season as head coach of the Lafayette football program which he has transformed into a consistent championship contender. Tavani is in his 22nd year as the director of the Leopard Youth Football Camp which he founded in 1989. Lafayette has spent time in the Top 25 each of the last six seasons and is the only Patriot League program to boast a winning record in every regular season during that span. The Leopards are coming off a 2009 season in which they were 8-3, incuding a 4-0 record vs. Ivy League opponents.

Tavani’s teams hold a 26-10 Patriot League record over the last six years when they won three consecutive Patriot League championships from 2004 to 2006. During that championship run, the Leopards made the fi rst three postseason appearances in school history, laying claim to the Patriot League’s automatic NCAA bid in 2004 and 2006, while earning the program’s fi rst at-large berth in 2005.In addition to Patriot League championships and NCAA Playoff appearances, Lafayette has taken care of business close to home, beating its cross-valley rival Lehigh four of the last six times in College Football’s Most Played Rivalry. The win in 2007 at Lehigh allowed the Class of 2008 to leave College Hill without ever having lost to its archrival, a feat not equaled since the since the Class of 1950.