit www.AFCA.com. For more interesting articles, check out The Insider and subscribe to our weekly email.
If you are interested in more in-depth articles and videos, please become an AFCA member. You can find out more information about membership and specific member benefits on the AFCA Membership Overview page. If you are ready to join, please fill out the AFCA Membership Application.
