Steven M. Azzanesi (born or 1978) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach. He is the head football coach for

Alvernia University Alvernia University is a Private university, private Franciscans, Franciscan university in Reading, Pennsylvania. Founded as Alvernia College in 1958 by the Bernardine Sisters of St. Francis, the school gained university status in 2008. History ...

, a position he has held since 2022. He also coached for Wesley (DE) and

Delaware State Delaware State University (DSU or Del State) is a privately governed, state-assisted historically black land-grant research university in Dover, Delaware. DSU also has two satellite campuses: one in Wilmington and one in Georgetown. The un ...

. He played college football for Wesley (DE) as a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Playing career and education

Azzanesi grew up in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, and attended St. Elizabeth High School. As a quarterback, he led St. Elizabeth to the state football championship during his junior year in 1994. After his graduation in 1996, Azzanesi attended Wesley College in

Dover, Delaware Dover ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and the List of municipalities in Delaware, second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, Delaware, Kent County and the princ ...

. He played

as a quarterback and also played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. He was a First-team All- ACFC quarterback in 1998 and was a captain for the 1999 baseball team. Azzanesi earned

bachelor's degrees A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Neo-Latin, Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and university, universities upon completion of a course of study lasting ...

in communications and accounting in 2000 from Wesley. He earned his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

in 2004 while serving as an assistant football coach for Wesley. In May 2021, he earned his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

from

Wilmington University Wilmington University (WilmU) is a private university with its main campus in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, United States. - It was established in 1968 by educator Donald E. Ross as Wilmington College and was renamed Wilmington ...

Coaching career

Azzanesi joined his alma mater, Wesley, as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

following his graduation. He served in that role for two years before being promoted to

wide receivers A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense, WR gets its name from the player being spli ...

coach in 2002. In 2005, he was promoted once more to passing game coordinator. In 2011, he added the title of assistant

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

while maintaining his position as passing game coordinator. In his first season as assistant head coach, he helped quarterback Shane McSweeny throw for 3,019 yards and 33 touchdowns. The following year, quarterback Justin Sollilare threw for 3,071 yards and 33 touchdowns. From 2013 to 2015, Azzanesi helped lead quarterback Joe Callahan break every single passing record in Wesley history including his 2015 season, where Callahan threw for 5,068 yards, 55 touchdowns, and was named as the Gagliardi Trophy winner. In 2018, Azzanesi was promoted to

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

while retaining his two previous titles after nineteen seasons. In his final season with the team in 2019, Wesley finished with a 10–2 record and made an appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs. In 2020, Azzanesi was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for

Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate ...

under head coach Rod Milstead. In 2021, he helped lead the Hornets to their first five-win season since 2013. After two seasons with Delaware State, Azzanesi was hired as the second-all-time head coach for Alvernia, replacing

Ralph Clark Lieutenant (navy), Lieutenant Ralph Clark (30 March 1755 or 1762 – June 1794) was a British officer in the Royal Marines, best known for his diary spanning the early years of History of Australia (1788–1850)#Colonisation, British settlement ...

. In Azzanesi's first season, he led the team to its highest season win total with a 3–7 record. In his second season, he led the team to a 1–9 record. Azzanesi also served as assistant

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

from 2006 to 2010 before being promoted to associate athletic director for Wesley and maintained the position until he left for Delaware State.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Alvernia profile

Delaware State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azzanesi, Steve Year of birth uncertain 1970s births Living people Alvernia Golden Wolves football coaches American football quarterbacks Delaware State Hornets football coaches Wesley Wolverines baseball players Wesley Wolverines football coaches Wesley Wolverines football players Wilmington University alumni Coaches of American football from Delaware Baseball players from Delaware People from Wilmington, Delaware Players of American football from Delaware