Ray Priore is stepping down after 11 years as Penn’s football coach
Priore spent 39 years with the Quakers' program and finished with a 58–42 overall record. His last game was a 17-6 victory against archrival Princeton.
Ray Priore is stepping down as Penn’s football coach after 11 years, the university’s athletic department said Monday in a news release.
Priore spent 39 years with the Quakers’ program and finished with a 58-42 overall record, 37-32 in Ivy League play. After he was named head coach in 2015, Priore won back-to-back Ivy championships in 2015 and 2016 but went nine straight seasons without a share of the league title.
His last game was a 17-6 victory against archrival Princeton as Penn finished 6-4, 4-3 Ivy. A nationwide search for the Quakers’ next head coach will begin immediately.
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“To say coaching at the University of Pennsylvania has been the honor of a lifetime is an understatement,” Priore said. “Penn has been my second home for 39 years, the last 11 of which I have had the privilege of serving as the head football coach. The end of this season marked my final game, and closing this chapter with a win is something I will carry with me forever. While it’s hard to step away from the program I hold so dear to my heart, I know this is the right time.”
During his tenure as head coach, Priore recruited 94 All-Ivy League honorees, 10 All-Americans, and three Ivy League Players of the Year: Tyler Drake in 2015, Joey Slackman in 2023, and Malachi Hosley in 2024.
Priore had one player drafted by an NFL team — Justin Watson, now a wide receiver for the Houston Texans — while three other players signed free-agent contracts with teams in the league.
“I’m grateful for Ray’s leadership and service to Penn football and to generations of student-athletes, staff, and alumni,” Penn athletic director Alanna Wren said. “Few individuals have given more of themselves to this program. Ray’s integrity, mentorship, and deep commitment to the student-athlete experience have shaped Penn football in meaningful and lasting ways.”
Penn struggled in recent years, finishing with losing Ivy records in 2023 and 2024.
Priore began his Quakers career in 1987 as a linebackers coach and went on to fill several roles on the staff. He served as the team’s defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator from 1999 to 2014. Priore was a part of 12 Ivy League championships during his tenure with the coaching staff, as the Quakers won five titles between 2000 and 2010.