Villanova Univeristy Athletics

Matt Colangelo begins his seventh year overall on the Villanova coaching staff in 2024 and is in his sixth year since returning to the Wildcats for his second stint with the program. For the third straight season Colangelo will be the Special Teams Coordinator in addition to coaching the Villanova safeties.
 
The primary recruiting territory for Colangelo consists of New England, including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. He also recruits several of the local high schools.
 
Colangelo coached three players who earned CAA Football All-Conference honors for the 2023 season, including strong safety Ty Trinh who had his best collegiate season to date and garnered his first career All-CAA nod as a second team selection. Trinh made 46 tackles a season ago, including three tackles for loss, and defended six passes with five breakups and one interception.
 
Villanova has had a strong special teams unit over the past two seasons and last year TD Ayo-Durojaiye earned all-conference honors on special teams for the second time in his career. He led the Wildcats with nine special teams tackles on the year and recorded 27 special teams tackles over his final three collegiate seasons. Colangelo also worked with Villanova punter Nathan Fondacaro who was an honorable mention All-CAA pick after he averaged 43.4 yards per punt on 45 attempts.

In his first season as the Special Teams Coordinator in 2022, Colangelo worked with two players who earned CAA All-Conference honors. Dez Boykin was a second team All-CAA selection as a kick returner and concluded his stellar collegiate career ranked fourth in school history with 1,725 career kick return yards. Matthew Mercurio made a big impact for the Wildcats during his first year on campus and garnered third team All-CAA honors as Villanova’s kicker. Mercurio led the team with 65 points last season while making all 35 of his PAT attempts and connecting on 10-of-12 field goals. He was just as good in 2023 when he racked up 83 points on 10-of-13 field goal kicking and 53-of-55 extra points.

Colangelo’s first year at Villanova was in 2017 when he worked with the outside linebackers. He returned to the staff in 2019 after spending one year at Holy Cross. Among the Wildcats student-athletes he has worked with in recent years are CAA Football All-Conference performers Drew Wiley and Amin Black. Wiley garnered third team All-CAA accolades for the 2019 campaign and Black was a third team all-league selection in 2021 prior to signing a professional contract to play in Germany. In 2017, Colangelo assisted in coaching a unit that included first team All-CAA honoree Ed Shockley. As a senior that year, Shockley led the Wildcats with 101 tackles and he went on to sign a free agent NFL contract with the Dallas Cowboys.
 
In his one year away from the Villanova coaching staff Colangelo spent the 2018 season at Holy Cross where he coached the safeties. The Crusaders defense was one of the team’s strengths in 2018 and starting safety Joe Lang finished second on the team with 77 tackles while tying for the team lead in two forced fumbles. He added two sacks and four pass breakups on the year. Colangelo also recruited areas of Pennsylvania while on the Holy Cross staff, including the northeastern part of the state and the Lehigh Valley. His recruiting territory also consisted of the state of Texas.

Colangelo was a defensive assistant at Yale in 2016 after beginning his coaching career as an assistant coach for two seasons (2014-15) at his alma mater, Assumption. He helped lead the Greyhounds to a combined 18 wins in his two years on the coaching staff, including an 11-2 season in 2015 when the team compiled a 10-game winning streak and advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs.
 
During his own collegiate career Colangelo was a linebacker at Assumption and served as a senior captain for the 2013 season. A native of Cromwell, Conn., he ranked third on the Greyhounds in tackles as a senior when his stats for the year included 69 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, one fumble recovery, two interceptions, two quarterback hurries and one pass breakup. He earned Northeast-10 All-Conference first team accolades that year and was a Worcester Area first team all-star. Colangelo was presented with the 2014 William A. Cating ’64 Memorial Award as the Most Coachable male athlete at Assumption.