Colantuono, a centre back, started his playing career for Serie D sideVelletri in 1981. In 1983, he moved to Ternana of Serie C1, then Arezzo of Serie B, and finally made his Serie A debut for Pisa. He played Serie A until 1990 for several teams. In 1991, he accepted to play in the national futsal league for BNL Roma, winning a scudetto. Following this experience, Colantuono played mostly at lower levels, especially Serie C2 and Serie D, and even Eccellenza for Sambenedettese in 1994–95. After a long list of experiences in different Italian regions, Colantuono returned to play for Sambenedettese in November 2000, leading his team to an immediate promotion to Serie C2.
Managing career
The 2001–02 Serie C2 season for Sambenedettese was going to be very hard, with two coaches fired throughout the season. After the sack of third coach Enrico Nicolini, Colantuono, a player for the team, was appointed to manage Sambenedettese together with Gabriele Matricciani for the last nine matches. Surprisingly, Colantuono managed to win all these nine matches, leading his team to a fifth place, qualifying and successively even winning the promotion playoffs. Colantuono's Serie C1 coaching debut, in 2002–03, ended in another fifth place, securing a place in the promotion playoff, then lost to Pescara. In the meanwhile, Luciano Gaucci, owner of Sambenedettese, Serie B team Catania and Serie A teamPerugia at the time, appointed Colantuono at the helm of the Sicilian side. Colantuono, again supported by Matricciani because of his lack of a regular coaching license, led Catania to a fairly good season in ninth place. In 2004–05, after Catania was sold by the Gaucci family, Colantuono, finally authorized to act as first team coach, signed for Perugia, just relegated to Serie B. He led the team to a spot in the promotion playoff, then lost to Torino. After the cancellation of Perugia, in 2005–06 Colantuono accepted the offer of Atalanta, leading the nerazzurri to a clear Serie B win. In the season 2006–07 he led Atalanta to an impressive seventh place in the Serie A table. On 31 May 2007, he was announced as new Palermo head coach to replace Francesco Guidolin. However, after a number of unimpressive performances ended by a crushing 5–0 loss to Juventus persuaded club chairman Maurizio Zamparini to sack him on 26 November 2007. He was once again recalled on 24 March 2008 to replace Guidolin as head coach of Palermo. However, Colantuono was sacked again after just one game of the 2008–09 season, and was replaced by Davide Ballardini on 4 September. On 15 June 2009 he was appointed as new head coach of Torino, replacing Giancarlo Camolese. He guided the granata through their 2009–10 Serie B campaign, with the aim to promptly lead the historical Turin club back into the top flight. He was however fired on 29 November due to poor results and replaced by Mario Beretta. On 10 January 2010 he was then reappointed as head coach to replace Beretta himself. He announced his resignation after losing the promotion playoff finals to Brescia, contemporaneously confirming he was in talks for the vacant coaching post at his previous club Atalanta. Colantuono's comeback at Atalanta was officially announced the next day. Under his tenure, Atalanta promptly won the "Cadetti" and promotion back to Serie A in his first season in charge during the 2010–11 Serie B season. Colantuono led Atalanta's successful return to the top flight during the 2011–12 Serie A season, resulting in a comfortable 12th-place finish. An impressive outcome considering the club began the season with a six-point deduction for its involvement in the 2011–12 Italian football scandal. An additional deduction of 2 points followed before the 2012–13 Serie A season, however, Colantuono still managed to guide Atalanta to safety with a 15th-place finish. Keeping with their manager for the 2013–14 Serie A campaign, Coulantuono secured 11th place and some impressive performance including victories of local rivals Internazionale and A.C. Milan. Before the start of the 2014–15 Serie A season, Coulantuono committed his future to Atalanta, however, the season did not go well and after a poor run of form he was dismissed on 4 June 2015 and replaced by Edy Reja, leaving Atalanta only 3 points above the relegation zone. He took up the head coach position soon after at Udinese. He then guided Bari from November 2016 till June 2017, only managing a twelfth place by the end of the season with one of the clubs that was more widely expected to fight for a promotion spot. He was subsequently appointed head coach of Salernitana in December 2017, taking over from Alberto Bollini, guiding the club to a mid-table finish. After being confirmed in charge of Salernitana for the 2018–19 season, Colantuono resigned on 18 December 2018 after three consecutive defeats which left the promotion hopefuls in a mid-table position in the league table.
