Elon Football DC Petercuskie Announces Retirement From Coaching

ELON, N.C. – Following a 40-year career in collegiate coaching, Elon University defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jerry Petercuskie has announced his retirement from coaching. Petercuskie and his family will retire to Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

Petercuskie spent the past two seasons on the Phoenix staff under head coach Rich Skrosky, who said, “I am happy for Jerry on a well-deserved retirement after a tremendous career. He has coached a lot of prosfessional players and been to several bowl games, but in the end, it was the relationships he made and the impact he had on so many players over the years. He is what is right about coaching. I am grateful for his two years here at Elon, where he served as a mentor to student-athletes as well as coaches. He has played a tremendous role in establishing the expectation and the strides we are making as a program.”

Stated Petercuskie, “The bottom line is that I’ve been very, very blessed to have had a career in this profession. I’ve been able to work with a lot of good players and a lot of fine coaches. Coach Skrosky is doing a fantastic job with the Elon program and is moving it in the right direction. That program is in great hands. The Elon staff has a bunch of young guys who are very knowledgeable about the game of football and are tremendous recruiters.”

Petercuskie got his start in coaching at Trenton State College in 1975 as a part-time offensive assistant. He served as a graduate assistant at Penn State University (1976-77) and has had full-time positions at Brown University (1978-82), Rutgers University (1983-88), Liberty University (1989-94), the University of Virginia (1995-96), Boston College (1997-2006) and North Carolina State University (2007-12).

In his time at NC State, the Wolfpack reached four bowl games. Petercuskie tutored return specialist T.J. Graham to first-team All-ACC honors in 2011 as he set new school and league marks for most career kickoff return yards (3,153). He also coached Steven Hauschka who was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist.

Prior to his time with NC State, Petercuskie spent 10 seasons as the recruiting coordinator and special teams coach at Boston College. While there, the 2006 BC squad rated fourth nationally in kickoff returns. Petercuskie coached Will Blackmon who finished second on the NCAA’s all-time kick return yardage list, earned All-ACC honorable mention honors in 2005 and second-team All-Big East accolades in 2004. During Petercuskie’s tenure, BC reached eight bowl games.

Over the course of his career, Petercuskie coached 14 players who went on to professional playing careers.

A former center at Boston College, Petercuskie earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from BC in 1975. He earned his master’s degree in counseling from Penn State in 1977.

Skrosky indicated he will have his full staff in place shortly.