Paul Pasqualoni is headed back to the Division I level at 77, with the former UConn head coach set to join Florida State as a defensive analyst, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.
The move gives Pasqualoni another stop in a coaching career that has stretched across college, the NFL, the UFL and high school football. Florida State recently fired head coach Mike Norvell, creating openings on the staff, and while Pasqualoni is in place for now, there is no certainty he’ll still be there in 2027 once the new head coach makes his own staffing decisions.
Pasqualoni’s path has been a long one, and Connecticut has been a major part of it. He began as an assistant at Cheshire High School in 1972, then moved on to an assistant role at Division II Southern Connecticut State. From there, he became head coach at Division III Western Connecticut State from 1982-86 before leaving the state for a linebackers job at Syracuse in 1987.
That Syracuse stop turned into the defining stretch of his career. He was promoted to head coach in 1991 and stayed through 2004, guiding the Orange to nine bowl games, going 6-3 in those appearances, and helping develop 17 NFL players who were drafted in the first three rounds. His teams featured some of the biggest names in Syracuse history, including Donovan McNabb, Marvin Harrison and Dwight Freeney.
After Syracuse, Pasqualoni moved to the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins, where he served as defensive coordinator in Miami before returning to college football. That led him to UConn, where he coached from 2011-13.
His time with the Huskies never matched the success he had at Syracuse or the standard Randy Edsall set before him. Edsall led UConn from 2000-2010, piling up six winning seasons and five bowl trips, including the 2010 Fiesta Bowl.
Pasqualoni’s teams went 5-7 in both 2011 and 2012, then opened 0-4 in 2013 before he was dismissed. That rough start came as UConn transitioned from the Big East to the American.
Since leaving UConn, Pasqualoni has bounced through several more stops, including the Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, Boston College, Detroit Lions, University of Florida and Carolina Panthers. He also worked in the United Football League in 2024 and returned to high school football in 2025.
UConn is now coached by Jason Candle and sits at 4-4. The Huskies face North Carolina this weekend in East Hartford, in the first return to New England for Bill Belichick since he was fired by the Patriots after the 2023 NFL season.
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