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The longest-tenured member of the Princeton football coaching staff, Steve Verbit is in his 26th season at Princeton and has been a member of the defensive coaching staff throughout his tenure. He will serve as associate head coach on the first coaching staff of Bob Surace '90 for the 2010 season, and he will continue to coach the defensive line.

Last season, Verbit's defensive line featured a pair of All-Ivy League honorees. Second-team defensive end Pete Buchignani earned All-Ivy honors for the third time in his career, while captain and nose tackle Matt Koch earned All-Ivy honorable mention. The season also featured impressive performances from younger players like Joel Karacozoff, Matt Boyer and Kevin DeMaio, the 2008 Harland “Pink” Baker ’22 Award recipient as the top defensive freshman that season.

Verbit helped develop a dominant defense during the 2006 championship season, despite significant losses in both the linebacking and secondary positions. Princeton ranked second in the Ivy League in rushing, passing and scoring defense and put four players on the All-Ivy team, including lineman Jake Marshall. It also finished first in the Ivy League in both first downs allowed and third-down conversions. Teams converted less than 28% of their third-down opportunities against the Tigers.

Before the 2004 season, Verbit helped engineer a change to a 3-4 defense to better utilize the depth of linebackers on the roster. Prior to coming to Princeton, Verbit coached at Delaware for six seasons. He helped guide the Blue Hens to the Division II national championship in 1979.

Verbit is a Delaware graduate, having received his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1977 and his master’s degree in exercise physiology in 1980.

A native of Pottstown, Pa., Verbit coached the offensive and defensive backs at Pottstown High School in 1977. In 1978 he taught health education at Caesar Rodney High School in Camden, Del., while serving as an assistant football coach and head track coach. After joining the Delaware staff, he spent two seasons as defensive coordinator for the freshman football team before taking over the defensive secondary of the varsity. Verbit also is the director of the Tiger Football Camps in the Princeton area.

He and his wife Vicki are parents of a son Matt and a daughter Kristin. Matt graduated in 2005 as the No. 2 passer all-time at Princeton while Kristin is a senior on the Villanova women’s soccer team.