Rick Santos - Head Coach - Football Coaches - University of New Hampshire Athletics

Rick Santos

Title:
Head Coach
Phone:
603-862-1852
Alma Mater:
New Hampshire, '08

Rick Santos ’08 became the 20th head coach of the UNH football program Dec. 7, 2021, and has guided the Wildcats to a 23-14 overall record (.622 win percentage), which includes 17-7 in CAA Football (.708), in three seasons with NCAA playoff appearances in both 2022 and 2024 and a CAA Coach of the Year award (2022). Santos was a record-setting Wildcat quarterback from 2004-07 and is a 2016 UNH Hall of Fame inductee.

Santos returned to New Hampshire a second time in March 2019 as an associate head coach and quarterback coach, and shortly thereafter was named interim head coach for the 2019 season. He led UNH to a 6-5 record, including 5-3 in the CAA, and was instrumental in the development of Max Brosmer, UNH's first true freshman to start in more than four decades, and Dylan Laube, a HERO Sports Freshman Honorable Mention All-American. Following the 2023 season, Brosmer finished as runner-up for the Walter Payton Award (FCS offensive player of the year) and Laube was sixth in the voting.

Including the season as interim head coach, Santos has led UNH to a 29-19 overall record with a 23-12 mark in the CAA.

In the 2024 season, UNH won the last four games of the regular season to tie for third place in the CAA standings and earn an at-large berth into the FCS playoffs. The Wildcats, who peaked at #16 in the national polls, ended the year at 8-5 (6-2 CAA) with senior DE Josiah Silver earning multiple All-America Team awards, as well as Defensive Player of the Year from both the CAA and ECAC.

In 2023, the 'Cats went 6-5 with four losses of six points or less, including two in overtime, and Max Brosmer was named the CAA Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year. The following April, Dylan Laube was drafted in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.

Santos was tabbed CAA Coach of the Year in his first year at the helm, when he led the 2022 Wildcats to a share of the CAA title, a #15 national ranking and second round of the NCAAs. New Hampshire, picked ninth in the preseason CAA poll, finished with nine wins and a 7-1 conference ledger. The eight regular-season wins marked the team's highest total since 2014. Three 'Cats garnered All-American, All-New England Team and All-Conference First Team recognition.

Following his stint as interim head coach for the 2019 season, Santos resumed his role as associate head coach, which included overseeing offensive strategy while simultaneously coaching the QBs, in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He also spearheaded the Wildcats’ recruiting efforts and took the lead on increasing alumni engagement and enhancing fundraising initiatives.

In his first tenure as a Wildcat assistant coach from 2013-15, Santos coached wide receivers. In 2015, he mentored R.J. Harris to the single greatest WR statistical season in program history. Harris tallied a school-record 100 catches and led the nation with 1,551 receiving yards, which tied the program’s all-time single-season benchmark. In 2013, Harris and Justin Mello became the first WR duo in school history to both register 1,000 yards in a single season.

Santos, a native of Bellingham, Mass., worked three seasons (2016-18) as the QB coach/passing game coordinator at Columbia University of the Ivy League between his two stretches as an assistant coach and associate head coach at his alma mater.

During his playing career, Santos compiled a 37-14 record and directed the Wildcats to four NCAA Division I-AA/FCS playoff appearances. He guided UNH to its first-ever postseason victory at Georgia Southern (Nov. 27, 2004), was part of the 2005 Atlantic 10 championship team that was ranked No. 1 in the country, and he won two A-10 Northern Division titles (2004, 2006).

Santos passed for 13,212 yards and 123 touchdowns while accumulating 14,615 yards of total offense. The three-time Walter Camp All-American connected with UNH's all-time leading receiver and fellow University Hall of Famer David Ball for 53 touchdowns from 2004-06 to set an FCS record that still stands for most career TD connections for a QB-WR duo. Santos also owns the FCS single-game record for highest percentage of passes completed (96.2 percent) when he went 25 of 26 for 306 yards and five TDs in a 52-21 defeat of Northeastern on Oct. 22, 2005.

In 2006, Santos won the Walter Payton Award as the most outstanding offensive player in FCS football when he threw for 3,125 yards and 29 touchdowns. He was a three-time Atlantic-10/CAA Offensive Player of the Year (2005-07) and four-time All-Conference First Team QB. In 2004, he was named the ECAC Rookie of the Year, Atlantic 10 co-Rookie of the Year, set the FCS record for most yards gained by a freshman in a game (538, at Villanova, Oct. 2, 2004) and freshman TD passes in a season (31).

Santos possesses school career records in pass attempts (1,498), completions (1,024) and passing yards (12,189). He holds the top two and four of the top six single-season records in completions, headlined by 301 in 2005. His '05 season included a school all-time high 3,797 passing yards.

Following his graduation with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology: Sport Studies with a concentration in sports management, Santos played football professionally for five years. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008 before moving north to play in the Canadian Football League from 2009-12.