Lake Forest College

The 2024 season was the 19th at the College, 16th as head coach, and fourth as offensive coordinator for Jim Catanzaro. He is also the Foresters' Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics.

Under the direction of "Coach Cat," the 2024 Foresters were 10-1 overall, captured their third Midwest Conference championship in the last four four years, and reached the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in program history. They outscored opponents 441-192 to rank among the top 40 teams in the nation in scoring offense and defense. Sixteen players on the team earned All-MWC accolades, including the league's Offensive Skill and Offensive Line MVPs and four other First Team All-MWC selections. Five Foresters received all-region honors from D3football.com and one was a First Team All-American for the fourth time in his career.

Catanzaro also led Lake Forest to the program's first back-to-back league titles and NCAA Division III Playoff appearances in 2021 and 2022. The Foresters posted a 19-3 overall record and a mark of 17-1 in the conference during that span. Catanzaro, the team's all-time leader in coaching victories with 99, has overseen four of the Foresters' eight conference championships and three of their four trips to the national tournament.

Lake Forest has broken or tied 90 different school records with Catanzaro as head coach, including 53 in the last four years. Among them are team marks for victories (10); consecutive victories (13); and points in a quarter (42), half (59 in a different contest), game (84), and season (456). The program's career rushing, receiving, passing, kickoff return, and punt return yardage leaders completed their careers during his tenure. Prolific on defense as well, the Foresters set school records for fewest points and yards allowed per game in 2023 and Catanzaro also coached the program's career leader in tackles for loss.

The Foresters have posted a winning record each of the last nine seasons and Lake Forest's 68-17 record since 2016 easily represents the best nine-year winning percentage in program history. With victories in all five home games in 2024, the team is 50-12 on Farwell Field in the last 13 seasons with a school record-tying 10-game home winning streak from 2012-13. 

Catanzaro was named MWC Coach of the Year in 2012, 2021, and 2024 and has been a finalist for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year award twice in his tenure. Catanzaro's players have earned 172 All-MWC honors since he took over as head coach, including 83 First Team accolades and seven MWC Player of the Year/MVP awards. Twenty of his players have been named all-region by D3football.com and 10 have earned All-American distinction.

Lake Forest was especially successful on the defensive side of the ball with Catanzaro as defensive coordinator from 2006-17. In addition to ranking among the conference and national leaders in several statistical categories as a team, individual defensive players tallied 59 all-conference honors during that time.

Catanzaro’s team’s improvement on the field has coincided with its increased success in the classroom. The Foresters have had 164 Academic All-MWC selections in the last five years the award was presented, including a program record 35 each of the last two years, and have amassed 319 such honors in his time as head coach. In addition, 56 players on the team have been selected to the prestigious Hampshire Society of the National Football Foundation and Anthony DerManulian was named an Academic All-American® by the College Sports Information Directors of America in 2021.

Forester Football has also been extremely involved in the community under Catanzaro’s watch. The team’s annual Heroes Day efforts have generated more than 385 care packages to be sent to American troops overseas and the squad has raised more than $100,000 in the last decade in Lake Forest’s Relay for Life initiative. The College has twice presented the team with the Program of the Year award for its participation in on-campus events. The Foresters have also participated in the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation/Be The Match by registering 400 individuals since 2023. Additionally, Catanzaro’s players have contributed to numerous other community service projects, both individually and as a group, and routinely average more than 500 hours of community service per semester.

At the national level Catanzaro served on the NCAA Division III Football Committee from 2016-20, including the final two years as the National Committee Chair. He was also a Regional Advisory Committee member from 2014-19. In 2019 he was elected as one of two NCAA Division III members to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Board of Trustees and was elevated to the First Vice President role in January of 2025. Catanzaro has served on several AFCA committees, including the Summer Manual Committee, the All-American Selection Committee (Region 5 Chair in 2021), and Honors and Distinguished Members Committee, and as the liaison to the Division III Assistant Coaches Committee. Catanzaro has also been a member of the NCAA’s Sports Science Institute Concussion Data Taskforce since its inception. In 2023, he was voted as the Midwest Conference Football Chairperson by his conference colleagues.

Catanzaro is a nationally certified strength and conditioning coach who also maintains a USA Weightlifting Level 1 certification.

Catanzaro came to Lake Forest from NCAA Division II Wingate University, where he was the defensive line coach for three seasons and was part of the South Atlantic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year in 2004. The Bulldog defense tallied 86 sacks, led the SAC in turnovers twice, and helped the 2004 team post the best single-season record in the program’s history. In addition, a pair of Wingate players earned All-American honors under his direction. He was also the head strength coach for all Wingate sports.

Prior to his time at Wingate, Catanzaro was the defensive line coach, recruiting coordinator, and head strength coach for three seasons at Glenville State College. The Pioneers claimed the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in 2001 and he was a member of that year’s WVIAC Coaching Staff of the Year.

Catanzaro graduated from Greenville University, where he started every game of his career and earned all-conference honors on both sides of the ball while also handled all the long snapping duties. The team captured a conference title his senior season. Catanzaro also lettered twice in basketball and once in tennis. 

He later earned a master’s degree in communications studies from West Virginia University.

Catanzaro, his wife Catherine, and their children Caden and Katie reside in nearby Gurnee.