{"id":82756,"date":"2025-02-06T07:13:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T13:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/what-has-penn-state-letterman-greg-gattuso-said-about-leaving-the-top-job-at-albany-for-the-lions\/"},"modified":"2025-02-06T07:13:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T13:13:01","slug":"what-has-penn-state-letterman-greg-gattuso-said-about-leaving-the-top-job-at-albany-for-the-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/what-has-penn-state-letterman-greg-gattuso-said-about-leaving-the-top-job-at-albany-for-the-lions\/","title":{"rendered":"What has Penn State letterman Greg Gattuso said about leaving the top job at Albany for the Lions?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penn State letterman and Pennsylvania native Greg Gattuso<\/strong> is leaving FCS program Albany after 11 seasons as the Great Danes head coach to join the support staff at his alma mater<\/a>. The 62-year-old Pittsburgh native will help with the Nittany Lions\u2019 defensive line and also bring his background as a program alum and former head coach to town. He spoke with reporters in New York\u2019s capital city on Wednesday about his decision. And, it was clear choosing to change jobs was both emotional and exciting. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s two alma maters I\u2019ve got to play at and coach at,\u201d Gattuso said, per CBS6Albany<\/a>. He also coached at his high school, Seton-LaSalle. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to get there. At the end of the day, it\u2019s always been about the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n

MORE: Greg Gattuso got emotional when talking about the opportunity to join the staff at his alma mater, while also reflecting on his time at UAlbany.<\/p>\n

The longtime Great Dane mentioned that his first day at Penn State is Monday. @PennStateFball<\/a> @UAlbanyFootball<\/a> @coachjfranklin<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/gyhAD1D05M<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/D1vMsS2RVn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 AJ Pankowski (@PankowskiAjCBS6) February 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Gattuso told The Times-Union <\/em>that leaving his head coaching job had nothing to do with the realities of NIL and the transfer portal, which have both caused many in his position to find other jobs in recent years. Instead, the chance to work at Penn State, where he played along the defensive line from 1981-1983, was an opportunity he could not pass up.<\/p>\n

More: Penn State head coach James Franklin discusses LaVar Arrington II, keeping Andrew Olesh and much more on National Signing Day<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n\n

\u201cIt was a tough day, but can\u2019t wait to get there,\u201d Gattuso told WNYT.com<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve got friends on the staff. Coach Franklin has been really great to me over the last 12 years. And get to go back and repay some of the good things. They\u2019re pretty good. I\u2019m excited to get to know the kids. The transfer portal has taken off some of that away from us, where we get to really know kids. And I\u2019m excited. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I feel like I\u2019m at the tip of the spear, at the highest point you can get in college football now, to be part of a staff like that, the talent that\u2019s there; it\u2019s a learning experience for me. I\u2019m just excited about getting there. And, you know, my job is different than it was here. My job is to be supportive and to help and work with the kids, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

What will Gattuso\u2019s role be at Penn State? <\/p>\n

\u201c[Franklin] was looking for a veteran defensive line guy to come in and work with their defensive line,\u201d Gattuso said. Besides playing the position, he coached it for a decade before becoming a head coach. \u201cThey have a great young [defensive line] coach in Deion Barnes, and I actually recruited Deion back when he was in high school. So, it just kind of happened out of the blue.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to add that one of his assistant coaches reminded him that, in the past, he said he\u2019d never leave Albany unless it was to go to Penn State. That opportunity has now presented itself. His first day back at \u2018home\u2019 is Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about going to Penn State, nothing more,\u201d Gattuso said, per The Times-Union<\/a>. \u201cI mean, I love it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post What has Penn State letterman Greg Gattuso said about leaving the top job at Albany for the Lions?<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Penn State letterman and Pennsylvania native Greg Gattuso is leaving FCS program Albany after 11…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}