Castleton Spartans football
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2nd season, 3–7 (.300)
| Castleton Spartans football | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First season | 2009 |
| Athletic director | Tim Barrett |
| Head coach | Tyler Higley 2nd season, 3–7 (.300) |
| Location | Castleton, Vermont |
| Stadium | Dave Wolk Stadium (formally Spartan Stadium until 2017) (capacity: 5,000) |
| NCAA division | Division III |
| Conference | NJAC |
| Colors | Green and white[1] |
| All-time record | 61–76 (.445) |
| Bowl record | 0–1 (.000) |
| Conference championships | |
| 1 (2012) | |
| Rivalries | Norwich[2] (Maple Sap Bucket) |
| Mascot | Knight |
| Website | castletonsports.com |
The Castleton Spartans football team represents Vermont State University Castleton in college football at the NCAA Division III level. The Spartans are members of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), fielding its team in the NJAC since 2025. The Spartans play their home games at Dave Wolk Stadium in Castleton, Vermont.[3]
Their head coach is Tyler Higley, who took over the position for the 2024 season as interim head coach.[4]
Until Castleton became a part of Vermont State University, Vermont was the only state in the United States besides Alaska where the state university did not have varsity football; as the University of Vermont had not had a varsity football team since 1974 (and still does not). The Spartans are now the only public university in Vermont with varsity football. As it is now, however, Vermont is still the only state besides Alaska where the state university does not award any athletic scholarships for football.
- Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (2009–2023)
- Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (2024)[5][6]
- New Jersey Athletic Conference (2025–present)
Championships
Conference championships
Castleton claims 1 conference title, which came in 2012.
| Year | Conference | Overall Record | Conference Record | Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012† | Eastern Collegiate Football Conference | 7–4 | 6–1 | Marc Klatt |
† Co-champions
Postseason games
Bowl games
Castleton has participated in one bowl game, and has a record of 0–1.
| Season | Coach | Bowl | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Marc Klatt | ECAC Bowl | St. John Fisher | L 7–63 |
List of head coaches
Key
| General | Overall | Conference | Postseason[A 1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Order of coaches[A 2] | GC | Games coached | CW | Conference wins | PW | Postseason wins |
| DC | Division championships | OW | Overall wins | CL | Conference losses | PL | Postseason losses |
| CC | Conference championships | OL | Overall losses | CT | Conference ties | PT | Postseason ties |
| NC | National championships | OT | Overall ties[A 3] | C% | Conference winning percentage | ||
| † | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage[A 4] | ||||
Coaches
| No. | Name | Season(s) | GC | OW | OL | O% | CW | CL | C% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rich Alercio[10] | 2009–2010 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0.444 | 6 | 7 | 0.462 |
| 2 | Marc Klatt[11] | 2011–2013 | 31 | 12 | 19 | 0.387 | 9 | 12 | 0.429 |
| 3 | Tony Volpone[12][13] | 2014–2023 | 88 | 41 | 47 | 0.466 | 32 | 26 | 0.552 |
| 4 | Tyler Higley (interim) | 2024–present | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – |
Year-by-year results
| National champions | Conference champions | Bowl game berth | Playoff berth |
| Season | Year | Head coach | Association | Division | Conference | Record | Postseason | Final ranking | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | Conference | |||||||||||||
| Win | Loss | Finish | Win | Loss | ||||||||||
| Castleton Spartans | ||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 2009 | Rich Alercio | NCAA | Division III | ECFC | 3 | 6 | 6th | 1 | 5 | — | — | ||
| 2010 | 2010 | 5 | 4 | T–2nd | 5 | 2 | — | — | ||||||
| 2011 | 2011 | Marc Klatt | 4 | 6 | 5th | 3 | 4 | — | — | |||||
| 2012 | 2012 | 7 | 4 | T–1st | 6 | 1 | Conference co-champions[14] | — | ||||||
| 2013 | 2013 | 1 | 9 | 8th | 0 | 7 | — | — | ||||||
| 2014 | 2014 | Tony Volpone | 7 | 3 | T–2nd | 7 | 3 | — | — | |||||
| 2015 | 2015 | 7 | 3 | T–3rd | 5 | 2 | — | — | ||||||
| 2016 | 2016 | 4 | 6 | T–3rd | 4 | 3 | — | — | ||||||
| 2017 | 2017 | 6 | 4 | 3rd | 5 | 2 | — | — | ||||||
| 2018 | 2018 | 2 | 8 | T–5th | 1 | 5 | — | — | ||||||
| 2019 | 2019 | 2 | 7 | T–3rd | 2 | 3 | — | — | ||||||
| Season canceled due to COVID-19 | ||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2021 | Tony Volpone | NCAA | Division III | ECFC | 6 | 4 | 3rd | 4 | 2 | — | — | ||
| 2022 | 2022 | 5 | 5 | 2nd | 4 | 2 | — | — | ||||||
| 2023 | 2023 | 2 | 7 | 5th | 0 | 4 | — | — | ||||||
| 2024 | 2024 | Tyler Higley | MASCAC | — | — | |||||||||
