Lafayette, which competes in the Patriot League, has had just six winning seasons in its 91-year history and has finished above .500 just once (2010) in the last 33 years. With the exception of an occasional upset — like the Leopards’ 9-8 win over Navy on March 11, just their second victory over the Midshipmen in 18 all-time meetings — Lafayette has struggled to gain traction in one of the nation’s toughest conferences.
Michigan started 8-1 last season before faltering down the stretch in Big Ten play, ending with five straight losses against teams ranked in the top 15 nationally. Conry, the defensive coordinator for Maryland’s first NCAA championship team since 1975, was hired to replace John Paul, the architect of the Wolverines’ widely celebrated move from club to varsity status in 2012, on June 21.
Rogalski presumably will be the defensive coordinator at Michigan. Conry decided to retain offensive coordinator Conor Ford.
Lafayette, coming off of a 2-12 season, will be the fifth Division I team with new leadership in 2018, joining Canisius (Mark Miyashita), Cornell (Peter Milliman), Delaware (Ben DeLuca) and Michigan. The university had previously announced that assistant coach Mike Terranova left to become head coach at Division II Chestnut Hill.