Tim Landis Position: The Bob Odell Head Football Coach Experience: Fifth Season

Phone: 570-577-1134
Email: football@bucknell.edu

After helping the Bison achieve one of the best turnaround seasons in the country in 2006, Tim Landis returns for his fifth year as the Bob Odell Head Coach of Bucknell Football.

Relying heavily on first and second-year players, Landis guided the Bison to a 6-5 record last season (3-3 Patriot League), a five-win improvement over a trying 2005 campaign that was flagged by injuries. Actually, injuries hampered the Bison again last season, particularly at quarterback and running back, but with a much deeper squad, Bucknell was able to overcome the ailments. With a successful follow-up spring practice in the books, Landis and his staff are looking to continue the upward trend in 2007.

Having already resurrected programs at Davidson and St. Mary's, Landis arrived at Bucknell in December 2002 to take over a football program that was undergoing a trying period.

As Landis' first spring practice approached, the Bison were still coping with the death of legendary head coach Tom Gadd, and they were still tasting the bitterness of a 2-9 record that ended a school-record run of seven straight winning seasons.

But under Landis' leadership, pride was quickly restored in the program, and the Bison turned in two very good seasons, first going 6-6 in 2003 then improving to 7-4 in 2004. Bucknell placed third in the competitive Patriot League standings both seasons.

Landis has coached both an All-American (DL Sean Conover) and an Academic All-American (OL Justin Gibson, DB David Frisbey) during his tenure at Bucknell. Upon his hiring, Landis, 43, brought to the Bison football program an impressive cache of head coaching experience. He became Bucknell's 25th head football coach since the program's inception in 1883.

"I have worked a very long time in this profession to earn a tremendous opportunity such as this," said Landis at the time of his hiring. "To coach at a quality educational institution like Bucknell that also has a long and proud history of football is the culmination of a lifelong dream of mine."

"I am pleased to have Tim Landis continue to lead the Bison football program," said Hardt in announcing a new multi-year contract for Landis in November. "He has a proven track record of coaching winning teams throughout his career, and during his tenure at Bucknell has recruited true scholar-athletes who are quality young men on and off the field. Coach Landis is determined to bring additional Patriot League championships to Bucknell, and I look forward to working with him in achieving this important goal."

Following a seven-year tenure as head coach at Davidson College, Landis spent the previous three seasons building a winning program at St. Mary's (Calif.) College. In both positions, he garnered national accolades for turning modestly successful programs into winners.

Upon his arrival at St. Mary's in the spring of 2000, the Gaels had been just 4-17 over the previous two seasons. Landis quickly forged a 6-5 season in his first year at the Moraga, Calif., school, marking the program's best one-year turnaround since football was reinstated at St. Mary's in 1967. The Gaels finished 6-5 again in 2001 and 6-6 in 2002, and Landis was honored as the Division I-AA Independent Coach of the Year after both seasons. Landis helped Davidson to a school-record eight victories in both 1998 and 1999, while laying the groundwork for a perfect 10-0 season the year after his departure to St. Mary's. Prior to Landis' arrival, Davidson had enjoyed just one winning campaign since 1980, but the Wildcats promptly went 6-4 in 1993 under the then first-year coach, and they would go on to enjoy four winning seasons in his seven years at the North Carolina institution.

Landis, who has a career head coaching record of 73-77-1, was very familiar with Bucknell and the Patriot League, having coached against league teams at both Davidson and St. Mary's. The Bison and Gaels met in each of the two prior seasons, with St. Mary's winning 23-22 in overtime in 2002 and Bucknell capturing a 38-6 decision in 2001.

St. Mary's 2000 team gained acclaim for its victories over nationally ranked Colgate and a talented Towson squad. He also posted a win over Patriot League foe Georgetown during his stint at Davidson.

"Having so many roots in the East, I have followed the Patriot League for a long time and it is becoming one of the premier conferences in Division I-AA football," Landis said upon his arrival at Bucknell. "Just look at the success that Patriot League teams have had in the I-AA playoffs. Every school in the league has academic prestige and football prestige. That is a great combination."

Landis' trademark spread option offensive attack put up 2,908 ground yards in 2003, missing the school record by just a single yard while finishing 10th nationally in rushing offense. In 2003 the Bison were eighth nationally, averaging 251.8 rushing yards per game, while last year they were fifth at 235.2 yards per contest. In his first season at St. Mary's the Gaels ranked fourth nationally in rushing at 309.5 yards per game and 24th nationally in total offense at 434.4. The team broke school records for total yards (4778) and touchdowns (50) in a season. Defensively, the Gaels were equally opportunistic, ranking 12th in Division I-AA in turnovers forced (32). St. Mary's also ranked fourth in the country in rushing offense in 2001 and fifth in 2002.

At St. Mary's, Landis coached an Associated Press First Team All-American in defensive end Travis White, and he mentored a total of seven Verizon Academic All-District honorees in three years.

In his final season at Davidson, the Wildcats defense led the nation with a school-record 28 interceptions, including eight by All-American Ryan Crawford, a current assistant on the Bison staff. Landis' special teams unit blocked a Division I-AA record 13 kicks in 1999, and the defense allowed only 101 rushing yards per game to rank 13th in the nation.

In 1998, Davidson ranked first nationally in pass efficiency defense, second in scoring defense (a stingy 10.4 points per game allowed), fourth in total defense (231.9 yards per game) and 12th in rushing defense. Landis originally joined the Davidson staff as its defensive line coach in 1991, and two years later, at the age of 29, he became one of the nation's youngest head football coaches.

A native of Yardley, Pa., and a 1982 graduate of The Hun School in Princeton, N.J., Landis went on to earn a bachelor of arts degree in English from Randolph-Macon College in 1986. A First Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference honoree both as a quarterback in football and a pitcher in baseball, Landis was inducted into the Randolph-Macon Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000. He was the ODAC Baseball Player of the Year in 1986, and he also earned the school's Compton Award for excellence in academics and athletics. In May 2002, he was inducted into The Hun School's Hall of Fame.

Landis took his initial steps into the coaching profession in 1986, when he remained at Randolph-Macon to coach his alma mater's wide receivers. In 1988, he began a three-year stint as head football and baseball coach at Morrisville (Pa.) High School, where he led the grid squad to an 8-2 record, a state ranking and coach of the year honors by the Bucks County Courier Times, the Bicentennial Athletic League and the Independence Football League. He also guided the baseball team to a conference crown. During his final two years at the school, he served as director of athletics.

Landis returned to the collegiate level in 1991, when he was hired as an assistant at Davidson.

Off the field, Landis is a member of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), where he serves as the chairman of that organization's Division I-AA All-America Selection Committee. He also served as a member of the Division I FCS AFCA Board of Directors Executive Committee.

Landis and his wife Karen have three children -- 15-year-old son T.J., 6-year-old daughter Jordan, 4-year-old son Jack, and 1-year old son Charlie.