Former Yale football coach Tony Reno dies at 52
TLDR: Yale announced Friday that Tony Reno has died at 52, months after an illness forced him out in February following 14 seasons, 83 wins and 5 Ivy League titles.
The news came from Yale on Friday afternoon, and Pete Thamel had it out almost immediately.
Yale announces the death of former head coach Tony Reno, who'd stepped down in February because of illness. He was 83-49 over 14 seasons, the school's second all-time winningest coach. Prayers with his family. "Today, we are deeply saddened by the loss of an extraordinary member of the Yale Athletics family," said Yale AD Vicky Chun in a statement.
Reno got the Yale job in January 2012 after more than a decade as an assistant, much of it in New Haven under Jack Siedlecki. That stretch included the 2006 Ivy League title team. He also coached special teams and defensive backs at Harvard. He knew the Ivy from both sides of The Game before he ever ran one.
Then he built Yale back into the team to beat. He won Ivy titles in 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2025, was the league's Coach of the Year in 2022, and beat Harvard 7 times in his last 9 tries. His 83 wins are 2nd-most in program history. In an Ivy League, that's how you get remembered.
His last season might have been his best. In 2025 Yale earned its first automatic bid to the FCS playoffs, rallied for a 43-42 win to reach the second round, and finished ranked No. 13 in the country. His staff was named the Ivy League's coaching staff of the year. A few months later he stepped down for health reasons, and Kevin Cahill, who coached under him from 2012 to 2022, took over.
The reaction across college football was immediate.
Terrible news. Prayers to the Reno and Yale football family.
It's hard to imagine how this lands inside the Yale building. Reno's son Dante is in his 2nd season as the Bulldogs' starting quarterback, and he threw 21 touchdowns for his dad last fall. Reno is also survived by his wife, Toni, his daughter Angelina, who is a Yale student, and his son Vince. Cahill said of him that he was hard on his players and demanding, but every day they knew he cared about them. Prayers to the Reno family and everyone in Yale football.
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