Ivy League Championships: 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016
Recruiting Areas: Western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, Centre, Huntingdon Counties), Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia
Jon Dupont enters his 19th season with the Quakers in 2025. He served as the cornerbacks and assistant secondary coach for seven years and has led Penn's inside linebackers for eleven seasons. 2025 marks his second as the program's recruiting coordinator.
Penn began the 2024 season battling FBS-bound Delaware close on the road before picking up victories against Colgate, Bucknell, Brown, and Cornell. Two Quakers—John Lista and Jack Fairman—earned All-Ivy honors, including a second-team selection for Lista, who tied for fifth in the conference in solo tackles with 55 and had a team-leading 5.0 TFLs and six hurries. In addition, Kadari Machen led the team with 71 total stops, adding 5.0 TFLs and a sack.
The Quakers wrapped up a 6-4 overall record in 2023, going 3-4 in one of the most competitive Ivy campaigns in conference history, in which Penn had a shot to play for an Ivy championship up until the final whistle of the penultimate weekend of the year. The Red and Blue began the season with back-to-back road victories over Colgate (20-6) and Bucknell (37-21) and rounded out the unbeaten non-conference slate with a 42-39 overtime win over Georgetown at Franklin Field. Penn knocked off Columbia, 20-17, and took down Yale, the reigning Ancient Eight champs, for a second straight year, 27-17. The Quakers won on Homecoming by defeating visiting Cornell, 23-8, to hold onto the Trustees' Cup for the second year in a row. Linebacker Jack Fairman earned second-team All-Ivy honors after an impressive senior season, in which he led all Penn defenders with 73 total tackles, averaging 7.3 tackles per game (ranked eighth in the Ivy League). In addition to his work on the field, Fairman was named a semifinalist for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy for his commitment in the classroom.
Penn again dominated on the defensive side of the ball in 2023, among the nation's leaders in multiple team statistical categories. The Quakers ranked 12th in rushing defense (102.5 ypg), 13th in total defense (304 ypg), 19th in sacks per game (2.60), 19th in passing efficiency defense (115.94) and 26th in scoring defense (21.7 ppg).
In 2022, Penn completed a very successful season, going 8-2 overall with a 5-2 record in Ivy play. Recording the program's most victories since 2010, the Quakers ended the year with a second-place finish in the Ivy standings. Penn won its first six games, going 6-0 to start a season for the first time since 2003. Victories included a double-overtime, 23-17 thriller against Dartmouth on national television, a 34-14 home win over Columbia, a 20-13 homecoming victory against eventual Ivy champion Yale and a come-from-behind, 20-19 win at #22 Princeton to close out the year. Three players won a total of four Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week awards during the season, including back-to-back honors for senior defensive lineman Jake Heimlicher to start the season, the first player in program history to achieve that feat. Four members of the defense earned All-Ivy selections with Heimlicher being named a Third-team Associated Press All-American and a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, awarded to the FCS National Defensive Player of the Year.
Dupont's work with the defense helped them rank in the top 15 in several FCS categories during the 2022 campaign - No. 2 in rush defense (89.2 ypg), No. 4 in sacks (3.4 per game), No. 4 in fourth down defense percentage (28.6 percent), No. 4 in first downs (176), No. 6 in red zone defense (69.7 percent), No. 6 in scoring defense (19.7 ppg), No. 12 in tackles for loss (7.5 per game) and No. 13 in total defense (322.8 ypg).
In 2021, Penn went 3-7 with non-conference victories at Bucknell and at home versus Lehigh. The Quakers defeated Bucknell, 20-0, and it marked Penn's first shutout since the 2009 team capped a perfect Ivy League season with a 34-0 win over Cornell. The Red and Blue scored an Ancient Eight win at home versus Brown thanks to defeating the Bears, 45-17. During the year, Isaiah Malcome was honored as the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week on October 11 and Garrett Morris was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week on November 1. Seven Quakers brought home All-Ivy honors, highlighted by Prince Emili and Brian O'Neill bringing home first-team accolades.
In 2017, Dupont coached Nick Miller to a season where he earned first-team All-Ivy honors and was a finalist for Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Miller led the country with four fumble recoveries and his 10.4 tackles-per-game ranked No. 10 among all FCS defenders. Miller was joined by Colton Moskal (honorable mention) as All-Ivy linebackers in 2017.
In 2018, Dupont worked with Miller on a second consecutive first-team All-Ivy season and a selection as one of 25 finalists for FCS Defensive Player of the Year.
In 2019, Dupont mentored a pair of student-athletes All-Ivy honors. The Quakers ranked fourth in the Ivy League and 62nd in all of the FCS in tackles for loss (6.2 TFLs PG).
Dupont helped Penn to its fifth Ivy League championship with him on staff in 2016. The Red and Blue were No. 18 in the country in Scoring Defense in 2016, limiting opponents to 21.3 points per game. Dupont coached a pair of players -- Nick Miller and Colton Moskal -- to second-team All-Ivy honors.
In 2015, Dupont was part of his fourth Ivy League championship as the Quakers went 6-1 in the Ivy League.
Dupont's defense was second in the Ivy League and No. 8 among FCS programs in turnover margin in 2015, picking off 14 passes and recovering 11 fumbles to help Penn finish +1.00. The Red and Blue led the Ivy League and were No. 13 nationally in sacks-per-game with 2.9.
In his first two seasons with the linebackers, Dupont led Dan Davis to back-to-back All-Ivy seasons. In his seven years in charge of the defensive backfield, the Quakers had 15 All-Ivy defensive backs. During the 2012 Ivy League championship season, Dupont's defensive backfield consisted of three All-Ivy players in Sebastian Jaskowski, Dave Twamley and Dan Wilk.
Dupont also turned a pair of former offensive standouts into All-Ivy defensive backs. In their first seasons under Dupont in 2010, former running backs Bradford Blackmon and Matt Hamscher each turned in All-Ivy performances. Blackmon, who had spent his first three season on the offensive side of the ball, started all 10 games as a senior cornerback, while Hamscher led the team in sacks and was a two-time Ivy Defensive Player of the Week. Hamscher then returned in 2011 and was named second-team All-Ivy as senior.
Meanwhile, two more of Dupont’s disciples were selected as All-Ivy recipients in 2010—Josh Powers earned first team status and Brian Levine claimed honorable mention recognition. The Quakers finished the year ranked No. 1 in the Ivy League in total defense, scoring defense and sacks.
In 2009, Dupont’s secondary ranked tops in the Ivy League in passing defense (seventh in the nation) for the second straight season. In addition to leading the FCS in total defense and scoring defense, the Quakers also ranked first in the Ancient Eight in pass efficiency defense and turnover margin. Dupont’s defensive backfield produced two first-team All-Ivy recipients in Jonathan Moore and Chris Wynn, while Kevin Gray added a second-team honor. A year earlier, Wynn led the league in interceptions and was named Third-Team All-America.
Dupont came to Penn after coaching for two seasons at Trinity College (Conn.), where he assisted in coaching defensive backs and the defensive line. Under his tutelage, Trinity had the No. 1 ranked defense in all of Division III football. He also had a hand in recruiting athletes from New York, New Jersey and California.
Prior to Trinity, Dupont served two years as a defensive assistant coach at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Dupont coached the defensive line in 2003 and the outside linebackers in 2002, while also serving as an assistant baseball coach at WPI both seasons.
Dupont was a four-year starter at linebacker and defensive back at St. Lawrence, earning All-Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (UCAA) football honors in 2001. He was also a three-year starter on the St. Lawrence baseball squad, and in 2001-02, was the most valuable player of both the football and baseball teams.
Dupont earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from St. Lawrence in 2002 and received his Master’s degree in economics at Trinity in the spring of 2006. He and his wife, Heather, reside in Drexel Hill, Pa., with their son, Bradley, and daughter, Katelyn.
THE DUPONT FILE
Coaching Experience
Linebackers Coach — Penn, 2013-present
Cornerbacks Coach — Penn, 2006-2012
DB/DL Coach — Trinity, 2004-05
Defensive Line Coach — Worcester Poly, 2003
Outside Linebackers Coach — Worcester Poly, 2002
Hometown — Dansville, N.Y.
Residence — Drexel Hill, Pa.
Family — Wife, Heather; Son, Bradley; Daughter, Katelyn
Education
2006 Masters — Trinity
2002 B.A. — St. Lawrence
