Syracuse, NY – Syracuse assistant coach Nunzio Campanile is set to leave the Orange to become the offensive coordinator at UConn, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports.
The job will be Campanile’s first as a full-time offensive coordinator in college football. At Rutgers, he performed this job on an interim basis several times.
UConn will be coached next season by Jason Candle, who was previously the head coach at Toledo and has experience running the offense.
Campanile has been in Syracuse since 2023 when Dino Babers hired him. He coached either quarterbacks or tight ends for Syracuse the past three years.
He also served as the team’s interim head coach in 2023 after Babers was fired, leading the Orange to a bowl game by defeating Wake Forest in the regular season finale before losing to South Florida in the Boca Raton Bowl.
Campanile’s starting quarterbacks consistently excelled at Syracuse, and his most successful moments came as coach in Kyle McCord and Steve Angeli, a pair of quarterbacks with whom he had a close relationship through his ties to New Jersey high school football.
However, the rest of his room struggled this season after a season-ending injury to Angeli, and the Orange unsuccessfully rotated through a flurry of options during a 3-9 season.
During that time, Campanile switched responsibilities away from quarterbacks and traded places with Michael Johnson Sr.
After the trade was announced, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown said he did not expect it to significantly affect Angeli’s decision to return to Syracuse because he makes it clear to all SU football players that they are playing for him and that assistant coaches change roles frequently.
Campanile has been a college coach for eight seasons and is well-regarded for his ties to New Jersey, where his family is a legendary high school coaching family.
His father, Mike, started the family legacy, raising four sons who became football coaches.
His brother Vito coaches state power Bergan Catholic, where Angeli played high school football, while another brother Nick coaches DePaul Catholic. Anthony Campanile is currently the defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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