Greg Gattuso enters his 10th season at the helm of the UAlbany football program in the fall of 2023.
A former standout defensive lineman at Penn State who’s worked at Duquesne, Pittsburgh and Maryland, Gattuso has led the Great Danes in the Colonial Athletic Association, one of the top Football Championship Subdivision conferences in the nation.
In 2022, Gattuso led the Great Danes to a 3-9 season. Gattuso and his staff were responsible for brining in key pieces. Reese Poffenbarger, a transfer quarterback who made an immediate impact, was named the CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year and picked up STATS Perform FCS All-America Honors. Todd Sibley, a running back from Pitt, led the team in rushing yards and was named to the All-CAA Third Team. Finally, developing tight end Thomas Greaney had a breakout year - leading the team in receiving yards and touchdowns, also picking up STATS Perform FCS First-Team All-America Honors. As a result, Greaney signed with the NFL's Cleveland Browns as a free agent following the 2023 draft.
In the 2021 fall season, the Great Danes finished with a record of 2-9. Gattuso led multiple Great Danes to individual accolades, including Karl Mofor being named to the All-CAA Second Team and the STATS Perform FCS All-America Second Team. In addition, Jared Verse dominated on the defensive end, earning FCS Freshman All-American honors with 53 tackles and 10.5 sacks.
In the shortened 2021 spring season, UAlbany finished 1-3 with a win over #14 New Hampshire to kick off the season. Under Gattuso, three Great Danes landed on the All-CAA Second Team in Danny Damico, Karl Mofor and Jared Verse. In addition, Verse showed early signs of becoming a breakout star, being named CAA Defensive Rookie of the Year and a STATS Perform FCS Jerry Rice Award Finalist. Karl Mofor also enjoyed a strong short season in Gattuso’s offense, leading the CAA in yards per game at 115.0. The Great Danes finished with a 2-9 record in the fall of 2021, naming three to All-CAA Teams in Mofor, Verse, and Jackson Ambush.
The 2019 season saw the Great Danes win nine games, including their first-ever FCS playoff game, at home against Central Connecticut State. The Danes went 9-5 overall, including 6-2 in the CAA to finish second after being picked 11th in the preseason coaches’ poll. The 2019 team featured six All-CAA selections and two major awards, including Offensive Rookie of the Year Jeff Undercuffler, with Gattuso landing CAA Coach of the Year honors. Gattuso was also a finalist for the STATS Eddie Robinson Award, presented annually to the top head coach in FCS football.
The 2019 team saw record-breaking performances from redshirt-freshman quarterback Jeff Undercuffler, who led the FCS with 41 passing touchdowns. Undercuffler also set single-season program records for passing yards, attempts, and completions, and single-game program records for passing touchdowns, yards, attempts, and completions. Senior wide receiver Juwan Green set single-season records for receptions, receiving yards, and led the FCS with 17 touchdown receptions. Redshirt-senior defensive end Eli Mencer set a single-season program record with 14.5 sacks. All three players landed several postseason awards, including All-America honors.
The 2018 season included a win over No. 10 Stony Brook in the season finale. The Great Danes played one of the most difficult schedules in the nation, with four games against ranked teams and a season-opening game against Pitt, of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In 2017, he led the Great Danes to their first win over a Top 10 program -- a 19-10 overtime victory over No. 7 Villanova at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium. UAlbany also shut out New Hampshire, an FCS playoff qualifier, 15-0 in the season finale. It was one of several superlative efforts from a defense that finished the season ranked No. 9 nationally. The Great Danes were 4-7 overall and 2-6 in the CAA against a rigorous schedule that featured games against an FBS opponent (Old Dominion) and five matchups with Top 25 teams.
Under Gattuso’s leadership, UAlbany had its best season as a CAA member in 2016, finishing 7-4 overall and 4-4 in the league. The Great Danes were ranked for five weeks, including as high as No. 16. UAlbany also earned its first victory over an FBS opponent with a 22-16 road win over Buffalo.
Hallmarks of Gattuso’s teams have included discipline and taking care of the football. In 2016, the Great Danes were second in the CAA with a plus-16 turnover margin.
In his first season, in 2014, Gattuso led the Great Danes to a six-win turnaround from the previous year. The Great Danes picked up votes in the national polls for 10 straight weeks and appeared in The Sports Network Top 25 four times on their way to a 7-5 overall record and 3-5 CAA mark.
A year later, the Danes earned CAA victories over Rhode Island and perennial power Delaware.
Gattuso was a defensive lineman at Penn State, where he helped lead the Nittany Lions to a national title in 1982. In his first collegiate head-coaching role, Gattuso piloted Duquesne to a 97-32 record during his 12-season tenure, and while making three bowl appearances at Pittsburgh, he turned the defensive line into one of the best in the nation as an assistant head coach.
Gattuso came to UAlbany after spending three seasons as a member Randy Edsall’s staff at Maryland. There, he led the defensive line that ranked among the top in the ACC and was promoted to the position of assistant head coach in February 2012.
From 1989-1991, he served as head coach at his high school alma mater, Seton-LaSalle. Taking over a team that went 6-34 during the four seasons prior to his arrival, Gattuso led the Rebels to a 28-10-1 mark (.731), including three WPIAL playoff berths, a WPIAL championship and Parkway Conference title.
During his playing career, Gattuso was named the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Class AA Player of the Year his senior season at Seton-LaSalle.
Gattuso and his wife Colleen have two daughters, Jacqueline and Kaitlin.
