ITHACA, N.Y. -- Veteran coach Nick Quartaro is stepping down from his position as the Terry Cullen Head Coach of Cornell Sprint Football due to personal matters. A national search will commence immediately to find the program's 12th head coach in school history and just the fourth since 1959. Jay Carter '71, a member of the Athletics Hall of Fame and longtime President of the Sprint Football Alumni Association, will serve as interim head coach until the position is filled.
"Being the head sprint football coach at Cornell has been a wonderful opportunity, and I've enjoyed every moment spent with this program. I believe in the goals and vision that Dr. Nicki Moore articulated when I decided to take the job and I still do," Quartaro said. "For four decades, I've only known one way to coach football - to put every ounce of energy into the job. But, over the past couple of months some things have arisen that won't allow me to be as committed as I need to be and to truly be able to do what's necessary as head coach of the Sprint program. With the best interest of the program in mind, I believe a new coach can be identified who will fill the long-term needs of the program. I would like to thank Dr. Moore for the opportunity she afforded me. I also want to thank the players, coaching staff and the loyal Sprint Football alumni for their commitment."
"I respect and support Coach Q's decision to prioritize personal matters at this moment in time," said Dr. Nicki Moore, Cornell's Meakem Smith Director of Athletics & Physical Education. "Nick is an excellent coach and he has unquestionably poured his whole heart and soul into the program at a critical transitional time. The work he has done will be a huge benefit to the next head coach of this storied program."
An accomplished coach with nearly 40 years of experience prior to taking over the Big Red program in May 2023, Quartaro helped shepherd the team in its first season in more than 60 years without a member of the Cullen family as head coach. In his one season on the sidelines, Quartaro helped develop seven All-Collegiate Sprint Football League players and had 24 student-athletes earn a spot on the All-CSFL Academic Team, tied for the highest total of any school in the conference.
Quartaro's career has spanned from FBS Power Five schools to FCS and Division III programs, and it includes more than a quarter-century in senior leadership roles — coordinator, assistant head coach, associate head coach and head coach at Drake and Fordham. He has served under such notable head coaches as College Football Hall of Fame inductee Bill Snyder at Kansas State, former college and NFL head coach Dennis Green at Northwestern, Iowa State Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Dan McCarney, and Mark Mangino, a National Coach of the Year at Kansas.
The 2024 sprint football season will kick off in September.
