Lou Ferrari returned to Columbia in January, 2006, 20 years after his first stint on Morningside Heights, to become Norries Wilson’s defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach.
He made an immediate impact on the Lion defense, which quickly became one of the best in the Ivy League. Under Ferrari’s direction, Columbia led the Ivy League in scoring defense by a substantial margin, its 163 points allowed per game, league and overall, 14 fewer than Ivy co-champion Princeton.
The Lions boasted the Ivy League’s second-stingiest defense, permitting just 303.6 yards per game, and its tightest pass defense, allowing rival quarterbacks to total only 149.7 yards and eight touchdowns in 10 games.
Ferrari, 53, returned to college coaching after 10 years as defensive coordinator for Florida's Vero Beach High School, which had two undefeated seasons and reached the state playoffs in nine of his 10 seasons. Over the last two seasons, Vero Beach recorded a record of 23-5.
Previously, he had spent the 1993 season coaching the linebackers at West Orange High in Winter Garden, Fla., helping the team to the Rotary Bowl championship.
Following his 1976 graduation from Northwood Institute, with a bachelor of business administration, Ferrari spent nearly 20 years as a college football coach. From 1976 to 1983, he was offensive line coach, and later offensive and recruiting coordinator, at his alma mater. He then coached one year each at Murray State and Eastern Michigan before coaching the defensive line at Columbia for the 1985 season.
He returned to Northwood, where he had been a four-year letterman at guard and linebacker, as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, then was named Northwood’s head coach in December 1986.
Ferrari never actually coached a game as Northwood’s head coach, leaving early in 1987. He spent two seasons as defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Brown, where he led the Bears to one of the top turnover margins in the nation while constructing a punt block team that blocked and/or sacked eight punt attempts in two seasons.
Ferrari returned to the Midwest in 1989 as outside linebackers and defensive ends coach at Minnesota. He continued his kick blocking success, as the Golden Gopher defense blocked three more punts and three field goal or extra point attempts. One of his players was selected in the NFL draft, while another signed as an NFL free agent.
In 1991-92 he coached linebackers and special teams at Kent State, which set a school single-season record in 1991 with seven blocked kicks or punts.
Ferrari has had a long friendship with Norries Wilson, dating back to 1989-90, when Ferrari was on the Minnesota staff when Wilson, a former Gophers player, was a graduate assistant coach.
A Detroit native, Ferrari was a quarterback in high school, at Bishop Gallagher High. He and his wife, Christina, live on Morningside Heights.
Recruiting Areas
Michigan, Ohio
