Peter Rossomando (born April 7, 1972) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He is currently the eleventh head coach at

NCAA Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

member

Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the fall of 2021, th ...

, named on December 10, 2022. He served as the interim head coach at

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine colle ...

for the final four games of the 2022 football season. He had been the 49er's offensive line coach for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He was previously the offensive line coach for

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

during the 2020 football season. Rossomando served as the head football coach at the University of New Haven from 2008 to 2013 and

Central Connecticut State University Central Connecticut State University (Central Connecticut, CCSU, Central Connecticut State, or informally Central) is a public university in New Britain, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1849 as the State Normal School, CCSU is Connecticut ...

from 2014 to 2018. In 2012, he was awarded the

Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award was an annual college football award given to the a head coach from each NCAA division. The award honored coaches who succeed on and off the field, displaying sportsmanship Sportsmanship is an aspi ...

for

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

as head coach of the

New Haven Chargers The New Haven Chargers are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Haven, located in West Haven, Connecticut, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Chargers' 18 varsity athletics teams, seven men's and 11 women's, compe ...

Playing career

Rossomando grew up in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

, one of the five boroughs of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He attended and played football for

Port Richmond High School Port Richmond High School is a public high school on the North Shore of Staten Island, New York City, New York. It is located in the Elm Park neighborhood, at 85 St Josephs Avenue between Innis Street and Charles Avenue. It has approximately 10 ...

. He was primarily a defensive lineman, though he also played center, long-snapper, and kicked field goals. In 1989, his senior year, the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' named him to their "All-City football team." Rossomando attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

on an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

. Rossomando played on defense his first three years, moving over to offensive line as a senior. He considered a career in physical therapy, but instead went into coaching after graduating.

Coaching career

Rossomando began his coaching career at the University of New Haven under new head coach

Tony Sparano Anthony Joseph Sparano III (October 7, 1961 – July 22, 2018) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) and is the only NFL head coach to have l ...

, who had been offensive coordinator at Boston during Rossomando's playing career. Both men spent five years at New Haven and developed a close relationship. Sparano resigned in February 1999 to join the staff of the "new"

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

; a month later, Rossomando left to become offensive line coach at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

under long-time head coach

Barry Gallup Barry Gallup Sr. (born August 15, 1946) is an American former college football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Northeastern University from 1991 to 1999, compiling a record of 38–60–1. Athle ...

. Gallup resigned from Northeastern in May 2000 to become an assistant athletic director at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. New head coach Don Brown did not retain Rossomando, who joined the staff at the State University of New York College at Cortland under head coach Dan MacNeill, then just a few years into a twenty-two year tenure. After one season at Cortland, the

University of Albany A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

hired Rossomando as its offensive line coach. Rossomando spent the next seven seasons at Albany as part of Bob Ford's staff. In 2005, he was promoted to offensive coordinator and associate head coach. New Haven, where Rossomando had coached from 1994–1998 with Tony Sparano, had discontinued football after the 2003 season. The school resumed the program at the end of 2007 and hired Rossomando as its new head coach. It was Rossomando's first head coaching job. The nascent team played four scrimmages in 2008 while Rossomando and the New Haven athletic staff rebuilt the program. The team began competing as a member of the

Northeast-10 Conference The Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of ...

in 2009. In five years at New Haven, Rossomando's teams won the conference three times and posted an overall record of 42–13. He was awarded the

for

for the 2012 season. After the 2013 season,

hired Rossomando as their head coach, replacing

Jeff McInerney Jeff McInerney (born June 22, 1960) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the current defensive quality control and special teams coordinator for the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League (USFL). H ...

. During his tenure at CCSU, Rossomando compiled a record of 23–34. The 2017 team won the

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

and appeared in the

FCS playoffs The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was k ...

, the first such appearance for CCSU. Rossomando resigned following the 2018 season to become the offensive line coach at

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

under

Chris Ash Chris Ash (born December 24, 1973) is an American football coach who is the defensive backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). A coaching veteran of 24 years, Ash previously served as the head coach at Rutge ...

. Rossomando succeeded A. J. Blazek, who had resigned to take the same job at

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

. Rutgers fired Ash midway through the 2019 season; Rossomando departed at the end of the season to become the offensive line coach at Vanderbilt. Rossomando's hiring was part of a larger reshuffling of assistants at Vanderbilt under seventh-year head coach

Derek Mason Derek Mason (born September 29, 1969) is an American college football coach. He currently is the defensive coordinator for Oklahoma State University. Mason served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University from 2014 until midway through ...

that included new offensive coordinator

Todd Fitch Todd Armstrong Fitch (born February 15, 1964) is an American football coach and former player who is currently an offensive analyst at Ohio State. He has served as an assistant coach at various programs since the mid-1980s. Playing career Fitc ...

and new defensive coordinator

Ted Roof Terrence Edwin Roof Jr. (born December 11, 1963) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Oklahoma. He previously served as a defensive analyst at Clemson Univers ...

. Vanderbilt fired Mason at the tail end of a COVID-19-shortened season in which the team ultimately went 0–9. New head coach

Clark Lea Clark Lea (born November 11, 1981) is an American football coach who is currently the head football coach at Vanderbilt. He previously served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Notre Dame from 2018 to 2020. Lea began his coaching ...

did not retain Rossomando, and

the University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine colle ...

hired Rossomando as its offensive line coach on March 3, 2021. Charlotte head coach

Will Healy William Livingston Healy (born January 16, 1985) is an American football coach. He was the head coach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina from 2019 to 2022. At the time of hire on December 4, 2018, he wa ...

was heading into his third season. Offensive line coach Lee Grimes had departed after the 2020 season to take the same position at

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

under

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

. Rossomando inherited a offensive line with consistency issues that allowed too many sacks of quarterback Chris Reynolds in 2020. Amid injuries, the quality of line play improved during 2021 as Charlotte managed a 5–7 record. Charlotte fired Healy on October 23, 2022, after a 1–7 start, and Rossomando took over as interim head coach.

Personal life

Rossomando is married to his wife, Jessica, and they have three children, Reese, Gianna and Nicholas. His brother Nick also played football at Port Richmond High School and was a firefighter on Staten Island. He died in the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. Rossomando stood as godfather to Andrew Sparano, son of Tony Sparano.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Charlotte profile

Central Connecticut profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossomando, Peter 1972 births Living people American football defensive linemen American football offensive linemen Albany Great Danes football coaches Boston University Terriers football players Central Connecticut Blue Devils football coaches Charlotte 49ers football coaches Cortland Red Dragons football coaches Lamar Cardinals football coaches New Haven Chargers football coaches Northeastern Huskies football coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches Sportspeople from Staten Island Coaches of American football from New York (state) Players of American football from New York (state)