Villanova Univeristy Athletics

Mike Pettine was a standout halfback for Villanova during his playing days and a member of the 1961 team which won the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. After his collegiate career he went on to be a longtime high school head coach in Pennsylvania and won more than 300 games in a Hall of Fame coaching career. Pettine played for the Wildcats from 1959-61. He graduated from Villanova in 1962 and was inducted to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1993.
 
Pettine amassed more than 700 all-purpose yards in his three varsity seasons. His collegiate totals included rushing for 342 yards on 92 carries as well as making 17 receptions for 246 yards and a touchdown. He also had 72 kickoff return yards, 43 interception return yards and three punt return yards. As a junior in 1960, Pettine rushed for 261 yards and had 90 receiving yards to go along with three interceptions on defense.
 
In his first varsity season in 1959, Pettine had eight catches for 146 yards and a touchdown to go along with 48 rushing yards, 72 kickoff return yards and three punt return yards. His best game of the season was in a 22-13 win over Dayton on Halloween when Pettine scored his only career touchdown on a 53-yard grab in the fourth quarter and had one of his five career interceptions on defense. Pettine’s junior campaign in 1960 was the first in the seven-year head coaching tenure of Hall of Fame coach Alex Bell.
 
Villanova’s best season of Pettine’s career was in 1961 when he was a senior. Pettine had 33 rushing yards on the season to go along with a 10-yard reception and an interception which he returned for 11 yards. The team went 8-2 under Bell and posted notable wins over Miami (Ohio), Massachusetts and Buffalo before being chosen to play in the Sun Bowl. Villanova took on Wichita State in El Paso, Texas and came away with a 17-9 victory for the program’s second-ever bowl game in and first since the end of the 1948 season.
 
Pettine’s coaching career began as soon as his playing days ended. He was the assistant coach at St. Pius High School in Pottstown, Pa. and was later named the head coach at Central Bucks High School in 1967. His first team won the Bux-Mont League that season. Two years later when Central Bucks East High School opened, Pettine was named the head coach at Central Bucks West.
 
In 1971, Pettine guided CB West to a 10-0 season and its first Bux-Mont League title. It was the first of 15 times that he would lead his teams to an undefeated record. Pennsylvania high school football did not have a state playoff until 1988, but before that Pettine’s teams were voted state champions in 1978, 1980, 1984 and 1985. He won his 100^th career game as head coach during the 1978 season.
 
Central Bucks West had a five-year, 53-game unbeaten streak from 1984 to 1988 which featured just one tie in a Thanksgiving game against rival Central Bucks East in 1988. During that streak, the Bux-Mont league was disbanded and CB West began play in the Suburban One League in 1987. Pettine promptly guided the team to an 11-0 record and the first of 12 league titles during his coaching tenure. Pettine won his 200^th game in 1989 and his first undisputed state title with an 11-0 record in 1991 when CB West was the No. 3 ranked team in the final USA Today national top 25 rankings.
 
In addition to his coaching career, Pettine was a longtime social studies teacher at Central Bucks West. He retired from teaching in 1996 but continued to coach through the 1999 season and announced his retirement from coaching on January 14, 2000. His final record as head coach was 326-42-4, including 311-38-3 at CB West. His record from 1990-99 in his final decade of coaching was 121-8.
 
On November 5, 1999, in his final season as head coach, Pettine guided CB West to a 17-7 win over North Penn in a game billed as the “Battle of the Century.” North Penn was coached by Pettine’s son, Mike Jr., and the teams rematched two week later with CB West winning by a 21-0 margin. Pettine Sr. was 5-0 coaching against his son who would go on to be an NFL head coach.
 
Pettine is a member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the CB West Hall of Fame, the Bucks County Sports Hall of Fame and the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame. He passed away in Florida in 2017 at the age of 76.