On Wednesday, Albany head coach and former Penn State defensive line standout Greg Gattuso spoke to the media about his decision to leave Albany where he's been the head coach for over a decade, and return to Happy Valley.
It was a press conference in which Gattuso was clearly emotional about choosing to leave a place that has become a home for him in Albany but also one in which he's excited about the prospect of returning to his alma mater.
You can watch Gattuso's full 19-minute press conference below or read everything he had to say on his decision to return to Penn State.
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OPENING STATEMENT: Well, thank you for coming. I'm going to do something I never do.
As you know, I like to shoot from the hip, but I'm going to read a little bit of a statement here. Appreciate my family being here today. It's an exciting day for me and my family.
I'm happy to announce that I'll be heading back to my alma mater, Penn State, to work with Coach Franklin and his staff as a Senior Defensive Analyst and Defensive Line Coach. Everybody knows me, knows I love being part of a great defensive line, and they have one of the best in the country. The past 11 years have been some of the best years of my life.
The Albany community welcomed me and my family with open arms. Everybody I have had the pleasure of working with has always treated me like family. Proud to have called Albany my home over that time.
For those of you who know, my family is very established here, so even more proud to say Albany will always be my home for me. That will never change. The amount of friends, and I feel like Trump here, I'm going off schedule here a little bit, so I apologize.
We have so many friends we've met in the years here, and there's so many people to thank. I can't, and that's why I think it's so important to do this. From our neighbors in Malta to everywhere we've been, it's just been fantastic.
Thank you to everybody. My man Emilio Genzano, I've got to say a shout out to him as well. I'd like to thank President Javidon Rodriguez and Mark Benson for their full support and belief in me and the program.
I'd also like to thank former President Robert Jones and former Athletic Director Lee McElroy for believing in me when they offered me the position of head football coach in 2013. Katie Abrahamson was special too in the process, so thank you to her. I'd also like to thank all my great staff that I've had the pleasure of working with over my time here.
Coordinators, coaches, assistants, everyone that's put their hands on this program. They were what made the program go on a daily basis. Simply put, without them and their accomplishment of this team would not have been possible.
You look at the guys that have been through this program. There's head coaches, there's coordinators everywhere, there's guys at FBS. It's one of my great thrills is mentoring young coaches to help them move forward, and I'm super proud of all those guys, and thank you to all of them.
Most importantly, I'd like to thank the players that decided to put their trust in me in this program. They're the reason why I've always loved this job in all my coaching career. Their hard work propelled Albany football to new heights, and at the end of the day, it's what it's always been about to me.
The players are special and most important to me. Finally, thanks to my family. It's difficult.
Father, husband, football coach, it's tough on them. Right, Bruce? But they've been nothing but supportive, even putting up with the craziness that I'm getting ready to go through, so thank you guys. It's an exciting chapter in my life.
I'm fired up to go home, and this program is going to be in great hands moving forward.
On the process/timeline:
Coach, he's always been great to me.
We've kept in touch over the years. And this opportunity came up. He was looking for a veteran defensive line guy to come in and work with their defensive line.
They have a great young coach, Dion Barnes. I actually recruited Dion back when he was in high school. So, it just kind of happened out of the blue.
And Jordan Erlovsky, I think, said at best one of my coaches when I talked to those guys yesterday, he said, Coach, you've always said that you would never leave Albany unless it was for Penn State.
On if the state of college football played any role in his decision:
Not at all. You know, I mean, we literally, you got to play by the rules in life and everything, you know. So, I mean, I don't love it, but I think we've operated really well in it by drawing great talent. But this is about going to Penn State. It's nothing more than that. I mean, I love it here.
On telling his players he's leaving
It was really good. They were great. They were great. It was emotional, obviously. But they were great. We have great kids. So, it's always hard, very difficult.
Will Penn State be the last stop of his coaching career?
Oh, I sure hope so. Yeah. Me too.
No, it's a – I mean, I would have kept coaching here and retired and went on with whatever direction it came. But it's just a really cool thing, you know. I mean, to go there and, you know, in the process of – I've got friends there.
I've got two guys that coach with me at Duquesne on the staff, you know. So it's – I know people, you know, it's funny. Their director – or their chief of staff called me and said they were doing some paperwork today to get through this.
And he said the person he was dealing with was like, is this my guy Greg Gattuso from 83? And he was like, yeah, it is. So they never really forget you. You said you let your staff know yesterday, the players, yesterday and today.
We did the players today. You know, it was the coaches. You know, I talked to my coordinators.
You know, we have a transparency thing here and I talked to Mark when the process was going on a little bit. I talked to a couple of my coordinators. I was able to talk to the coaches more, you know, in the last day or two.
They're a special group. It's tough, you know, but I'm confident. And, you know, as I told them, I will always be there to help them out.
Like I have all my coaches. And it's tough. You know, it's tough when the head coach goes.
You know, it's a major disruption in a lot of ways. But, you know, they're tough. They're going to do great.
They're very high quality talent. And, you know, I'm obviously at their beck and call through this process.
How special of an opportunity is it for him to return to Penn State?
Yeah, it's two alma maters I've gotten to play at and coach at. I did it in my high school and probably still the best three years of our lives, you know. But it's very special. You know, I can't wait to get there.
When will he arrive in Happy Valley?
Monday. Coach Franklin, you know, when I talked to Coach, when I accepted the job, he said – he just said, sooner rather than later, but do what you got to do. And, you know, we kind of agreed I'd be here from the birth of my granddaughter.
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