Jersey family values have worked rather well for UConn. Witness Dan Hurley, and the happy marriage of the famous basketball clan, and its the strong basketball brand.
As the football program turns the page from the prosperous Jim Mora era to the new Jason Candle coaching regime, they’ve tapped into another famous Jersey family. Meet Nunzio Campanile, offensive coordinator, from the first family of football coaching in the Garden State.
“That’s football royalty right there,” Hurley said. “… They’re like the Hurleys of football in New Jersey. No pressure.”
Campanile, 49, was lured from Syracuse, where UConn twice fell victim to the quarterbacks who flourished under his tutelage. Though Candle and Campanile had no previous history, they connected in a ZOOM interview and both determined their philosophies of offense aligned. So here he is. Campanile’s father, Mike, is the patriarch, who coached Paramus Catholic for many years. Mike’s sons, Mike Jr., Vito, Anthony and Nunzio, fanned out across the state. At one point, 17 of 20 Jersey state championships were won by a Campanile-coached team.
Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck, middle left, and Rutgers interim head coach Nunzio Campanile shake hands after the visiting Golden Gophers won, 42-7, at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, N.J., on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019.
Mike Campanile, 80, is still involved, working with freshman at Bergen Catholic, where his Vito is now head coach. Nick Campanile is head coach at DePaul High, and Anthony is defensive coordinator of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. The five usually get together around the Fourth of July on the Jersey Shore.
“The lessons I’ve learned from my Dad were the most influential; he just was such an incredible coach when it came to building relationships and what that took,” Nunzio said. “As a high school coach he was an innovator, he was ahead of the game as far as the style he wanted to play. My three brothers are my go-to when it comes to how to handle anything, how to address something, maybe a different way to do it.”
Nunzio, longtime Giants fan, started as offensive coordinator at Don Bosco Prep, where he coached Phil Simms’ younger son, Matt. Then he became head coach at Bergen Catholic, where he was 60-29, winning a state championship in 2017. He moved on to Rutgers, where he worked with running backs, tight ends and quarterbacks and finished the 2019 season as interim head coach. He was also an interim head coach at Syracuse in 2023, but as quarterbacks coach in 2024 and 25, he worked with transfers Kyle McCord, who threw for 470 yards vs. UConn,and Steve Angeli, who engineered a fourth-quarter comeback vs. the Huskies.
“Coming from where I came from (Toledo) and having control of the offense for 14 years, I wanted to have a staff, starting with the coordinators, who believed in the same things philosophically that I do,” Candle said. “Being able to run the football and set the table with that, and be able to get into some really good play-action passes off of that. You’re based off of your reputation and what you are in coaching by word of mouth, you get a lot of recommendations and a lot of people recommended (Campanile) very highly.
“Then you get on a ZOOM call and get to know him as a coach and what he is as a coach and a teacher and if that matches up with what you are, it’s probably a good natural fit.”
UConn has more than 70 new players, including freshman quarterback Bo Polston, who switched from Toledo, veteran Kalieb Osborne, who transferred after playing for Toledo in a bowl game, and Jake Merklinger, who transferred from Tennessee
“They all have a different set of skills, but they’re all really high-character, hard-working guys,” Campanile said. “Highly intelligent, they love to be in there learning football. How we fit the offense very much ends up on who ends up being the guy behind center. My track record says, ‘What can that guy do, and let’s do that.’ The ability to adapt to your quarterback is critical, and you have to build your offense that way.”
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The Hurleys and the Campaniles have crossed paths. When he was coaching in North Jersey, Nunzio made several pilgrimages to Jersey City to watch 28-time state champ Bob Hurley Sr. work with the basketball players at St. Anthony’s. The sports were different, but it was the coaching of young people that mattered.
“Three or four years in a row I was fortunate enough to go down and watch Coach Hurley run practice and go out to dinner with him and just talk,” Campanile said. “I know nothing about basketball, but I have just incredible respect for what he’s about, what the whole family is about, so to me as a young coach, it was an incredible opportunity to learn from someone who’s done this better than anybody ever in the history of their sport. … The Hurleys, that’s rarified air, those guys are winning national championships.”
Candle and his staff were at the UConn-St. John’s game Wednesday night, speaking of rarified air, a glimpse of the electricity they want to turn on across the river at Rentschler Field.
How did UConn land a coach with such pedigree? It’s another indication of the rising perception of the football program out beyond Connecticut’s borders. Now add the power of the Campanile name to recruiting efforts in Jersey.
“I’d followed (Candle) for a long time, and his reputation speaks for itself,” Campanile said. “We’re aligned, culturally, I’m aligned with a lot of things he believes in. The opportunity to coordinate at a place like this, the trajectory of this program is so high, going in the right direction, it’s really an exciting time to be here. The future of our program is phenomenal. For me it was a no-brainer.”
More for your Sunday Read:
Shea: Hey, it’s not magic
*Former UConn player and coach Shea Ralph, who has Vanderbilt on a rapid rise in women’s basketball, discussed what she took from Geno Auriemma on Yahoo’s 360 Hoops podcast this week.
“It’s not magic; it’s not rocket science,” Ralph said. “It’s not like you go to UConn and they sprinkle magic fairy dust and, bam, you’re an All-American and win a national championship. They make it look that way, which speaks volumes because it’s very hard. But it’s also very simple. There’s a level of buy in and simplicity that I love. It doesn’t have to be so thick and complicated with words and messages. It’s ‘Do you want to do this or not? And this is what it takes.’ And you’ve got to get people there who do what it takes.”
Here’s an indirect branch off that UConn coaching tree: NYU’s women, who took an 86-game Division III winning streak into their regular-season finale Saturday, are coached by Meg Barber, who was on Tonya Cardoza’s staff at Temple from 2012-16. Cardoza rejoined the UConn staff in 2022.
Sunday short takes
*Looks like UConn hockey landed its goalie of the future, with Tyler Muszelik set to run out of eligibility. Veeti Louhivaara, a native of Finland and a fifth-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, has committed. Louhivaara, who turned 20 this year, has been playing in the USHL with Chicago. He’s rangy at 6 feet 4, 207 pounds, and he would compete with Kam Hendrickson, who will be a sophomore next season.
*Two landmark achievements at Sacred Heart last week. The women’s wrestling team won its first ever NCAA regional, and will send eight wrestlers to compete in the first NCAA championship meet in Coralville, Iowa, Friday and Saturday. In men’s track and field, the Pioneers won their first MAAC indoor team championship. Christian Morrison was the conference coach of the year.
*The retiring of CC Sabathia’s No. 52, to come this season, is another reminder the Yankees retire too many numbers. He’s very worthy of a plaque in monument park, as are a few players not there, like Graig Nettles, but this can be done without retiring every number. The only number that should be retired in the next 25 years is Aaron Judge’s 99.
*What’s the next jersey headed to the ceiling at Gampel Pavilion? Maya Moore will be done next year. On the men’s side, hmmm. How about Kemba Walker?
Yale tabs Lehigh’s Kevin Cahill to replace Tony Reno as football coach
*How fortunate was Yale to get Kevin Cahill as its next football coach? He worked, with great distinction on Tony Reno’s staff for 10 years, then got three years head coaching experience, with success, at Lehigh. Just an ideal choice.
*Reminder: If you’re going to the Big East Tournament next week, Jim Calhoun and I will be at Barnes & Noble, 555 Fifth Avenue, signing copies of our book, “More Than A Game,” on March 11, noon to 2 p.m.
*Former Huskies Donny Marshall and Scott Burrell, TV analyst and SCSU coach, respectively, have a podcast recorded at WTNH’s studio in New Haven called “The 2nd Half.” Calhoun and Chris Smith have been among their first guests. It’s worth checking out.
*Rockies fans have suffered a lot in recent years, but they’re in for a treat this spring training. Voice of the Yard Goats Jeff Dooley joined the MLB radio broadcast Saturday, and will also sit in Sunday and Monday. Who knows the prospects who will be playing spring games better than “Dools”?
Dom Amore: Proud, emotional day for UConn hockey coach as Thompson, Team USA strike gold
*Shoutout to my good friend Mike Vaccaro, one of the best in the sports writing business, who has a new book out on the Steinbrenners’ long stewardship of the Yankees. “The Bosses Of The Bronx” (HarperCollins) will be out March 24. Put it on your list. Love or hate the subject, it’s worth a read.
*UConn’s George Springer showed up at Blue Jays camp this week wearing a Team USA hockey sweater after the gold medal win over Team Canada. Hit a pennant winning homer, you can wear pretty much what you want.
Last word
So Dan Hurley has given up swearing for Lent, dropping “bullcrap” instead, and it may take until Easter Sunday to get used to these self-filtered pressers, unless the unexpurgated Hurley reappears before then. He did let one slip after the St. John’s game. Me? With the UConn women playing at Madison Square Garden Sunday, and the men’s Big East tournament coming up, I’m giving up the giant meatballs they sell at MSG, with the red sauce and dollop of ricotta and … Yeah, we’re both going to struggle with this.