Former Akron coach Rob Ianello to become Buffalo associate head coach
Former Akron coach Rob Ianello has been hired as Buffalo’s associate head coach, recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach, according to a source.
Ianello, 49, is regarded as one of college football’s best recruiters, and his hiring is a significant coup for new Bulls coach Lance Leipold. Ianello had served as a transitional consultant last month for Buffalo while Leipold finished leading Wisconsin-Whitewater to a remarkable sixth NCAA Division III national championship in his eight seasons in charge of the program.
Leipold and Ianello worked together at Wisconsin from 1991-93 as a graduate assistant and recruiting coordinator, respectively. A Port Chester, N.Y., native, Ianello spent the past season at Kansas as director of research, an off-field role focused on recruiting.
From 2012-13, he was then-Jayhawks head coach Charlie Weis’ wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. Ianello was the head coach at Akron from 2010-11 and was the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Weis at Notre Dame for five seasons before that.
Ianello coached tight ends at Wisconsin from 2003-04. He was the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Arizona from 1997-2002 after serving as the Wildcats’ recruiting coordinator for the three previous years.
Before Ianello’s first stint at Wisconsin with Leipold, he was the co-recruiting coordinator at Alabama from 1988-89. Last month Buffalo hired Leipold away from Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he had a 109-6 record and in October became the fastest coach in NCAA history to reach 100 wins.
