Now in his 10th year as the Head Football Coach at St Johnsbury Academy, Rich Alercio has taken the Hilltoppers to four state championship appearances, highlighted by an undefeated 2017 State Championship season. Prior to coming to St Johnsbury, Alercio was named the first Head Football Coach in the history of Castleton University. In only their second year, Coach Alercio led the Spartans to winning record and finished second in their conference. During that second season at Castleton, his offense ranked in the top 10 nationally in five statistical categories.
Coach Alercio began his career at West Chester University as a Graduate Assistant Coach. Two years later he moved to East Stroudsburg University as an assistant coach. At both schools, he 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) where he served as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. During his 15 years there, the Lions made six post-season appearances, won five conference championships, and finished three seasons ranked in the nation’s top 10. In July, 2008, Coach Alercio was featured in American Football Monthly describing him as “a guru of offensive line play in the northeast part of the country.”
In 2017, Rich was named Vermont Division I Coach of the Year. In 2018, NNEKY (Northern New Hampshire Northeast Kingdome Vermont) named him their all sports Coach of the Year. In 2020, Max Preps listed the top coaches in each of the 50 United States, selecting Coach Alercio as Vermont’s top high school football coach.
Recognized and awarded for his teaching and presenting skills, Coach Alercio speaks annually at the largest football clinics in the country; USA Football National Conference, Glazier Mega Clinics, and Nike Coach of the Year Clinics. He is the original offensive line contributor to xandolabs.com. He has run the Alercio OLine Clinics for 20 years in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vermont and has written over 150 blog posts on his site olineskills.com
Alercio and his family live in Vermont where the support of student-athletes, faculty, families, and the local community combine to foster success and make all feel at home.
Coach Alercio is an award winning presenter at football clinics large and small, and has been featured at both Glazier and Nike National Clinics as well as Regional events, and on line. Recently, Coach was featured on footballtoolbox.net and a video of Coach Alercio presenting on Screen Pass Options can be seen below.
O Line Skills 