Ritter joined the Panther men's lacrosse and football staffs in 1996 and was named the Michael G. Heinecken Head Football Coach in 2000.
In 2019, he guided the team to a perfect 9-0 season en route to claiming the league title. The Panthers have also captured NESCAC Championships in 2007 and 2013 with Ritter taking home NESCAC Coach of the Year honors in all three championship seasons. He was a finalist for the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coach of the Year Award in 2007.
Under Ritter’s guidance, three players earned All-American awards, with three going on to National Football League (NFL) rookie camps. One former Panther, Stephen Hauschka, played in back-to-back Super Bowls in 2014 and 2015, earning a Super Bowl ring on February 2, 2014, while kicking for the NFL Seattle Seahawks. Former quarterback McCallum Foote ‘14 was a finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy—Division III’s top honor—he also received a coveted NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship.
A Holden, Massachusetts native, Ritter began his coaching career immediately following his graduation from Middlebury in 1982. The freshly-minted graduate with an economics degree joined Heinecken’s coaching staff that fall, spending six years as the defensive coordinator. Following those years at Middlebury, Ritter accepted a coaching position at Tufts University as the men’s lacrosse head coach and assistant football coach.
In the fall of 1996, Ritter returned to Middlebury to serve as an assistant football and assistant men’s lacrosse coach, before being named the head coach of the football program in December 2000 following Heinecken’s retirement.
Ritter continues to work as an assistant coach in the spring for the three-time NCAA Championship men’s lacrosse team.
