Bob Bartolomeo is a former American football player and coach. In 2018, he retired as the head football coach at the University of Indianapolis (UIndy), a position he had held since 2010. He also served as the head football coach at Butler University in Indianapolis from 1990 to 1991.[1][2]

Bob Bartolomeo
Biographical details
Born1954
Alma materButler University (BS 1977, MS 1979)
Playing career
1973–1976Butler
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1977–1978Butler (grad assistant)
1979Roncalli HS (assistant)
1980–1989Butler (assistant, DC)
1990–1991Butler
1992–2002Ball State (assistant, DC)
2003Central Michigan (DC)
2004–2009Indianapolis (DC)
2010–2018Indianapolis
Head coaching record
Overall93–33–1
Tournaments2–6 (NCAA D-II playoffs)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 MIFC (1991)
6 GLVC (2012–2015, 2017–2018)
Awards
MIFC Coach of the Year (1991)
GLVC Coach of the Year (2012, 2013, 2015, 2017)

Bartolomeo grew up in northwest Indiana and graduated in 1973 from Andrean High School in Merrillville. He went on to Butler University, where he spent 17 of the next 18 years as student-athlete, graduate assistant, assistant coach, and ultimately head coach. The Bulldogs won the Indiana Collegiate Conference football championship in each of his four years on the team. A three-time letterwinner, he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in 1977, then served two seasons as a graduate assistant, earning a master’s degree in 1979. He spent the 1979 season as an assistant coach at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis, before returning to Butler as a full-time assistant coach in 1980. He assumed the duties of defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator in 1984, before becoming head coach in 1990, succeeding former teammate Bill Lynch. The following year, Bartolomeo led the Bulldogs to a Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference (MIFC) title and a berth in the NCAA Division II football championship playoffs, earning honors as MIFC coach of the year and NCAA Division II Region III coach of the year.[3][4][5]

Bartolomeo moved on to Ball State in 1992, where he spent the next eleven seasons, initially as linebackers coach, eventually as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. For most of this period, he served under former Butler teammate Lynch, who was head coach of the Cardinals from 1995 through 2002. During Bartolomeo’s tenure at Ball State, the Cardinals won two Mid-American Conference (MAC) championships, representing the MAC in the Las Vegas Bowl in 1993 and 1996. Following Lynch’s dismissal as Ball State head coach, Bartolomeo spent the 2003 season as defensive coordinator at Central Michigan.[6]

Bartolomeo became defensive coordinator at the University of Indianapolis in 2004, serving in that role for six seasons (through 2009). As head coach of the Greyhounds (2010 through 2018) Bartolomeo turned around a program that had registered just eight winning seasons in the previous two decades, and had never won more than eight games in a season since its founding in 1924. He led the Greyhounds to six Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) championships and to five NCAA Division II football championship playoff berths, in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2018. Each of these teams posted at least ten victories, and they remain the five most victorious teams in Greyhound football history. He was named GLVC coach of the year in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2017.[7][8]

Bartolomeo was inducted into the Butler University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017,[9] and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 2019.[10]

Head coaching record

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Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Rank#
Butler Bulldogs (Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference) (1990–1991)
1990 Butler 5–5–1 5–4–1 T–4th
1991 Butler 9–2 9–1 1st L NCAA Division II First Round
Butler: 14–7–1 14–5–1
Indianapolis Greyhounds (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (2010–2011)
2010 Indianapolis 6–5 5–5 T–3rd (North)
2011 Indianapolis 7–4 6–4 T–3rd (North)
Indianapolis Greyhounds (Great Lakes Valley Conference) (2012–2018)
2012 Indianapolis 10–3 8–0 1st L NCAA Division II Second Round 15
2013 Indianapolis 10–2 7–0 1st L NCAA Division II First Round 18
2014 Indianapolis 9–2 7–1 1st
2015 Indianapolis 10–2 8–0 1st L NCAA Division II First Round 18
2016 Indianapolis 6–5 5–3 4th
2017 Indianapolis 11–1 7–0 1st L NCAA Division II First Round 13
2018 Indianapolis 10–2 7–0 1st L NCAA Division II Second Round 11
Indianapolis: 79–26 60–13
Total: 93–33–1
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

References

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  1. ^ Thorpe, Ryan (December 3, 2018). "End of an Era: UIndy Football Head Coach Bartolomeo Retires". Indianapolis Greyhounds football. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  2. ^ "Bob Bartolomeo". Indianapolis Greyhounds football. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  3. ^ Dedman, John (June 5, 2017). "Seven Individuals, Two Teams Chosen for Butler Athletics Hall of Fame". Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  4. ^ Chappell, Mike (March 28, 1990). "Veteran Butler assistant Bartolomeo will head Bulldog football program". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  5. ^ "Bartolomeo, Robert J." Indiana Football Coaches Association. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  6. ^ "Bartolomeo, Robert J." Indiana Football Coaches Association. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  7. ^ Thorpe, Ryan (December 3, 2018). "End of an Era: UIndy Football Head Coach Bartolomeo Retires". Indianapolis Greyhounds football. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  8. ^ "Bob Bartolomeo". Indianapolis Greyhounds football. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  9. ^ Dedman, John (June 5, 2017). "Seven Individuals, Two Teams Chosen for Butler Athletics Hall of Fame". Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  10. ^ "Bartolomeo, Robert J." Indiana Football Coaches Association. Retrieved September 25, 2024.