Last March Cornell College went out and hired an Iowa High School Hall of Fame Coach Curt Ritchie from nearby Williamsburg, Iowa to come up the road to Mount Vernon to lead a revival of the Ram Football Program.
Cornell College is one of the pioneers of Iowa College Football and has been playing in Mt. Vernon, IA for over 135 years.
The oldest college football rivalry game in the United States (West of the Mississippi) is their Annual game with Coe College in Cedar Rapids (which has been played for over 135 years). The Rams have a deep football history and Coach Ritchie was brought in late in the coaching hire (March) and had to scramble to put together a class and get a program together.
2025 Was a Foundation Building Year at Cornell College
Taking over a football program in Mid-March is a tough order as spring practices are right around the corner and you are behind the proverbial 8 Ball when it comes to recruiting. Coach Ritchie has only 4 commits when he took the job on Day 1.
Our team was very excited about this move as hiring a legendary Iowa High School coach to run a DIII program in the state of Iowa has been very successful. Exhibit A was Steve Staker at Coe who moved from NE Iowa High School to build Coe into one of the top programs in DIII in the country (His Son Tyler Staker has continued that winning tradition at Coe for the past 10 seasons).
In 2025 The Rams were playing their best football at the end of the season and closed with a 4-6 record in the Midwest Conference.
The Rams return their starting QB and 7 starters on Defense as they work to build off a foundational 4-6 season in 2025. Roster Numbers are up significantly in Mt. Vernon this fall to around 100, which is a great sign and up significantly.
Cornell’s approach for football has been more of a nationwide roster approach, and Coach Ritchie is keeping that approach but is adding many more Iowa High School players to the Rams’ roster.
Coach sat down with our SGI Pigskin Breakdown Team this week, and over 40 minutes went deep on his vision for the Cornell Rams, and outlook for 2026.
Full Podcast on YouTube 8.2.8.26 – Also Available on Apple and Spotify (Sports Guys Iowa)
The opportunity to climb in the Midwest Conference is there this year and in the future. Year two of the Coach Ritchie era is a key foundational year for the Rams to continue to build and climb the ladder of the MWC.
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