By Dante Leone
Following Coach Dan Curran’s departure to Holy Cross, the choice for his replacement seemed to be clear. For 20 years, Coach Mike Gennetti has been with Merrimack College and was chosen to lead the team into its 2024 season as their new head coach.
Previously an Associate Head Coach and maintaining his role as Defensive Coordinator, the choice to step into this role was clear for Gennetti, describing his smooth transition as one supported by familiarity.
“Being here for as long as I have been here, it was a lot smoother in terms of knowing the people around Merrimack and knowing my way around the college,” Gennetti said about becoming the team’s head coach. “Continuity has been the biggest key for us, and for me is keeping things similar to how we’ve done them in the past, which has made the transition easier as well.”
The team not only found themselves in a transitional period regarding their coaching staff, but also within their competition, becoming an FCS independent after playing in the Northeast Conference since 2018. Playing in this new landscape has presented challenges, with no conference championship and facing tougher competition.
However, Gennetti embraces these challenges as benefits, giving the team the opportunity to diversify their schedule and face new opponents.
Gennetti believes “there’s positives, there’s negatives like everything else in life and it is just about how we approach it and how we handle it.”
Facing these challenges will require a strong leader to steer course, and Gennetti is certainly the captain of the ship Merrimack Football needs.
Gennetti emphasizes “STRAIN,” an approach helping players and coaches push through their struggles and issues. It encourages them to work their absolute hardest not just on the field, but for their communities, loved ones, and in academics. Coach understands the importance of failure and perseverance, and wants to see that in every member of this team.
“Our guys [need] to understand that things are not always gonna go their way in football and in life, and the best ways to handle that are to attack those problems and to strain through them, and to find answers for all the things you are working towards,” Gennetti feels.
He doesn’t want to speak for others, but Gennetti hopes his players, coaches, and anyone within the program knows he cares deeply for every single one of them and has their best interests at heart. Gennetti believes it is his job to push them towards success and difficult decisions they may not want to make.
Getting the chance to hear from the coaching staff, that dedication has certainly not gone unnoticed. While speaking with coaches Jared Smith and Gee White, who have worked closely with Gennetti as defensive coaches, the two had nothing but high praise for the head coach.
“A good man, a good husband, and a good father…serious about his craft and his profession” Smith said about Gennetti. “Honestly, he has given me my ‘dream job.’ I have always wanted to be a Division 1 position coach, and he allowed me that opportunity. He has given me room to grow as a coach, a man, a father.”
Smith’s testament of Gennetti making him a better father speaks volumes when learning about his untiring dedication to family. One of the major reasons Gennetti knew stepping into this role was right for him had everything to do with family.
“My family has grown up at Merrimack and it is an important place to me. I didn’t see myself passing up an opportunity like that,” Gennetti shared.
Although the coach’s schedule is usually extremely busy, whenever he gets the time to spend with family, he finds it important to stay present and be engaged with what they do.
Whether it’s soccer, football games, or theater performances, his family goes all in with whatever is on the schedule. Touching on his son highlighted the incredible father Gennetti is for his family.
Gennetti said his son “is a smart, bright, intelligent young adult and he is doing really well in school, and those are the things that are important to me. Whatever he decides to do, I am gonna do my best to support him.”
