Mansfield Athletics

Tom Elsasser served as head football coach at Mansfield from 1983-1995. He has both the longest tenure as well as most wins of any coach in the Mountaineers 110 year football history. Elsasser revived the football program in just his first season, winning twice as many games as the previous season and the most victories in 8 years. He went on to win a school record 48 games over his tenure including nine wins over nationally ranked opponents. His 1987 team was the first and only team to be ranked in the NCAA Division II Top Twenty Weekly Poll when they were tanked #20 in the country after the fourth week of the season. The 1990 PSAC East Coach of the Year, Elsasser had a total of 54 players named to All-PSAC East honors a total of 83 times during his coaching career with many of them also earning preseason or postseason all-American honors. Four players signed contracts with NFL of CFL teams. Elsasser and Jamie Butsko developed the athletic mentoring program in the late 1980’s and after retiring from football Elsasser became Director of Academic Advising where he continues to serve Mansfield University students. The Tom Elsasser Academic Award is presented annually to the top academic player on the Mansfield University men’s basketball team.