Jon Tenuta


Jon Tenuta is a football coach who is the safeties coach for the Cincinnati Bearcats. Previously, Tenuta was the defensive coordinator for the Virginia Cavaliers. He attended Upper Arlington High School in Columbus, OH. In his senior season, Upper Arlington played in the state championship game and lost to Warren Harding. He finished his college playing career at University of Virginia. High School nickname was "Punchy," after the Hawaiian Punch character.

Coaching Career

Tenuta was the former associate head coach and defensive coordinator of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. In the wake of the November 26, 2007 firing of Georgia Tech head coach Chan Gailey, Tenuta was named Interim Head Coach, but was not retained by incoming head coach Paul Johnson. He also coached the Yellow Jackets' defensive backs and was one of the highest paid coordinators in college football.
On January 31, 2008, Tenuta was named assistant head coach/defense at the University of Notre Dame succeeding Bill Lewis. Tenuta coached the linebackers and ran the defense for three seasons with the Irish. He was hired by Charlie Weis after having worked at Georgia Tech since 2002. Tenuta's position at Notre Dame ended following the firing of Weis after the 2009 season ended. Incoming Head Coach Brian Kelly chose not to retain Tenuta and replaced him with his then– Cincinnati defensive coordinator Bob Diaco.
On January 3, 2012 it was announced that Tenuta was hired as assistant coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign by new head coach Tim Beckman, however Tenuta announced on January 4, 2012 that he would remain at NC State.
On January 3, 2013, it was announced that Tenuta and former North Carolina State head coach Tom O'Brien would be joining the coaching staff at the University of Virginia. Tenuta served as the defensive coordinator for the Cavaliers until 2015.
January 11, 2017, he was named safeties coach for University of Cincinnati, under head coach Luke Fickell.

Head coaching record