ITHACA, N.Y. -- Terry Cullen, a legendary figure in the sprint football community and the second-longest tenured coach in Cornell athletics history, has announced his retirement after 45 seasons as head coach and 58 years total with the Big Red. He will remain with Cornell athletics as the Sprint Football Director of Advancement and Alumni Engagement. Jay Carter '71, a member of the Athletics Hall of Fame and longtime President of the Sprint Football Alumni Association, will serve as interim head coach until the position is filled.
Cullen served as head coach of the Big Red sprint football program in six decades, taking over as co-head coach along with his father Bob in 1977 after serving as an assistant coach since 1964. He began his coaching career while pursuing an MBA and never left East Hill. That came after serving a tour in Vietnam in the Marine Corps where he received both the Purple Heart and the Silver Star. Once taking over as head coach, Cullen's teams combined for a 143-138-4 record and garnered five of the program's six league championships all-time (1978, 1982, 1984, 1986, 2006). He was an assistant coach on the sixth title-winning team (1975), helping Cornell to a 44-31-4 during those seasons. In all, Cullen has been involved in 75 percent of the games played in the entire history of the program, which kicked off in 1936.
To understand the impact Terry and the Cullen family have had on sprint football at Cornell, you need only look at the name of the head coaching endowment - The Terry Cullen Head Coach of Sprint Football. For nearly 60 years, Cullen has had a life-changing impact on generations of student-athletes and ultimately, their families and their families' families.
Cullen's coaching background includes sprint football and freshman lacrosse (five years) at Cornell, Ithaca High School lacrosse (organized the first team in 1965), Ithaca College lacrosse (1970-71), the Upstate Lacrosse Club (1971-75), the Miller Brewery lacrosse team (1975-81, National Club Coach of the Year 1978), head coach of Team USA (1978) and the Ithaca summer lacrosse team (1968-1998). He also has coaching experience in baseball, hockey and squash. In addition, he was active as an official in basketball and lacrosse for more than 30 years, officiating numerous championships at the high school, collegiate and international levels.
Raised in Ithaca, he played football and baseball in high school. Cullen graduated from Hobart College with a degree in mathematics in 1964. At Hobart, he was a four-year starter at quarterback in football (MVP in 1963) and at midfield in lacrosse (Memorial Award in 1964). He was also a letterman in basketball.
Cullen and Carter have been linked for decades, ever since Jay played for Terry and his father, Bob, as a three-year starter for the Big Red. Carter joined his wife and classmate, Julie, in endowing the coaching position in 2001. He has chaired the Cornell University Council and in 2018 received the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Awards in recognition of outstanding university service.
