Yale’s Dante Reno lauded by Scott Van Pelt for 4-TD performance after father’s death
Yale quarterback Dante Reno completed 22 of 39 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a 41-24 comeback win over Merrimack on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in New Haven, a day after his father, former Yale football coach Tony Reno, died at 52. (Photo Courtesy of Olivia Frzop)
Yale quarterback Dante Reno delivered an inspired performance one day after his father and longtime Bulldogs head coach Tony Reno died at 52 years old.
Reno completed 22 of his 39 passing attempts Saturday afternoon, throwing for 298 yards and four touchdowns as the Bulldogs erased an early two-touchdown deficit and pulled away from Merrimack 41-24 at the Yale Bowl. The junior’s resilience drew nationwide praise amid a busy slate of college football, but Reno’s effort resonated particularly with longtime ESPN host Scott Van Pelt, who lost his father at around the same age four decades ago.
"This is a fraternity that none of us want to be in," Van Pelt said on an episode of the SVPod Sunday. "But when someone joins it, we’re here for you. I told [former NFL player] Frank Ragnow that years ago, when the big man lost his pop, ‘Look, you don’t have to know me well, but I know the road you’re going to walk.’ If we can help you – anybody within Yale, we’re easy to find."
❤️❤️ @_SVPod
– Dante Reno (@dantereno10) October 5, 2026
Dante Reno acknowledged Van Pelt’s comments in a post on social media platform X Monday that included a pair of heart emojis.
Tony Reno spent 19 total seasons at Yale starting in 2003, earning his stripes as a wide receivers and defensive backs coach before earning the head coaching position in 2012. The Massachusetts native overhauled the storied program that had won just a single Ivy League title in more than two decades before his arrival, claiming five conference championships during his tenure while leading the Bulldogs to their first appearance in the FCS Playoffs last year.
Yale quarterback Dante Reno (2) gets a congratulatory hug following their win over Harvard to capture the Ivy League title at the Yale Bowl in New Haven Saturday, November 22, 2025 (Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media)
One of these program-changing recruits was his son, as Reno transferred to Yale after one season at South Carolina. Reno threw for 2,498 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2025, including a 260-yard, three-touchdown effort against Youngstown State to complete a remarkable 28-point comeback against the Penguins in the program’s postseason debut.
Following this 2025 playoff run, Tony Reno announced that he would step down as head coach, citing health concerns. The Yale program announced Friday that Tony Reno died following a battle with disease.
Van Pelt has spent a quarter-century with ESPN, growing into one of the most recognizable sports figures behind the camera as a host of SportsCenter. On Sunday’s podcast episode, Van Pelt recalled that, in a much more remote corner of the sports world, he tried to replicate Reno’s experience by playing in a men’s league basketball game, which turned into a brief cameo after he picked up two technical fouls in quick succession and was ejected.
Connecticut native Steve Coughlin, who is more commonly known as "Stanford Steve" and starred at Ansonia High, serves as a co-host of the SVPod and also lost his father at a young age. Coughlin highlighted Reno’s performance on the podcast and spoke to his relationship with Tony Reno.
This article originally published at Yale’s Dante Reno lauded by Scott Van Pelt for 4-TD performance after father’s death.
Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.