Ray Priore is stepping down as Penn football's head coach, according to an email sent to the Penn football community on Monday and a subsequent Penn Athletics announcement.
“I am writing to inform you that Ray Priore, the George A. Munger Head Football Coach at Penn, announced today that he is stepping down from his position following 11 years as the Quakers head coach and 39 years with the program,” Director of Athletics and Recreation Alanna Wren wrote in the email.
A national search for his replacement will begin immediately, according to the Penn Athletics press release. This season, Penn football finished 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the Ivy League. The program's last conference title came in 2016.
“To say coaching at the University of Pennsylvania has been the honor of a lifetime is an understatement,” Priore said in a statement released with the announcement. “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.”
"[Priore] was one of the main reasons why I committed to this school and why my family supported my decision to commit,” senior wide receiver Bisi Owens wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian about the news. “The way he treated us on my official visit was a representation of how genuine and caring the entire Penn football community is.”
“Coach Priore was a great mentor, coach, and friend of many within the Penn Football family,” 2025 Wharton graduate and former starting quarterback Aidan Sayin wrote to the DP. “For me, he was someone who believed in me and always stood in my corner.”
Sayin is Penn’s all-time pass completion leader, and he ranks second in passing yards and fourth in passing touchdowns with the program.
“The news, while upsetting, isn’t shocking with the performance of Penn Football over the past few years,” Sayin added. “Many things have to go right to produce a winning football team and sometimes time and effort isn’t enough to get it done.”
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A source close to the program told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the contracts of the team's assistant coaches would not be renewed, but that the new head coach would have a chance to evaluate and re-hire them.
Priore became head coach in 2015 and led the Quakers to back-to-back Ivy League championships in his first two seasons at the helm. Across his 38 years in various roles on the Penn football coaching staff, Priore was part of 12 total Ivy League Championships. As head coach, Priore has produced three Ivy League Players of the Year: Tyler Drake in 2015, Joey Slackman in 2023, and Malachi Hosley in 2024.
In recent years, the program has struggled. The Quakers finished the 2023 season with a winning 6-4 overall record, but a 3-4 conference record for fifth in the Ancient Eight. In 2024, the team went 4-6 overall but notched another losing record in the Ivy League with 2-5.
Priore's late-game decision-making was a point of criticism during the latter years of his tenure. In their penultimate game versus Harvard, Penn chose to kick a field goal on third down with 22 seconds left while trailing 42-40. With those 22 seconds on the clock, Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig pushed 40 yards and set Harvard up for a game-winning field goal of their own.
Penn also struggled to replace players lost to the transfer portal. Hosley, whose 1,192 rushing yards were the eighth highest in program history, transferred to Georgia Tech at the end of last season, shortly followed by fellow running back Jamal Bing Jr., who left for Georgia State. The loss of two running backs forced the Quakers to revamp the running room with the addition of senior running back Julien Stokes. But the ground game struggled, especially in the second half of the season, after Stokes suffered a season-ending injury at Columbia.
Priore began his coaching career at Penn in 1987 as an assistant linebacker coach. The following season, the Quakers were crowned the Ivy League champions. In the following years, Priore served in multiple roles on the Red and Blue sidelines before serving as the defensive coordinator/defensive back coach from 1999 to 2014.
Before Penn, Priore coached at the University of Albany from 1985 to 1986, where he served as the defensive back coach.
