Jon Tenuta (born February 25, 1957) is an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach who is the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

and linebackers coach for the New Orleans Breakers of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). Previously, Tenuta was the defensive coordinator for the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic C ...

Education

He attended

Upper Arlington High School Upper Arlington High School is the sole high school in the Upper Arlington City School District in Upper Arlington, Ohio, a northwest suburb of Columbus, Ohio. It receives students from Jones Middle School and Hastings Middle School. The curre ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. In his senior season, Upper Arlington played in the state championship game and lost to Warren Harding. He finished his college playing career at University of Virginia. High School nickname was "Punchy," after the

Hawaiian Punch Hawaiian Punch is a brand of fruit punch currently manufactured by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally invented in 1934 by A.W. Leo, Tom Yeats, and Ralph Harrison as a topping for ice cream. It was started from an original syrup flavor called Leo's Hawai ...

character.

Coaching career

Tenuta was the former associate head coach and defensive coordinator of the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Rambl ...

. In the wake of the November 26, 2007 firing of Georgia Tech head coach

Chan Gailey Thomas Chandler Gailey Jr. (born January 5, 1952) is a former American football coach. Most recently in 2020, he was the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). Gailey has previously served as the head ...

, Tenuta was named Interim Head Coach, but was not retained by incoming head coach Paul Johnson. He also coached the Yellow Jackets'

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

s and was one of the highest paid coordinators in college football. On January 31, 2008, Tenuta was named assistant head coach/defense at the University of Notre Dame succeeding Bill Lewis. Tenuta coached the linebackers and ran the defense for three seasons with the Irish. He was hired by

Charlie Weis Charles Joseph Weis Sr. (born March 30, 1956) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2005 to 2009 and the Kansas Jayhawks from 2012 to 2014. He also served as an offensive coordinator in ...

after having worked at Georgia Tech since 2002. Tenuta's position at Notre Dame ended following the firing of Weis after the 2009 season ended. Incoming Head Coach Brian Kelly chose not to retain Tenuta and replaced him with his then– Cincinnati defensive coordinator

Bob Diaco Robert Albert Diaco (born February 19, 1973) is an American football coach and a former linebacker who is the defensive line coach for the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League (USFL). He played college football at the Universi ...

. On January 3, 2012, it was announced that Tenuta was hired as assistant coach at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

by new head coach

Tim Beckman Timothy David Beckman (born January 19, 1965) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 2009 to 2011 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2012 to 2014, compi ...

, however Tenuta announced on January 4, 2012, that he would remain at NC State. On January 3, 2013, it was announced that Tenuta and former North Carolina State head coach Tom O'Brien would be joining the coaching staff at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. Tenuta served as the defensive coordinator for the Cavaliers until 2015. January 11, 2017, he was named safeties coach for University of Cincinnati, under head coach

Luke Fickell Luke Joseph Fickell (born August 18, 1973) is an American football coach and former player. He will be the head coach for the Wisconsin Badgers starting in December 2022. Previously he was the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, ...

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

Cincinnati Bearcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenuta, Jon 1957 births Living people American football defensive backs Cincinnati Bearcats football coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches Kansas State Wildcats football coaches Marshall Thundering Herd football coaches NC State Wolfpack football coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches SMU Mustangs football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football players Sportspeople from Columbus, Ohio Coaches of American football from Ohio Players of American football from Columbus, Ohio New Orleans Breakers (2022) coaches