Duquesne University Athletics

The winningest active coach in the FCS with 135 victories, Jerry Schmitt will enter his 22nd season as Duquesne’s head coach and his 33rd year on the Dukes sideline in 2026.

10 conference titles and three trips to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs highlight the resume of Duquesne’s all-time winningest football coach.

A three-time finalist for STATS FCS Coach of the Year (2015, 2018, 2023), Schmitt earned his second Northeast Conference Coach of the Year honor in 2023, joining the 2018 honor. It was his fourth coach of the year selection at the helm of the Dukes (2x MAAC Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006).

Schmitt has seen 16 players invited to NFL rookie camps, with at least one former Duke earning an opportunity in all but two years since 2016. In 2021, Duquesne standout Christian Kuntz was named to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 53-man roster, becoming the second former Duke to appear in an NFL game in the Super Bowl Era. In total, six Dukes under Schmitt’s leadership have signed NFL contracts.

Schmitt’s Dukes have posted a winning season 17 times in 21 seasons at the helm. He earned his 150th career win in the 2024 home-opening shutout of West Virginia Wesleyan, 35-0.

With the 2024 season, Schmitt passed Dan McCann for the longest tenured coach in program history. Schmitt served as defensive line coach during McCann’s final season in 1992. McCann coached 19 seasons (1970-’83 and 1988-’92). He enters the 2026 season as the longest tenured coach in the FCS (22nd season).

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.

The Dukes are the winningest program in the NEC over the past 14 seasons (since 2011) with seven titles, more than 90 overall wins and 60 conference victories.

Headlined by seven player of the years (three defensive and two offensive) and five rookie of the years (two defensive and three offensive), Schmitt has coached all 171 All-NEC selections in program history. The Dukes have had 78 first team all-conference honors since joining the league in 2008, including 33 over the last six seasons.

Duquesne became the first NEC member to defeat a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent and garnered the Dukes the STATS Perform FCS Team of the Week honors in 2021 after pulling off a historic 28-26 victory at Ohio University.The team finished the season 7-3 overall and tied for second in the NEC standings with a 5-2 mark. Following the season, both left tackle Jake Dixon (Pittsburgh Steelers) and wide receiver Cyrus Holder (Chicago Bears) signed undrafted free agent deals.
 
Schmitt guided the Dukes to an undefeated regular season in 2020-21 as Duquesne played host to the first-ever NEC Championship game during the unprecedented spring season. Duquesne landed a league-high 16 players on the NEC’s all-conference squads while left tackle Jake Dixon garnered All-America honors from the AFCA.

The 2023 NEC Champion Dukes were coached to their best conference start since joining the NEC at 5-0, then finished 6-1 with the second outright league title in program history. Schmitt, who was named the coach of the year in the conference was also an Eddie Robinson Award finalist, led Duquesne into the FCS playoffs for the third time. Darius Perrantes was named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award and a league-leading 10 Dukes were named to the All-NEC teams. Duquesne finished the season receiving votes in the national polls.

In 2024, Schmitt guided the Dukes to a share of the NEC title, highlighted by an eight-game win streak — the longest of his tenure and the program’s best since 2002. Duquesne earned the highest ranking ever as an NEC member in Week 12, coming in at No. 19 and spent four weeks in the top 25 polls. The Dukes finished the season receiving votes in both the coaches and media polls. Duquesne notched its second-ever victory over a ranked FCS opponent with a 28–25 win at No. 21/20 Youngstown State. The Dukes earned 15 all-conference honors, including eight First Team selections, and featured NEC Offensive Rookie of the Year Shawn Solomon Jr. Under Schmitt’s leadership, Duquesne posted its highest-scoring conference season since joining the NEC, averaging 36.7 points per game in league play, and was undefeated (5-0) at Rooney Field.

The 2025 Dukes returned to the national polls for the third straight year, receiving votes in the preseason STATS Perform Media Poll and again in Week 8 of both national polls after racing to a 3–0 start in conference play for the third consecutive season and winning four straight games. Schmitt saw Joey Isabella earn Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America honors — the eighth AP All-American of his tenure. Isabella, who etched his name across multiple receiving categories in the Duquesne record book, was also a 2025 Walter Payton Award finalist for FCS National Offensive Player of the Year. The ’25 Dukes led the league with 16 NEC postseason honorees, including both the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year — the first time in program history Duquesne swept the rookie awards. It marked just the fourth occurrence in NEC history — and the first since 2005 — that one program claimed both honors in the same season. The Dukes have now produced double-digit all-conference selections in three consecutive years. Duquesne also saw Shawn Solomon Jr. named the NEC’s nominee and one of 13 national finalists for the 2025 Doris Robinson FCS Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, while defensive coordinator Mickey Jacobs was selected to the AFCA 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute.

In his 15th season at the helm in 2019, Schmitt became the program’s leader in victories with a 30-21 triumph over Saint Francis U on Nov. 2 at Arthur J. Rooney Field, winning his 98th game at Duquesne and passing Greg Gattuso. Schmitt captured his 100th win as Duquesne’s head coach with a 17-0 triumph on the road at Wagner on March 14, 2021.
 
In 2019, running back A.J. Hines became the program’s all-time leading rusher during the season with 4,629 career yards, passing previous record-holder Larry McCoy (4,549 / 2009-12).
 
Schmitt helped the Dukes to a historic finish in 2018, winning their fifth NEC title, earning their second automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs as well as advancing to the second round of the postseason for the first time in program history with a 31-10 road victory at No. 16 Towson. Under Schmitt’s guidance, Duquesne closed out the season ranked in both the STATS FCS Top 25 and AFCA Coaches’ Poll for the first time ever.
 
In a season with a pair games against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponents, Schmitt led Duquesne to nine wins for the second time in his career on The Bluff. The NEC Co-Coach of the Year, he was also recognized as a finalist for the STATS FCS Eddie Robinson Award for FCS National Coach of the Year.
 
For the second straight season, a Duquesne player earned NEC Offensive Player of the Year laurels, as running back A.J. Hines ranked in the top five in the FCS in rushing yards. Hines was named an All-American by five different organizations and a finalist for the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award for the top offensive player at the FCS level, as well.
 
Nehari Crawford graduated following the 2018 season as the program’s all-time leader in receiving yards and receptions before becoming the second player to accept an invitation to the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
 
The Dukes put together a seven-game winning streak in 2017, their most wins in a row since the 2002 campaign. Duquesne landed a league-high 12 players on the All-NEC teams including First Team honoree and Offensive Player of the Year Tommy Stuart, who became the first Dukes player to garner the award. Stuart was also a finalist for the Walter Payton Award.

Ben Huss, a four-year starter and all-conference selection on the offensive line was named an All-American in 2017 by the Associated Press, STATS FCS and HERO Sports while also becoming the first player from Duquesne to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
 
In 2016, Duquesne, which tied for the NEC title, was one of just four FCS programs with players among the finalists for the three major FCS individual awards. Linebacker Christian Kuntz finished 12th in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award (top defensive player), quarterback Dillon Buechel was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award (top offensive player) and freshman A.J. Hines was named winner of the Jerry Rice Award (top freshman).

In 2015, Duquesne went 5-1 in conference play, earning its first outright NEC title and the league’s automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs, Duquesne’s first.

In 2013, Duquesne once again earned a share of the title - this time tying with Sacred Heart. The 2014 season saw the Dukes finish 6-6 overall.

In 2011, Schmitt continued Duquesne’s transition as a scholarship-granting associate member of the Northeast Conference by guiding the Dukes to a 9-2 record and NEC co-Championship with a 7-1 record. The 2011 co-title was part of a gradual progression for the Dukes who finished the 2010 season with a 7-4 record and third place league finish with a 5-3 mark.

In 2010, with DU’s first scholarship class comprising a good portion of the sophomore and junior classes, the Dukes broke through with their third place NEC finish.

In 2007, Duquesne won a share of its ninth consecutive MAAC title in posting a 6-4 overall record. In their first two seasons as a scholarship program since the 1950s, went 3-7 in the school’s inaugural season in the NEC and followed that with a 3-8 record in 2009.
 
Schmitt wasted no time putting his mark on the program by leading the Dukes to three consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football League championships and earning MAAC Coach of the Year two times in his first three seasons as head coach.

In Schmitt’s first season, the Dukes posted a 7-3 record (4-0 in the MAAC) - against the most challenging I-AA mid-major schedule a Duquesne team ever faced - and finished with a No. 3 national ranking in The Sports Network I-AA Mid-Major Top 10. The 2005 Dukes finished ranked No. 1 nationally in I-AA total defense, rushing defense and pass efficiency defense.
 
In year two, Schmitt again led DU to a 7-3 record (3-1 in the MAAC) and eighth consecutive MAAC championship as the Dukes finished ranked sixth in The Sports Network I-AA Mid-Major Top 10. The 2006 Dukes ranked second nationally in passing offense and 15th in total offense.
  
Winning titles at Duquesne is nothing new to Schmitt, who helped the Dukes to their first three MAAC championships in 1995, 1996 & 1999 and the school’s first Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Bowl game in 1996, during his 11 years as an assistant.
 
Schmitt, who served under three different head coaches in Terry Russell (1985-87), Dan McCann (1992) and Greg Gattuso (1993-99), was the offensive coordinator for his last seven seasons at DU, during which time the Dukes posted a 53-21 record, won three titles and saw 16 different offensive players named First Team All-MAAC. He was promoted to assistant head coach by Gattuso prior to the 1994 season. Schmitt accepted the head coaching position at Westminster in March of 2000.
 
While at Westminster, Schmitt posted a 28-21 record in overseeing the Titans’ transition from NCAA Division II to the Division III level. He led Westminster to an 8-2 mark including a 5-0 record against teams from the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) in 2000. After a rebuilding campaign in 2001, Westminster continued to make strides under Schmitt’s leadership in 2002, as the Titans finished 6-4 overall (4-1 in league play) and placed second in their first season of eligibility for the PAC title. In 2003, Westminster overcame a challenging non-conference schedule against scholarship teams to contend for the conference title in the final week of the season. In 2004, the Titans rallied from an 0-2 start to post wins in five of their last eight games.
 
Schmitt’s offenses set five single-game records and produced four of the seven 1,000-yard rushers in school history. Forty-four of his players earned All-Conference honors in the three years his players were eligible for post-season recognition.
 
Prior to his first stop at Duquesne, Schmitt established himself at the high school level in western Pennsylvania where he served as head coach at South Fayette High School (1990-91), offensive and defensive line coach at Bethel Park High School (1989), offensive and defensive line coach at Avonworth High School (1988) and offensive and defensive line coach and junior varsity head coach at West Allegheny High School (1983-84).
 
In addition to his football coaching background, Schmitt served as head girls basketball coach at Beaver Area High School from 1987-99 and has also served as head track & field coach at West Allegheny High School (1984) and Weirton (W.Va.) Madonna High School (1983). Prior to returning to Westminster, Schmitt worked full time as a teacher in the Beaver Area school district from 1987-99.
 
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 joined the Duquesne football staff for the 2025 season after playing three seasons.

THE SCHMITT FILE
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pa.
High School: Keystone Oaks
College: Westminster (Pa.)
Family: Wife, Paula ... Son, Matthew (On DUQ FB Staff)

AS DUQUESNE HEAD COACH
Years: 22nd season (in 2026)
Record: 135-91
NEC Record: 76-44
NEC Championships: 7
MAAC Championships: 3
FCS Playoff Appearances: 3

COACHING HISTORY
2005-Present: Duquesne
Head Coach
2000-2005: Westminster (Pa.)
Head Coach
1993-2000: Duquesne
Offensive Coordinator/Asst. Head Coach
1992: Duquesne
Defensive Line
1990-91: South Fayette High School 
Head Coach
1989: Bethel Park High School
Offensive/Defensive Line Coach
1988: Avonworth High School
Offensive/Defensive Line Coach
1985-87: Duquesne
Offensive Line
1983-84: West Allegheny High School
Offensive/Defensive Line Coach