Ralph Isernia was named head coach at Rensselaer in March of 2013.
Isernia (pronounced EYE-sern-EE-ah) has led the Engineers to a 61-29 record (.678 winning percentage) in eight seasons (9 years). The team has won six Dutchman Shoes Trophy Games and five Transit Trophy Games, earned seven post-season appearances, including three bids to the NCAA Playoffs, and captured a pair of ECAC Bowl titles.
Rensselaer earned its seventh consecutive playoff appearance in 2021 - the longest streak in school history - and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Playoffs for the second time in three seasons (the 2020 campaign was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The team tied the school record for wins in a season (11-2), including victories in the Transit Trophy Game at WPI (24-10) and Dutchman Shoes Trophy Game at Union (19-17), and garnered its third Liberty League title in four years. RPI won two NCAA Tournament games on the road before being eliminated by the then-No. 1 team in Division III.
Isernia and his staff led the team to final national rankings of No. 13 and No. 14 by D3football.com and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), respectively. They were recognized with year-end Coaching Staff of the Year awards by the Liberty League, D3football.com and the ECAC.
The Engineers earned its sixth consecutive playoff appearance in 2019 and finished with a winning record for the sixth straight season.
The 2018 campaign was one of the most successful for the program as RPI registered 10 victories - the second most in a single season; a Liberty League title - its second straight; and qualification into the NCAA Playoffs for the second consecutive year - for the first time in school history. Rensselaer advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for just the second time ever, finished nationally-ranked in both the D3football.com Poll (11th) and the AFCA Poll (12th) and was named the ECAC Division III Team of the Year.
Isernia and his staff garnered post-season Coach of the Year awards from the Liberty League as well as D3football.com. He was also the recipient of the department's Marvin Anderson Award, which is presented to a head coach as voted on by his/her peers.
In 2017, Rensselaer had an 8-3 season in which it won the Liberty League title and earned a bid to the NCAA Playoffs. The Engineers won both trophy games, defeating WPI 36-14 for the Transit Trophy and Union 20-14 for the Dutchman Shoes Trophy, each on the road. They finished the regular season on a five-game winning streak.
The 2016 season added six wins to the program’s ledger, including scoring 51 points on 519 yards - third most in school history - at Rochester, a last-second 21-17 victory over nationally-ranked Hobart, a 21-12 win against Union in the Shoes Game and a 38-6 win over Maritime in the ECAC Scotty Whitelaw Bowl at historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
The playoff win over the Privateers was Rensselaer’s second straight ECAC Bowl win after it defeated Buffalo State 20-13 in the Asa Bushnell Bowl to cap a 9-2 season in 2015. That team won its final five games and finished with the second most wins in school history at the time. The 6-1 Liberty League mark made them co-conference champions.
The previous season was Rensselaer’s first post-season appearance since 2010 as Isernia led the Engineers to the 2014 ECAC North Atlantic Bowl.
Senior Andrew Franks, a record-setting kicker and the team’s punter, was the Liberty League Special Teams Player of the Year for the second straight season on his way to being a consensus All-America. He signed a free agent contract with the Miami Dolphins and became the first player in school history to play in the National Football League. Franks, a biomedical engineering major, connected on 13 of 16 field goals for the Dolphins in his first season and 16 of 21 his second.
In his first season, Isernia led the Engineers to a 5-5 record. RPI won its first three games, including a 20-7 victory
over Norwich in the season opener, and closed with a 31-28 victory at rival Union.
A coach since 1991, he has experience in Division III, Division II and the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly I-AA. Isernia came to Rensselaer from Ferrum College, where he was the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for the Division III Panthers. In two seasons, he helped the team to a share of the 2012 USA South Conference championship and coached two quarterbacks to league Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Isernia spent the six years prior at the University of Charleston, where he was an assistant head coach, the offensive coordinator and interim head coach. He was a regional finalist for the Division II Assistant Coach of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2010. He has also coached at Bucknell (2004-05), Mansfield (2001-04), Defiance (2000-01), Methodist (1994-00) and Western Connecticut State (1991-94).
A member of the AFCA, Isernia has been a speaker and clinician at the organization’s events as well as at camps around the country. He has had various articles published, including “Engineering your Culture: 5 Keys to Team Excellence” in American Football Monthly in the summer of 2017 as well as “On Sportsmanship: A Letter to My Son” in the Elmira Star Gazette and “Offensive Line Blocking Progression” in Gridiron Coach Magazine.
A native of Long Island, Isernia is a graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina, where he was the first two-sport captain (football & baseball). He was a four-year starter as a running back and led the team in numerous categories, including rushing, receiving, scoring and punt return yardage. In baseball, he earned All-Big South in 1991.
Isernia received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology from Davidson and his Master of Science in Counselor Education from Western Connecticut.
He and his wife, Lynn, have three children, Rett, Grace, and Ryan.
Updated January 2022
