Warren Ruggiero was hired by head coach Ron Prince this spring as the Wildcats' quarterbacks coach and will look to continue his ultra-successful career tutoring Josh Freeman as well as lead the development of all Wildcat quarterbacks.

Ruggiero, an accomplished offensive coach who has been labeled by his former players as a "football genius," spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Elon, where he tutored quarterback Scott Riddle, who was dubbed the 2007 College Sporting News National Freshman of the Year after a monstrous rookie campaign.

Ruggiero, a 20-year coaching veteran, helped develop Riddle into one of the top quarterbacks in the country last season at Elon as the freshman led the FCS in passing yards per game (347.0) and completions per game (31.5) and also ranked second nationally in total passing yards (3,817), third in both total offense (339.8 yards per game) and points responsible for (22.2 per game) and 16th in passing efficiency (146.3 rating).

Riddle finished his rookie campaign with a 68.1 completion percentage, connecting on 346 of his 508 passes for 3,817 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also ran for nine scores. Riddle established new Elon and SoCon single-season plateaus for completions, passing attempts, passing yards, touchdown passes, plays of total offense (622), yards of total offense (3,738) and touchdowns responsible for (40). He also ended up with NCAA freshman records for touchdown passes, total offense per game and net yards.

The Phoenix signal caller also notched SoCon single-season records for total offense average, games passing for 300 or more yards (nine), consecutive games passing for 300 or more yards (nine), consecutive games passing for a touchdown (11) and consecutive games passing for 200 or more yards (11).

Under Ruggiero’s guidance in 2006, Elon’s Wes Pope, who played tight end in 2005, established a then-program record by throwing for 2,572 yards, shattering the previous mark of 2,079 set in 1968.

Prior to his arrival at Elon, Ruggiero spent the previous six years at Hofstra, serving the first two seasons (2000-01) as the recruiting coordinator/quarterbacks coach and the last four (2002-05) as the offensive coordinator. At Hofstra, Ruggiero recruited and coached current New Orleans Saint standout Marques Colston.

While at Hofstra, the Pride led the Atlantic 10 and ranked among the nation’s best in passing offense during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. The Pride also led the A-10 in passing with a 250.5 yards per game average in 2003. In 2001 the Hofstra passing attack, behind current CFL quarterback Rocky Butler, ranked fourth in I-AA, averaging 301 yards per game. In 2000 the Pride passing attack ranked 17th in I-AA, averaging 261.8 yards per game.

Previously, he coached the halfbacks and tight ends at The College of William and Mary during the 1999 campaign.

Prior to coming to William & Mary, Ruggiero was the head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Glenville State College for two seasons (1997-98); the quarterbacks coach, running backs coach and offensive coordinator at Clarion University of Pennsylvania for three seasons (1994-96); the quarterbacks coach, running backs coach, offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at The Defiance College for five seasons (1989-1993) and a graduate assistant at the University of Delaware for the 1988 campaign.

Ruggiero worked with NCAA-IAA playoff teams at Hofstra in 2000 and 2001 as well as an NCAA-II playoff team at Glenville State in 1997. The Pioneers captured the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship that season. During his time at Clarion, the squad made a national semi-finals appearance in 1996.

An offensive coordinator at five colleges, Ruggiero’s offenses have finished among the country’s top 10 teams and also has coached a quarterback to All-America status at all five stops. His quarterbacks have broken four NCAA all-time records and have placed in the top 10 of 12 NCAA statistical categories.

The Glen Rock, N.J., native earned a bachelor of science degree in physical education and philosophy in 1988 and a master of science degree in physical education and health in 1992 from Delaware. While there, Ruggiero played four years as a quarterback. He and his wife, Jennifer, have one child, Emma.