Longtime FCS coach Greg Gattuso is leaving his head coaching position at Albany to join Penn State as a defensive consultant. Gattuso coached at Duquesne and Albany for a combined 23 seasons. Gattuso is the 23rd FCS head coaching change this offseason.
Gattuso was a defensive lineman at Penn State from 1981 through 1983 and became a graduate assistant in 1984. After two seasons at the high school level, he was named the defensive line coach at Duquesne in 1987. After three more years as a head coach at Seton-La Salle High School, he was named defensive coordinator at Duquesne in 1992.
Gattuso ascended to the head coaching position at Duquesne in 1993. He spent 12 seasons as head coach of the Dukes and recorded an overall record of 97-32 and a 67-7 conference record. Duquesne had only one losing season in Gattuso’s first season but subsequently captured 8 MAAC titles with Gattuso in charge. He departed after the 2004 season to join the Pittsburgh Panthers in a variety of roles between 2005 and 2010. In 2011, Gattuso joined Maryland as the defensive line coach and he became an assistant head coach for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Gattuso returned to the FCS in 2014 to take over at Albany. In 11 seasons with Albany, he went 54-69 overall and 30-53 in the CAA. He reached the FCS playoffs twice in 2019 and 2023. The 2023 season was Albany’s best season at the FCS level with a CAA Championship and a run to the FCS semifinals that ended against the eventual national champions South Dakota State. Gattuso was named the FCS National Coach of the Year and Albany rewarded Gattuso with a two-year extension that would have seen him stay with the school through the 2026 season.
Gattuso went 151-101 overall and 97-60 in conference games in his 23-year head coaching career. The Great Danes will open the 2025 season with a new coach against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, August 30.
Photo Credit to the University at Albany Athletics
