Defensive Coordinator, Inside Linebackers
Todd Orlando is in his 10th year as a member of the
Connecticut football coaching staff. One of Randy Edsall’s original hires as a
Husky, Orlando has coached UConn’s inside linebackers since the 1999 season and,
in 2005, he also assumed the role of defensive coordinator.
In his first year as defensive coordinator, UConn led the
BIG EAST in total defense in 2006, ranking seventh in the nation. The team’s
297.1 yards per game average for total defense was the program’s best since
1979. His second season, 2007, saw UConn claim the BIG EAST Championship
behind the nation’s 10th-ranked passing efficiency defense and the 14th best
scoring defense at 19.0 points allowed per game.
Under
Orlando’s tutelage in 2000, linebacker Razul Wallace set a UConn record for
tackles for a loss in a season and was a consensus national Division I-A
All-Independent selection. The 2002 season saw fine performances from the UConn
linebacking corps as they helped the team rank 19th in the nation in total
defense with their versatile play against both the rush and the pass. Orlando
helped both Alfred Fincher and Maurice Lloyd earn All-Independent status in 2003
and All-BIG EAST recognition in 2004. Two of the top tacklers in school history,
the pair anchored the BIG EAST’s leading defense in 2004 en route to a Motor
City Bowl berth. Fincher was chosen in the third round by the New Orleans Saints
in 2005, becoming the first Husky to be drafted in 11 years.
Orlando’s work with middle linebacker Danny Lansanah
in 2007 helped earn the senior a free agent contract with the Green Bay Packers
while weakside linebacker Lawrence Wilson was named second-team Freshman
All-America.
Prior to Connecticut, Orlando spent three seasons in
Philadelphia as the inside linebackers coach at the University of Pennsylvania.
Orlando began his coaching career by spending the 1994 and 1995 seasons as an
assistant coach at the high school level in his home state of Pennsylvania,
holding the position of defensive coordinator at Central Catholic High School
(1994) and Fox Chapel Area High School (1995) during that span.
Orlando was a three-year letterwinner at inside linebacker
at Wisconsin and a member of the 1994 Big Ten championship team that also
defeated UCLA in the Badgers’ first Rose Bowl appearance since 1963. Well
schooled in Madison, Orlando played under head coach Barry Alvarez while his UW
defensive coordinator, Dan McCarney, has since had a successful run as head
coach at Iowa State. Orlando earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural
economics from Wisconsin in 1994.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Orlando is single and resides
in Manchester, Conn.
