Glenn Caruso (born May 20, 1974) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, a position he had held since the 2008 season. Caruso served as the head football coach at Macalester College from 2006 to 2007. He has been awarded the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award for NCAA Division III three times: 2010, 2011 and 2012.[1][2]
 Caruso in 2019 | |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | St. Thomas (MN) |
| Conference | PFL |
| Record | 157–34 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | May 20, 1974 Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1992–1995 | Ithaca |
| Position(s) | Center |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1996 | Ithaca (GA/OL) |
| 1997–2002 | North Dakota State (OC/RB/TE) |
| 2003 | Wisconsin–Eau Claire (OC/OL) |
| 2004–2005 | South Dakota (OC/QB) |
| 2006–2007 | Macalester |
| 2008–present | St. Thomas (MN) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 163–46 |
| Tournaments | 19–8 (NCAA D-III playoffs) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 7 MIAC (2010–2012, 2015–2017, 2019) 1 PFL (2022) | |
| Awards | |
| 3× Liberty Mutual COY (2010–2012) 2× AFCA NCAA Division III COY (2012, 2015) 6× MIAC Coach of the Year (2010–2012, 2015–2017) | |
Early Life
editGlenn Caruso was born to Mr. & Mrs. Frank Caruso. His father was a lawyer in the Greenwich, Connecticut area.[3] At the age of four, Caruso was diagnosed with leukemia.[4] After hearing that his son wouldn't live until his fifth birthday, Frank Caruso drove his family to the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré to pray for healing; Glenn ended up recovering from the disease.[5] Caruso's mother died when he was eight.[3] He was a lineman for Greenwich High School, and was the starting center at Ithaca College. He considered law school, but eventually was hired by North Dakota State head coach Bob Babich.[3]
In 1998 he was on a committee for the Special Olympics, where he met his wife.[3]
Coaching career
editMacalester College
editCaruso served as the head football coach at Macalester College from 2006 to 2007. His record for the 2006 season was 2–7, and his record for the 2007 season was 4–5.
University of Saint Thomas
edit
In his first season at St. Thomas, in 2008, Caruso led the Tommies to a 7–3 record after the team had finished 2–8 the previous year.
In 2009, Brandon Staley was Caruso's defensive line coach.[6]
After guiding the 2015 Tommies to the NCAA Division III Football Championship Game with a 14–1 record, Caruso was voted by his peers as the Division III National Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). It was Caruso's 6th national coach of the year award, the most of any active NCAA Division III football coach.
During 2021 Caruso led St. Thomas' unprecedented leap from Division III to Division I. In the school's first year at Division I, St. Thomas posted a 7–3 record and finished 3rd in the Pioneer League. In 2022, the second season of being a Division I program, 17 months into the transition, Caruso led St. Thomas to an undefeated conference championship.
Personal life
editCaruso married his wife, Rachel, on Memorial Day weekend in 2001. They have three children: Anna, Cade, and Truman.[3] Rachel was diagnosed with cancer in 2017.[3] Caruso is a Catholic and considers "faith, family, and football" to be the most important things in his life.[7]
In 2023, his daughter Anna was the head coach for a 14U girl's softball team, and asked Caruso to be her assistant coach.[6]
Head coaching record
edit| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | STATS# | Coaches° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macalester Scots (NCAA Division III independent) (2006–2007) | |||||||||
| 2006 | Macalester | 2–7 | |||||||
| 2007 | Macalester | 4–5 | |||||||
| Macalester: | 6–12 | ||||||||
| St. Thomas Tommies (Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (2008–2020) | |||||||||
| 2008 | St. Thomas | 7–3 | 5–3 | T–2nd | |||||
| 2009 | St. Thomas | 11–2 | 7–1 | 2nd | L NCAA Division III Quarterfinal | ||||
| 2010 | St. Thomas | 12–1 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division III Quarterfinal | ||||
| 2011 | St. Thomas | 13–1 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division III Semifinal | ||||
| 2012 | St. Thomas | 14–1 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division III Championship | ||||
| 2013 | St. Thomas | 8–2 | 6–2 | T–2nd | |||||
| 2014 | St. Thomas | 8–3 | 6–2 | T–2nd | L NCAA Division III First Round | ||||
| 2015 | St. Thomas | 14–1 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division III Championship | ||||
| 2016 | St. Thomas | 12–1 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division III Quarterfinal | ||||
| 2017 | St. Thomas | 11–2 | 8–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division III Quarterfinal | ||||
| 2018 | St. Thomas | 8–2 | 6–2 | 3rd | |||||
| 2019 | St. Thomas | 8–2 | 7–1 | T–1st | |||||
| 2020–21 | No team—COVID-19 | ||||||||
| St. Thomas Tommies (Pioneer Football League) (2021–present) | |||||||||
| 2021 | St. Thomas | 7–3 | 6–2 | T–3rd | |||||
| 2022 | St. Thomas | 10–1 | 8–0 | 1st | 20 | ||||
| 2023 | St. Thomas | 8–3 | 7–1 | 2nd | |||||
| 2024 | St. Thomas | 6–6 | 5–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| St. Thomas: | 157–34 | 112–17 | |||||||
| Total: | 163–46 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
References
edit- ^ "St. Thomas' Caruso a repeat winner in Coach of Year honor". Star Tribune. January 10, 2012. Archived from the original on January 17, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
- ^ "Coach of the Year: Glenn Caruso Division III". Liberty Mutual. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f Reusse, Patrick (December 23, 2017). "St. Thomas football family steps up to support coach Glenn Caruso's wife after cancer diagnosis". www.startribune.com.
- ^ "In the News: Football and Fatherhood – Glenn Caruso". Newsroom | University of St. Thomas. September 28, 2021.
- ^ "Sansevere: Dad wouldn't let St. Thomas' Caruso die, taught him life". Twin Cities. October 10, 2011.
- ^ a b Scoggins, Chip (June 3, 2023). "St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso takes 'new job' — serving as assistant to his daughter Anna". www.startribune.com. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ Mitchell, Dawn (July 5, 2024). "Glenn Caruso: Unscripted with Dawn Mitchell". FOX 9. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
External links
edit- St. Thomas profile Archived 2021-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
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