AKRON, OH. – For the second time in two years, a MAC school has turned to Notre Dame to fill a football head coaching position.
Last year, Miami took former Notre Dame player and – at that time – assistant coach Mike Haywood. This year, Akron selected Rob Ianello, most recently an assistant on the staff of former Irish mentor Charlie Weiss. Ianello was introduced Thursday at InfoCision Stadium.
“We are extremely excited to name Rob Ianello as our new head football coach,” Akron athletic director Tom Wistrcill said. “Rob’s experience with some of the top programs in the country, coupled with his recruiting prowess, made him stand out among a great group of candidates.
“He demonstrated to us a clear plan on how to build a complete championship program – one that has been successfully tested at other University’s around the country – and we are excited to help him execute that plan. He will be a great leader for the young men on our football team and a great part of the Akron community.”
Ianella, who becomes the 26th head coach of the Akron football program, is the sixth coach since 1960. He replaces former Zips mentor J.D. Brookhart.
Promoted to assistant head coach for offense in January 2009, Ianello led Notre Dame’s offensive staff meetings when head coach Charlie Weis was not present. He also retained his role as wide receivers coach and recently served as interim head football coach for the Fighting Irish.
Under his guidance, the Fighting Irish enjoyed six of the nine best individual receiving seasons in Notre Dame. In the past five seasons, four Irish receivers caught more than 60 passes in a season, while five players eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards.
“First I want to thank Dr. (Luis) Proenza, Tom (Wistrcill) and the Akron community for this opportunity,” Ianello said. “My family and I are thrilled to be at Akron and excited about the opportunity to lead this program. My life-long dream has been to run a football program at the highest level and there is no place better to begin that journey than right now at The University of Akron. The future is very bright for the Zips football program.
A member of the Irish coaching staff since 2005, Ianella coordinated four-straight top 15 recruiting classes. As the recruiting coordinator for the Irish, he directed three consecutive top 10 recruiting classes from 2006-08, something only three other schools (USC, Florida and Georgia ) could claim.
He is also the only coach named one of the 25-best recruiters in the country each of the last five years by Rivals.com. In the book “The Second Season” by recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, Ianello is named one of the top 10 recruiters of the last 30 years.
Among his stops prior to Notre Dame, Ianella coached at Wisconsin for two years and helped the Badgers earn appearances in the 2003 Music City Bowl and 2005 Outback Bowl. He also helped develop Owen Daniels from a recruited quarterback into a tight end. Daniels is now one of the top receiving tight ends in the NFL.
Ianello also served as recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach at Arizona and helped develop Bobby Wade and Dennis Northcutt. Wade led the Pacific-10 Conference with 93 receptions for 1,389 yards and eight TDs in 2002, while Northcutt caught 88 passes in 1999. Also in 1999, he was named one of the top 10 recruiters in the nation by ESPN.com and one of the top six recruiters nationally by Sporting News.
The previous year with the Wildcats, he helped Arizona ’s 1998 squad to a 12-1 record and number four national ranking.
Ianello was born Nov. 4, 1965, he is a native of Port Chester, N.Y. He is a 1987 graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and has a bachelor’s degree in English. He and his wife, the former Denise Dove, have one son, Zachary, and two daughters, Ashley and Courtney. Denise is a former assistant women’s basketball coach at Arizona and Wisconsin and is now a scout in the WNBA.
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