Lou Conte enters his fifth season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks/B-Backs coach under Brent Thompson at The Citadel.
The 2020 season will mark the eighth year that Conte and Thompson have worked together. The two were together at The Citadel in 2014, and spent three years together on the offensive staff at Lenoir-Rhyne.
The Citadel has possessed one of the top ball control and rushing attacks in the FCS over the past four seasons. Over that span, the Bulldogs have ranked in the Top-10 nationally in both categories.
The 2019 season featured one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in recent history in Brandon Rainey. He rushed for 900 yards and 17 touchdowns, while also throwing for 1,114 yards and 13 touchdowns. Rainey is just the second quarterback to rush and throw for at least 10 touchdowns in a season.
Rainey was not the only part of the rushing attach as B-Back Clay Harris ran for 699 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The Bulldogs were balanced in 2018 as five different players carried the ball at least 90 times and rushed for over 350 yards. B-Back Lorenzo Ward led the attack with 722 yards on 179 carries.
The offense improved down the stretch with the insertion of Rainey at quarterback. The sophomore rushed for 529 yards in just four games, leading the Bulldogs to a 3-1 mark over that stretch.
Over that four-game stretch, the Bulldogs rushed for 317.3 yards per contest. That stretch included a 275 yard performance at Alabama.
In his first two seasons as the offensive coordinator, Conte led an offense that ranked in the top two nationally each year, including leading the country in rushing in 2016. The 348.2 yards per game was the second highest in program history.
B-Back Tyler Renew became the 15th player to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark with 1,096 yards. The mark included a career-high 285-yard effort in the overtime victory over Samford.
Conte spent the 2015 season as the quarterbacks coach at his alma mater, Springfield College. In his one season with the Pride, Conte mentored second-team all-conference performer Jake Eglintine.
Conte first joined the staff at The Citadel in 2014 as the A-Backs coach. During that season, the group rushed for more than 1,500 yards as the Bulldogs ranked second nationally in rushing yards per game.
Prior to his first stint at The Citadel, Conte spent three seasons as running backs coach at Lenoir-Rhyne, where Coach Thompson was the offensive coordinator. In 2013, the Bears ranked first in Division II with an average of 370.9 yards per game and broke the NCAA record for all divisions with 5,563 total rushing yards. That season, Lenoir-Rhyne won 13 games and advanced to the Division II national championship game.
In 2012, Conte’s running backs helped Lenoir-Rhyne finish second in Division II with a rushing average of 376.2 yards per game as Jarrod Spears and Isaiah Whitaker earned All-South Atlantic Conference accolades. In his first season with the Bears, the rushing game ranked third in the nation and Whitaker was named an all-conference performer.
Conte went to Lenoir-Rhyne after serving as defensive coordinator at Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts, in 2010. There, he also was an assistant athletic director, sports information director, physical education teacher, junior varsity wrestling coach and assistant varsity lacrosse coach.
Conte’s first coaching job was in 2005 as an assistant head coach at Maine Maritime Academy, where he also served as head men’s lacrosse coach. He was a graduate assistant at his alma mater in 2008 and 2009, where he helped Springfield win the ECAC Northeast Championship Bowl Game in 2009.
Conte played on the Springfield football team while in school, helping the Pride claim the Freedom Football Conference championship in 2002 and 2003 and the Eastern College Athletic Conference title in 2004. That year, Springfield ranked No. 1 in the East Region and No. 4 nationally.
A native of Agawam, Massachusetts, Conte earned two degrees at Springfield. He completed his bachelor’s degree in 2004 and his Master’s degree in 2010.
He is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the American Football Coaches Association and United States Lacrosse.
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