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Trisciani returns to UNH

It’s homecoming at the University of New Hampshire this weekend, and Elon head coach Tony Trisciani is among those returning to UNH’s Durham campus.

UNH (2-2, 1-0 Colonial Athletic Association) and Elon (2-3, 1-1) will meet Saturday at UNH’s Wildcat Stadium.

Trisciani is a New Hampshire native who had two stints as an assistant coach at UNH. He was the team’s running backs coach in 1998 and 1999, and coached the defensive backs from 2001 to 2004.

“It’s definitely where I cut my teeth coaching, and with some really talented football coaches,” Trisciani said. “It really helped me form a lot of my philosophy and foundation when it comes to offense and defense, having coached two years on offense there and then four years on defense.”

Trisciani, 46, was elevated from Elon’s defensive coordinator to the program’s head coach when Curt Cignetti left Elon to become the head coach at James Madison last December. Trisciani recruited UNH interim head coach Ricky Santos — a record-setting quarterback at UNH — while he was on his second tour of duty with the Wildcats.

“He was in my area of Massachusetts: Bellingham High School,” Trisciani said. “We identified him at the (Boston College) camp in the summer. He caught our attention. Chip (former UNH offensive coordinator Chip Kelly) really liked him. Chip was working with the quarterbacks at the time and he had told me, ‘Stay on the Santos kid.’

“We had some other kids above Ricky on our recruiting board that we had offered and were actively recruiting, but as that list kind of kept moving down and those guys were committing to bigger schools we started getting closer to Ricky. I just kept recruiting him and going to see him every week during the contact period and staying in touch with him.”

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