Head Coach Tom Journell
Recruiting areas: Alaska; California; Colorado; Hawaii; Idaho; Montana; Oklahoma; Oregon; Utah; Washington; Wisconsin; and Wyoming.
Tom Journell was hired as head football coach on April 23, 2018. The Knights had gone 2-28 in the three years prior to his arrival but have put together a 21-19 ledger since then, including Carleton's first back-to-back 7-win seasons (2021 and 2022) since 1988-89.
He is the 18th head coach in the 116-year history of Carleton football and brought with him him 32 years of coaching experience, including two previous stops as a head coach. He guided the UW-Stevens Point (UWSP) program during the 2012-2017 seasons and was at the helm of the Elmhurst College program for the 2004-2007 campaigns.
Journell owned a 29-31 overall record in his six years at UWSP as the Pointers played in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). In his final season there, the WIAC featured five teams ranked among the nation’s top-25 squads. His 2016 squad went 6-4, with three of those losses coming against top-10 foes. In 2014, UW-Stevens Point ranked as high as No. 13 in the country as the Pointers opened the season with five consecutive wins, including a victory over No. 5 North Central (Ill.).
Journell was defensive coordinator at UWSP for four seasons beginning in 2008, helping lead the team to a 19-9 record in WIAC play and a 27-14 overall mark. During his tenure, the Pointers' defense finished among the league leaders in almost every statistical category.
In 2008, UWSP finished the season 9-2 overall and earned the program’s first NCAA Championships appearance since 2001. That season, Journell was honored as the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association’s assistant coach-of-the-year.
Prior to joining the UW-Stevens Point staff, Journell spent four seasons as the head coach at Elmhurst College (Ill.). He closed his time with the Bluejays by becoming the program’s first coach in 24 years to lead his team to back-to-back-to-back winning seasons.
Previously, Journell spent 15 seasons at UW-River Falls, closing that stint as the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. He started with the Falcons in 1989 as the team’s secondary coach and after one season was promoted to defensive coordinator. In 1995, he was again promoted to assistant head coach, a position he held for the next eight seasons. Journell helped lead the Falcons to NCAA Division III playoff appearances in both 1995 and 1996 and aided UW-River Falls to its last WIAC title in 1998.
Before coaching at UW-River Falls, Journell spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Miami University (Ohio) where he was an assistant defensive secondary and linebackers coach. A graduate of Wittenberg University (Ohio), Journell was a dual-sport athlete in college, participating in football and baseball.
A native of Eaton, Ohio, Journell and his wife Betsy have two sons, Mack and Tate. Mack is a member of the Carleton class of 2020 and finished fifth in team history with 174 receptions and 18 touchdown catches while donning the maize and blue. His 2,079 receiving yards at Carleton rank sixth all-time in the program's 137-year history.
