UAlbany’s first appearance in the 2023 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision semifinals was historic, magical and extremely improbable. The Great Danes, who managed only three victories combined in the prior two seasons and were picked just 11^th in the CAA preseason poll, earned a share of their first Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Championship and won a school-record 11 games on the way to a national Final Four appearance — only the third in school history.

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Head Coach Greg Gattuso was named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) FCS Coach of the Year in addition to earning the same honor for AFCA's Region 1, the CAA and the Eastern College Athletic Conference. He was asked many times during the team’s fantastic campaign what changes he made this year to create a juggernaut that featured one of the stingiest rushing defenses in the nation as well as a high-powered passing attack on offense; Gattuso struggled to find any major alterations to his coaching style.

“We didn’t change a lot this year, but the one thing I told my assistant coaches was that I was going to trust my instincts,” said the 10-year UAlbany coach who was extremely successful in his prior head coaching stint at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. “I decided to trust my gut instincts like I used to.”

Gattuso pointed out that even though UAlbany struggled a year ago, the team finished strong, creating momentum heading into the 2023 campaign.

“Referring back to last year, we were so frustrated because we thought we had a pretty good team but we couldn’t get out of our own way. We lost games in every way possible. I’ve always considered myself a good coach in close games, and I always felt comfortable, but last year we lost a lot of them,” Gattuso said. “The big thing last year was that we fought through a lot of adversity and won two of our last four games. We didn’t give up on our players, and the coaching staff didn’t give up either. We all knew we could do better.”

Gattuso credited a few special players with leading this season’s group to a higher level than anyone thought possible.

“A lot of our success goes to the kids who gave us critical leadership like Reese (Poffenbarger) and Dylan (Kelly), and we added a few new pieces like (junior defensive back) Aamir Hall, (linebacker) Brian Abraham and (sophomore wideout) MarQeese Dietz. They were a group of guys who came in and really helped us. Confidence is a funny thing. It’s razor-thin,” Gattuso noted. “Our kids were on the wrong side of the razor last year, but this season was spectacular, and all the credit goes to the players.”

Dylan Kelly, a senior linebacker who was the CAA’s Defensive Player of the Year, the program’s single-season tackles leader and a nephew of former NFL star quarterback Jim Kelly of the Buffalo Bills, agreed with Gattuso that the transformation of this year’s team was about team chemistry and limiting mental mistakes.

“The changes from last year were mainly mental,” Kelly said. “Last year, we knew we had the parts to become a championship team but it was the little mistakes that would lose us games. This year, we worked on the mental errors and controlling what we could control and not trying to do too much.”

Kelly said he won’t ever forget the special moments at UAlbany.

“My favorite memory of the season was winning the conference championship at home in front of our home crowd,” he said. “It was an awesome atmosphere. And I’m very glad we got to do it in front of everyone. It feels amazing to be part of something as special as this. I will never forget this season.”

CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year Griffin Woodell, a running back from nearby Glens Falls, agreed: “Winning the CAA for the first time in UAlbany history is hands down my favorite part of the season. It’s an indescribable feeling, being part of this historic achievement that will be a part of the university’s legacy,” Woodell said.

UAlbany’s phenomenal season made an impact beyond the Great Danes’ incredible performances on the field.

“The exposure we got from our football program is tremendous,” said Director of Athletics Mark Benson. “We made an historic run this year with our conference title, first-round bye in the playoffs, hosting a second-round game and earning a spot in the national semifinals on ESPN. The amount of people around the country who tuned in to our semifinal game with South Dakota was incredible and gave UAlbany outstanding exposure. You can never pay for that – three hours on national TV. It put a tremendous spotlight on us."

Under that spotlight, the Great Danes fell to South Dakota 59-0. “We kind of ran out of gas a little at the end,” Gattuso said. “[South Dakota] is a great football team, one of the best I’ve seen. It’s a punch in the gut, but we’ll be back."

Despite seeing key players like record-breaking quarterback Reese Poffenbarger and standout linemen Anton Juncai and Elijah Hills enter the transfer portal, Gattuso believes the Great Danes can replicate their historic success and return to the playoffs.

“We always set goals at the beginning of the season, and one of ours was to win the conference championship. Getting to the Final Four wasn’t on our original goal list, but as the season went on, we definitely thought we had a chance to win the conference, and then get into the playoffs. It all worked out. We have a lot of confidence now.”