Class News

Tony Reno (hon. ’64) gives a 2021 Football Virtual Update

February 3, 2021

Coach Tony Reno, an honorary 1964 classmate, who is the Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Football, gave a presentation titled “Yale Football Update: Recruiting, Training, and Player Health and Safety in the time of COVID-19."

The Webinar was hosted by Rusty Pickett ’72 who relayed questions from the audience to Coach Reno. In the virtual presentation, Coach Reno reviewed and discussed the realities and lessons learned in leading Yale’s Division I football program in challenging times. His comments ranged from player recruitment, maintaining training and team unity, to innovations in ensuring players’ health and safety.

Coach Reno began the webinar with highlights from 2019 double-overtime win in The Game (see image below). That never gets old! He told us how he deliberately picked the dark end of the field for the second overtime, since “that was the endzone that was filled with our fans. We could feel the cheers inside our helmets.”

Coach reported that neither the Ivy League nor Yale has made a decision about the 2021 football season.