ITHACA, N.Y. – With 2017 spring practice already underway, the Cornell football coaching staff has added a little Ivy League flair. Two familiar faces are helping prepare the Big Red for the upcoming season it was announced by David Archer '05, the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football.

Joe Villapiano has taken over as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach after 12 seasons at Harvard, while former Big Red standout Chad Nice '05 coach the running backs after three seasons at Columbia and the last two at Dartmouth.

Villapiano spent 12 seasons on the sidelines of the Crimson, helping the program to six Ivy League titles and a 97-23 overall mark (.808), including 69-15 in Ivy League competition (.821). Over that span, the Crimson never finished lower than third. He coached running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs during his time in Cambridge. 97-23 (69-15 Ivy). Harvard won at least seven games in each of his 12 seasons there, with the Crimson posting three perfect Ivy seasons that included a 10-0 campaign in 2014 in which it outscored its opponents 327-123.

Villapiano coached three All-Americans, 20 All-Ivy League players, including 2011 Player of the Year Gino Gordon. Three of his players earned the conference's Rookie of the Year at different positions – defensive back Matt Hanson (2008), running back Treavor Scales (2009) and wide receiver Justice Shelton-Mosley (2015). In 2007, all four of his defensive backs earned All-Ivy honors, with three accepting first-team accolades.

Prior to his stint at Harvard, Villapiano spent two seasons on staff at his alma mater, Connecticut. He was responsible for coordinating the offensive scout team and breaking down opponent video for scouting purposes.

A 2003 graduate of Connecticut with a degree in math education who earned a master's in education two years later, Villapiano was a four-year member of the football team. He caught five passes for 47 yards in his career and holds the distinction of having scored the final Connecticut touchdown in Memorial Stadium, the team's former home facility. He earned the team's Student-Athlete Award as a senior.

His uncle, Phil, was a four-time Pro Bowl linebacker with the Oakland Raiders and was a member of Oakland's Super Bowl XI championship team. Villapiano and his former high school teammates are active in the formation of a company called iB-LIEVE, which is designed to empower individuals and teams using belief, positive attitude and positive action.

For Nice, it will be a welcome return home to his alma mater and reunites him with Archer, as the two started together on offense for three seasons. Nice spent the last two seasons at Dartmouth as running backs coach (2015-16), helping the Big Green to the 2015 Ivy League title - the program's first in 19 years. Dartmouth scored 27 touchdowns on the ground during his two seasons.

He previously spent three years on the staff at Columbia (2012-14) as a running backs coach and assisting with special teams after four years at the United States Merchant Marine Academy while coaching the quarterbacks and wide receivers before being elevated to offensive coordinator for his final two years.  During that time, the USMMA's offense finished first or second in most major offensive categories, including scoring offense, first downs, and rushing in 2010, and rushing yards, yards per rush and yards per pass attempt in 2011.

A three-year starter and letter winner for the Big Red, he earned his bachelor's degree in Applied Economics and Management in 2005. He caught 43 passes for 652 yards and four touchdowns as a senior and tallied 70 receptions for 950 yards and six scores for his career.