Tony Reno missed most of Dante’s games growing up because Saturdays belonged to Yale football. That history made this one hurt even more. Less than 24 hours after his father’s death, Dante took the field knowing Tony would never again be there to watch him play. Reno threw a touchdown pass in every quarter and led Yale to a 41-24 win. Tony had spent years giving his Saturdays to that program. In Yale’s first game after losing him, his son made sure the Bulldogs gave him one more victory.
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“This one’s for you pops,” Dante wrote on X after the win. He followed it with a longer Instagram tribute, writing, “No words can describe this dude. He left this Earth better than he found it. My dad, my best friend, my guy. I love you forever pops. Fly high ❤️.”
Yale announced Friday, October 2, that former head coach Tony Reno had died. Reno had stepped down in February after 14 seasons leading the Bulldogs, citing health reasons. He finished his Yale career with 83 wins, five Ivy League championships and the second-most victories by a head coach in program history. Yale did not disclose a cause of death in its announcement. Dante, meanwhile, had missed the September 26 loss to Cornell with an elbow injury. Six days later, he lost his father. The next afternoon, he was back under center.
But to understand what taking that field meant for Dante, you have to go back long before he ever became Yale’s quarterback.
Tony and Dante Reno’s relationship went far beyond Yale football
Dante Reno’s connection to Yale football started long before he ever became its quarterback.
He was eight years old when Tony Reno became Yale’s head coach in 2012, and some of his earliest football memories came on those same sidelines. Dante recalled playing catch with his younger brother Vince, running out of the Yale Bowl tunnel with the team and, by age 12, sitting in on quarterback meetings. Yale was not just where his father worked. It was part of how Dante grew up.
The irony was that Tony’s commitment to Yale also meant he missed much of Dante’s own football career. Dante later said his father attended only “maybe four or five” of his high school games because Saturdays were usually consumed by Yale practices, games or spring football. Tony still found ways to stay involved. The two would break down film together after Dante’s high school games, and Dante grew up understanding his father’s football philosophy even though Tony never officially coached him in the sport.
That changed when Dante left South Carolina and transferred to Yale in 2025. The decision was his own. He had other opportunities, but the pull of home, family and the chance to finally play for his father mattered. Dante even approached Tony carefully, asking to visit Yale with one condition: for one night, Tony would be the coach and Dante would simply be another player. It was unfamiliar territory for both of them because, for all those years around football, Tony had always stepped back and let others coach his son.
Once Dante arrived, the relationship took on a new shape. Inside the facility and on the field, it was coach and quarterback. At home, it went back to father and son. Dante said they had to learn to separate those worlds, and Tony called coaching his son “a dream come true.” For the first time, football was no longer pulling them in different directions. They were finally spending Saturdays on the same sideline.
Their one season together became unforgettable. Dante started all 12 games in 2025, threw for 2,498 yards and 21 touchdowns, helped Yale win the Ivy League title and then led one of the wildest comebacks in program history. In the FCS playoffs against Youngstown State, Yale trailed 42-14 before rallying for a 43-42 win. Dante threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns, helping give both Yale and the Ivy League their first FCS playoff victory. Tony was the head coach. Dante was the quarterback. It became the defining season of their football relationship.
A year later, Dante was back leading Yale again, only this time the man who had spent that season coaching him was no longer on the sideline.
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Dante finished 22-of-39 for 298 yards, four touchdowns and one interception while adding 39 yards on five carries. And he did it with the rest of the Reno family close by. His sister Angelina was on the sideline with the Yale staff, while his mother Toni and brother Vince watched from the stands.
“Obviously, he built this place, and I’m only here because of him,” Dante said after the game, according to an X post by sports reporter Erik Dobratz. “So I know he’s up there watching. The guys rallied, played a great game, and it was awesome to come back out here. And obviously, I didn’t play last week, so I came back out here with the guys. And the whole reason why I play is because of him and these guys.”
The afternoon hardly went according to script. Dante opened the scoring with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jaxton Santiago, but Merrimack answered with 21 straight points, including a 75-yard pick-six by linebacker Will Claude. Yale was suddenly down 21-7.
That was about as bad as it got. Noah Piper’s field goal cut into the deficit before Dante found Santiago again for a 10-yard touchdown, sending Yale into halftime down just 21-17. He then came out of the break and threw a 2-yard touchdown to Graham Smith, putting the Bulldogs ahead 24-21.
Merrimack tied it at 24, leaving the game up for grabs entering the fourth. Dante answered again. After a holding penalty wiped out a Yale touchdown run and backed the Bulldogs up on third-and-goal, he found Garon Kemp for a 20-yard touchdown that put Yale ahead for good.
Yale scored the final 17 points and walked away with a 41-24 win. Dante had thrown one touchdown pass in every quarter, turning an early 14-point hole into the kind of comeback his father had spent years teaching Yale teams to finish.
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Current Bulldogs coach Kevin Cahill, who worked under Reno for 10 seasons, said the day was hard for everyone.
“Honestly, I’m a mess, and I’m just trying to hold everything in,” Cahill said. “This team needs a leader, but I’m also trying to lead myself off my heart. I also know he’s proud of this team, he’s proud of this program, and I know he’s proud of me.”
Dante had an emotional game too, as he felt his father’s presence throughout the game, feeling blessed and inspired to lead the team to a win.
“His spirit is everywhere in this program,” Dante said. “He was everywhere today. It was awesome.” Yale is 2-1 now and hosts Dartmouth on October 10 with Dante running the offense.