John Strollo (born January 20, 1954) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach who has worked 14 different assignments over his coaching career, which has spanned over 35 years, both at the high school and collegiate level. After serving two seasons as

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

s coach at Penn State, he returned to Ball State to become the offensive line coach for the 2014 season.

Early life and playing career

Raised in Long Branch, New Jersey Strollo attended

Long Branch High School Long Branch High School is a comprehensive high school, comprehensive, four-year community state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school that serves students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades in the city o ...

. Strollo lettered once while playing football at Boston College, and graduated in 1976, after which he got his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1980 at Springfield College.

Coaching career

Strollo began coaching directly out of college as an assistant coach at Middletown High School South on the Jersey Shore, prior to moving to the collegiate level to Springfield, at which he got his master's degree working as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...

. From there, he had his first stint at Northeastern University,

Washburn University Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 ...

, and his second stint at Northeastern before being hired to assistant coach at

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. He had three more coaching stops –

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach a ...

, and

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

– before first working with Bill O'Brien when they were assistants together at

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

from 2005-2007. He then spent three seasons at Elon and one season at Ball State prior to O'Brien hiring him to coach on his new staff at Penn State, a decision that drew some criticism within the media for his lack of experience in big-time college football. His first season at Penn State, however, saw freshman tight end

Kyle Carter Kyle T. Carter (born December 17, 1992) is a former American football tight end. He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions. Early years Carter was born in New Castle, Delaware to Mitchell and Charlene Carter. He attended Wi ...

excel, and Strollo consequently received some accolade and acceptance for his role as position coach, including speculation that Penn State could become "Tight End U", a reference to Penn State's

Linebacker U The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University in college football. The Nittany Lions compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference, which they joined in 1993 af ...

, for their consistent success and strength at linebacker. He considers coaching at Penn State a "dream job". When Bill O'Brien left Penn State to go to the Houston Texans, Strollo did not go with him, nor did new coach James Franklin retain him on the staff at Penn State. Consequently, Strollo returned to Ball State as offensive line coach.

References

External links

Louisburg College profile

Ball State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strollo, John 1954 births Living people American football offensive tackles Ball State Cardinals football coaches Boston College Eagles football players Cornell Big Red football coaches Duke Blue Devils football coaches Elon Phoenix football coaches Lafayette Leopards football coaches Maine Black Bears football coaches Northeastern Huskies football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Springfield Pride football coaches UMass Minutemen football coaches Washburn Ichabods football coaches High school football coaches in New Jersey Junior college football coaches in the United States Springfield College (Massachusetts) alumni People from Long Branch, New Jersey Long Branch High School alumni Players of American football from New Jersey Sportspeople from Monmouth County, New Jersey