Paul Gonnella

both basketball and football, being named to the Wakefield High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. Paul then went on to form an impressive resume as a college player, coach and recruiting coordinator at the high school and collegiate level.

Throughout Paul’s career at the collegiate level he worked under head coaches, Nick Saban, Butch Davis, Lane Kiffin, Jackie Sherrill, Sylvester Croom, Randy Shannon, Larry Porter, Danny Hope and Willie Taggart. Paul also worked with national recruiters of the year, Jeremy Pruitt, Larry Porter, Mike Groh, Lance Thompson, Frank Wilson, Ed Orgeron, John Blake, and Clint Hurt as well as other top recruiters such as, Jeff Stoutland, Tommy Robinson, Wesley McGriff, Eddie Gran, Monty Kiffin, Jim Chaney, Burton Burns, Chris Rumph, Brick Haley, Stan Drayton, Raymond Woodie, Ron Cooper, David Reaves, Mike Barrow, Joe Pannunzio and a slew of others. This pedigree is second to none in terms of working side by side with so many highly regarded top national recruiters.

Most recently in 2013 and 2014, Paul guided the University of South Florida recruiting efforts in which they landed consecutive conference recruiting titles in both the AAC and Big East. USF hauled in over 30, 3 and 4 star commits in that span. The 2013 class was the 2nd highest ranked class in the history of the university. The impressive part of the job Paul and the USF staff did in recruiting is that during the 2 seasons the team only won 2 and 4 games respectively. Paul received national attention once again from CBS, recruiting guru Tom Lemming. "They've got a great director of operations there in (Gonnella), who I think just does a tremendous job," Lemming said. "Actually his last year at Alabama before he got to USF (the Tide's class) was No. 1 in the country. ... I think USF is doing a heck of a job and they're bringing in a lot of talent."

Paul reached the pinnacle of his career when he was named Director of Player Personnel at the University of Alabama in 2012-2013. In the same season, the Crimson Tide won a national championship (#15) on the field as well as winning the overall recruiting national championship by all major media recruiting services. Paul was awarded with the prestigious “Lemmy Award” by Tom Lemming and CBS Sports as the top personnel director in all of college football. Working for Nick Saban and alongside top national recruiters like Kirby Smart, Jeff Stoutland, Mike Groh, Lance Thompson, Jeremy Pruitt, Chris Rumph, Doug Nussmeier, Burton Burns and Bobby Williams, Paul learned and refined his recruiting prowess as an evaluator, recruiter and organizer. Coach Saban says this “It was evident to me when Paul was at Alabama that he had the ability to evaluate which is a big part of the recruiting process. When you add the evaluation skill to his passion, energy, knowledge, and know how in the world of college recruiting, that is what separates him from most. He has a strong desire to help kids which is a great quality”.

In 2011, Paul guided Purdue University recruiting to their 2nd best ranking in school history under head coach Danny Hope. A top 40 class for a team that was coming off 3 straight losing seasons on the field was impressive to say the least. The 2012 class was comprised of 26 prospects in which 24 were 3 or 4 stars. The class was comprised of student athletes from 16 different states. The class landed in the top 5 recruiting class in the Big Ten beating out national contenders Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin.

Paul worked for a short stint at the University of Memphis under head coach Larry Porter in 2010-2011. The class of 2011, Paul guided the Tigers to an impressive 29 signees with 17 of them being 3 stars. The meat of the class assisted new head coach Justin Fuente turn the program around with a conference title and a bowl game this past 2014 season.

The recruiting world was introduced to Paul in the 3 seasons prior to Memphis. Paul worked under Randy Shannon at THE U, Lane Kiffin at Tennessee and legendary coach Butch Davis at the University of North Carolina. All 3 of those teams earned top 10 recruiting classes. Paul really separated himself in terms of running a recruiting office during this time. Working for and alongside 7 national recruiters of the year during that time, the teams he helped recruit were loaded with NFL talent. It became clear that Paul had an expertise in the art of evaluating high school talent and projecting them 2, 3, 4 years ahead.

During the 2005-2007 seasons, Paul was the head football coach at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, also known as the home of Patrick Ewing, Carl Hobbs, Rumeal Robinson and Mike Jarvis. Known as a basketball school, Cambridge had a good run in football. The job opened up and Paul was hired out of Mississippi State University and the SEC. Paul brought attention to the program from day 1 running an up tempo, spread, passing attack. This style was uncommon at the time up north but eventually Cambridge was respected by all its opponents.

Cambridge won 14 games in the last 2 seasons, which was the third best 2 year total in over 50 years. Lead by Joshua Adams, who was a US Army All-American and a commitment to the University of North Carolina where Coach Gonnella ended up being the Director of Player Personnel, Cambridge had bunch of other great athletes and football players. Paul assisted the players getting to the next level both academically and athletically. Several players went on to have great college football careers and earned their degree from some impressive universities on a national level.

In 2003-2004 season Paul was introduced to college football as a coach for the first time. Not only was Paul able to learn under legendary coach Jackie Sherrill, but Paul was also fortunate to be able to learn in the SEC. Paul assisted with the defensive backs in his first year and with the defensive line in his second year. Six of the position players Paul assisted went on to the NFL. Paul also earned a Master’s degree in Educational Technology from Mississippi State University. These two years really gave Paul the itch to be at the collegiate level again and prepared him for the recruiting wars to come in the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, AAC and Big East.

The 2001-2002 season really is what started Paul in the recruiting world. At Lovejoy High School in Clayton County, GA, Paul was the defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator. Fresh out of Boston, Paul hit the ground running. Working for longtime, coach and friend Al Hughes, Paul put his nose to the grind stone and assisted Coach Hughes in turning Lovejoy High School in to a national recruiting powerhouse. From 2000-2002 Lovejoy was ranked 3rd in the nation in producing Division 1-A football players. Several player went on and made it to the NFL including Tashard Choice and Chris Scott.

A native of Wakefield, Mass., Gonnella excelled at Wakefield high school in football and basketball. Was name to the Boston Globe All-Scholastic Team before playing college football at Springfield College where we was recognized as a New England Division-II All-New England selection. Gonnella began his coaching career at Somerville (Mass.) High School and in 2001 was elected to the Wakefield High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Paul currently resides in Zephyrhills, Florida and is married to Amanda Gonnella. Amanda and Paul have a child, Michael Peter Gonnella (5 Mo). Paul also has another son, Paul Angelo Gonnella (20).