LEBANON — The Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl Board of Governors has announced that Coach Rich Alercio is their 2020 Vermont Head Coach.
Coach Alercio will lead his team of 38 of Vermont’s best senior players into the 67th Annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl Game which will be played in the Dave Wolk Stadium at Castleton University in Castleton, VT on August 1, 2020.
Alercio is the current Assistant Athletic Director and Head Football Coach at St. Johnsbury Academy, an independent boarding school in St. Johnsbury, where he had taken the Hilltoppers to four state championships including an undefeated 2017 State Championship season.
Prior to his arrival to SJ’s, Alercio was named the first Head Football Coach in the history of Castleton University and in only their second year, the Spartans had a winning record and finished second in their conference.
Coach Alercio started his career at West Chester University as a Graduate Assistant Coach and in his first year, they won the conference championship and went on to the national playoffs. After two years he moved to Stroudsburg University as an assistant coach and helped them win their conference championship and appear in the national playoffs.
Most of his career was spent at The College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College) as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. During his 15 years there, the Lions set 19 individual and team records in rushing, passing and scoring, made six post-season appearances, won five conference championships and finished three season ranked in the nation’s Top 10.
Alercio lives in Vermont with his wife of 24 years and they have three sons. Their oldest son Jake is a senior baseball player at Fairleigh Dickenson University, Shane is a sophomore football player at the University of New England and their youngest son Trey is a senior multi-sport athlete for the Hilltoppers.
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