UConn has announced that Nunzio Campanile will join Jason Candle’s staff as offensive coordinator. Campanile comes to Storrs from Syracuse, where he was the QB coach on Fran Brown’s staff.
Campanile joined Syracuse in 2023 as the tight ends coach on Dino Babers’ staff, serving as interim head coach when Babers was fired that season. He was retained through the coaching transition and was the QB coach over the last two seasons, working with Kyle McCord. The Ohio State transfer racked up over 4,000 passing yards in 2024 before becoming a 6th-round NFL Draft pick.
UConn’s new OC also helped bring Steve Angeli to Syracuse. Campanile was familar with both Angeli and McCord as Jersey-area prospects. Angeli played at Bergen Catholic HS, a New Jersey powerhouse where Campanile was previously head coach from 2012-2017. He threw for over 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns in four games this season before tearing his achilles tendon. He had a season-high 416 passing yards against the Huskies in Week 2. McCord was from Jersey but played at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philly.
Before Syracuse, Campanile was on the Rutgers staff for five seasons. While there, he also served as interim head coach and stayed on staff through a coaching transition, as he did at Syracuse. He joined Chris Ash’s staff in 2018 as running backs coach. When Ash was fired four games into the 2019 season, Campanile took over as interim head coach and offensive coordinator.
Campanile was the lone holdover on Greg Schiano’s staff from the Ash regime. He was the tight ends coach for two seasons before he was elevated to offensive coordinator and QB coach after the mid-season firing of Sean Gleeson. They beat Indiana in their next game before dropping their final five to close out the season. Campanile joined the Syracuse staff the following season.
Campanile won a state championship at Bergen Catholic in 2017 and was offensive coordinator at Don Bosco Prep, another Jersey power, before that. His father is a longtime New Jersey HS coach, as are brothers Vito and Nicky, and another brother, Anthony, is the Jacksonville Jaguars’ DC who also has stints at Rutgers in addition to Boston College and Michigan before the NFL.
At UConn, Campanile will bring a strong record with QBs, along with vast positional experience and deep ties to the area that is the closest fertile recruiting territory to Storrs. He’s worked at regional rivals and has probably recruited against the Huskies in addition to coaching against them as well. He’s probably also had players of his end up at UConn; we’ll do some more research on that. His family ties also help, for sure, as his network extends from New Jersey high schools to the NFL.
