PITTSBURGH - Jerry Schmitt, the winningest head coach in Duquesne football history, was inducted to the Robert "Tick" Cloherty - Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 22.

Schmitt was one of nine honored at a formal ceremony and dinner held at Pittsburgh's Sheraton Station Square.

Schmitt, who has fashioned a 141-99 career record in 23 seasons as a head coach at both Westminster, Pa. and Duquesne, is 113-78 in 18 seasons on the Bluff.

The two-time STATS FCS Coach of the Year finalist (2015 & 2018) has led the Dukes to five Northeast Conference Championships and the first two NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoff appearances in program history.

Schmitt, who became the Dukes' all-time winningest coach in 2019, is one of 10 active coaches with 100 FCS wins at their current school.

The Pittsburgh native has seen 11 players invited to NFL rookie camps over the past five seasons, including linebacker Christian Kuntz was named to the Pittsburgh Steelers 53-man roster as a long-snapper in 2022.

Schmitt, who played an important role in the development of the Duquesne football program as an assistant from 1985-87 and again from 1992-99, returned to the DU campus in 2005 after spending five years as head coach at his alma mater, Westminster College, in New Wilmington, Pa. The Pittsburgh native oversaw the program's move to the Northeast Conference and ensuing adoption of athletics-based aid in February of 2008.

It is a transition that has been an overwhelming success, as over the past 10 seasons, Schmitt's Dukes have won more overall games (73) and conference games (46) than any NEC school.

A 1983 Westminster graduate, Schmitt was a three-year letterman and two-year starter on the offensive line under head coach Joe Fusco, leading the Titans to an undefeated regular season as a senior in 1981.

Schmitt, who graduated from Pittsburgh's Keystone Oaks High School in 1978 and his wife, Paula, who earned her master's degree at Duquesne, reside in Pittsburgh with their son Matthew Jake, who is a sophomore on the Bluff.

Since 1971 and including this year's class, the Robert "Tick" Cloherty-Western Chapter has inducted a grand total of 747 notable area sports figures, 157 of whom have subsequently been enshrined among the 745 total inductees into the state's Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.