Tony Reno, who guided Yale to 5 Ivy League football titles, dies at 52

Former Yale football coach Tony Reno, who stepped down after the 2025 season due to health issues, has died at the age of 52, the university announced Friday.

No cause of death was given.

"Today, we are deeply saddened by the loss of an extraordinary member of the Yale Athletics family," Yale athletic director Vicky Chun said in a statement. "Tony Reno devoted his life to serving others and approached every day with humility, compassion, and purpose. He believed deeply in the power of mentorship and invested wholeheartedly in the success and well-being of his players, colleagues, and friends.

"While his accomplishments on the football field were remarkable, it is the relationships he built and the lives he changed that will define his enduring legacy."

Reno, who stepped down in February, led the Bulldogs to five Ivy League championships and the first FCS playoff victory in program history across 14 seasons from 2012 to 2025. He was 83-49 over 14 seasons and was the program's second all-time winningest coach, trailing only legendary Bulldogs coach Carm Cozza, who won 179 games and claimed 10 Ivy League titles from 1965 to 1996.

"Tony was a man who valued the important things in life. Family always came first, and that was evident in the special family he built and the love the Reno family shares," current Yale coach Kevin Cahill said in a statement. "As a coach, Tony loved his players and held them to a standard they often didn't know they were capable of reaching. He was hard on them and demanding, but every day, they knew he cared about them.

"It was never about him or simply about winning championships; it was about developing young men and leaders and helping them become the best versions of themselves. Along the way, we won a lot of football games. Tony will be missed dearly. His impact on so many lives will never be forgotten, and his legacy will forever be a part of the Yale Football family."

Reno spent six seasons as an assistant at Yale from 2003 to 2008 before he took over the program in January 2012 following a three-year stint on staff at Harvard.

In 2017, Reno led the Bulldogs to a 9-1 finish and the school's first Ivy League title since 2006.

Last fall, in Reno's final season with the program, Yale became the Ivy League's first automatic qualifier to the NCAA FCS playoffs and erased a 28-point deficit in a dramatic come-from-behind win over Youngstown State to secure the program's first-ever postseason victory.

A two-time Ivy League Coach of the Year honoree, Reno ultimately led the Bulldogs to six winning records over his final eight seasons with the program and won seven of his last nine meetings against rivals Harvard.

His son Dante Reno, a former four-star recruit who began his college career at South Carolina, began this season as the Bulldogs' starting quarterback but suffered an elbow injury in the opener vs. Holy Cross. He threw for 2,498 yards and 21 touchdowns in his debut season last fall.