Louis DiRienzo Jr. joined the Monmouth University football coaching staff as Linebackers Coach in February of 2025 and was promoted to Defensive Coordinator in January 2026.
In 2025, Monmouth’s defense improved significantly under coach DiRienzo. In particular, the Hawks had 31 sacks on the year and were fourth in the CAA. Monmouth’s points allowed per game also decreased from 33.5 to 27.8. Both redshirt freshman defensive lineman Lamont Lester Jr. and sophomore safety Jaeden Jones were named to the All-CAA first team, developing and breaking out in their first year being coached by DiRienzo.
DiRienzo Jr. arrived at Monmouth after serving five seasons as the Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach at Springfield. Under his leadership, Springfield won multiple conference titles, and he was named the Gridiron Club of New England's Division II/III Co-Assistant Coach of the Year in 2023. He previously worked at Rutgers as a Special Teams Quality Control Coach (2019) and at Wagner (2018), where he mentored Cam Gill, the NEC and ECAC Defensive Player of the Year. A 2016 graduate of Southern Connecticut State, DiRienzo Jr. was a standout linebacker and team captain during his playing career.
