2025
The Cecchini Firing and Behrman Hire
Dave Cecchini is let go in December 2025 after going 24-48 over seven seasons; Bucknell hires Jeff Behrman (29-7 at Division III John Carroll) as its 28th head coach on January 1, 2026.
Wound
Program outlook
Program outlook
Bucknell football traces to 1883, when Lafayette College students traveled to Lewisburg and beat the home team 59-0 in the program's first game. An earlier legend, Christy Mathewson, dropkicked field goals for Bucknell around 1899-1900 before leaving school to become a Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Giants; the Bison's stadium was renamed Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium in his honor in 1989 and seats 13,100 today.
Since Jul 23: L 14-21 at Georgetown; L 7-20 vs Lafayette; L 3-34 at Holy Cross; L 30-31 at Lehigh. 1-8 this season.
Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs
Bucknell became a founding member of the Colonial League in 1986 (renamed the Patriot League in 1990), joining Colgate, Davidson, Holy Cross, Lafayette, and Lehigh outside the full-scholarship Division I model; the Patriot League began phasing in football scholarships with the 2013 season. No Bucknell team has won a league title since.
Joe Susan (2010-2018, 38-61) and Dave Cecchini (2019-2025, 24-48) each failed to sustain a breakthrough; Cecchini was let go in December 2025 after a 5-7, injury-marked season, during which QB Ralph Rucker IV became the program's all-time leading passer.
The question heading into 2026 is whether Behrman can finally make football match the rest of the department.
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
More in this tab
Conference
Patriot standing · 2026
10th in the Patriot
Bucknell is 10th of 10 in the Patriot at 0-6. The path to the title is steep — the focus is on playoff positioning and rivalry wins.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lehigh | 5-1 |
| 2 | Colgate | 4-2 |
| 3 | Holy Cross | 4-2 |
| 4 | Richmond | 4-2 |
| 5 | Villanova | 4-2 |
| 6 | Georgetown | 3-2 |
| 7 | Lafayette | 2-3 |
| 8 | Fordham | 2-4 |
| 9 | William & Mary | 1-5 |
| 10 | Bucknell | 0-6 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Carl Snavely departs
- Hired Carl Snavely
- Pete Reynolds departs
- Hired Pete Reynolds
This page may include content derived from public news sources, social media, and fan communities. We relay these sources as-is — we are not reporting them. Sources may be summarized or quoted imperfectly; for anything that matters, go look at the original source directly. The original source may also be wrong. Text written by our model says so in a line beneath it, and it can get facts wrong. All analysis is editorial opinion, not professional reporting. Data sources · About this site