Ron Vanderlinden earned seven varsity letters during his Albioncareer, but he is best known for his achievements with the footballprogram as an offensive lineman.
While the defense dubbed “The Wrecking Crew”garnered most of the attention, Ron helped Albion rank first in theMIAA in total offense and rushing offense in 1977. A brochurepublished after the season touted Ron as “[having] a keenability to read the opposing defense, a strong blocker who rarelymissed an assignment, and the key to Albion’s inside rushingattack.”
Albion was undefeated in league play in 1976 and 1977, and Ronwas an all-conference first-team selection both years. The 1977squad became the MIAA’s first representative to the NCAADivision III championships, where the Britons bowed to theUniversity of Minnesota-Morris, 13-10, in a hard-foughtcontest.
On the diamond, Ron was a member of the Britons’ 1976 MIAAchampionship squad.
Ron has steadily climbed in the coaching ranks since completingstints as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green State Universityand the University of Michigan. He served as the linebackers coachat Penn State University for 13 seasons where he developeda unit that included All-American, 2005 Butkus and2005/2006 Bednarik award winner Paul Posluszny and consensusAll-American and 2007 Bednarik Award winner Dan Connor. He alsocoached Michael Mauti to first-team all-Big Ten and first-teamAll-American honors in 2012. In addition, he had nine formerplayers on NFL rosters in 2013. He joined the coaching staff at theUnited States Air Force Academy in 2014.
Ron and his wife, Lisa, are the parents of a daughter, Chelsea,and a son, Reid.
