Ricky Santos was a star player at New Hampsire and has led his alma mater as head coach for the past five years, oftentimes delivering some of the biggest moments in the program's history.
Now, an Ivy League school is working to make Santos its head coach in an attempt to mirror that success.
Sources tell FootballScoop that Santos is the top target to become the next head coach for the Penn Quakers.
Late last month, Ray Priore stepped down from his post atop the Penn program after nearly four decades at the school -- 39 years -- and the final 11 as the program's head coach.
Priore served the Penn program selflessly and posted six winning seasons among hist 11 at the helm; while the Quakers won eight games in 2023, they mustered just a combined 10-10 across the past two seasons combined.
Santos, who played briefly with the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs and then had a five-year career in the Canadian Football League, has posted five-straight winning seasons at the helm in New Hampshire.
Additionally, Santos three times has led the program into the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. The Wildcats advanced to the second round of the 2022 FCS Playoffs and followed up that breakthrough-campaign with back-to-back FCS Playoffs appearances in each of the past two years.
The Ivy League, for the first time, voted to participate in the FCS Playoffs this year. Two programs -- Harvard and Yale -- were selected into the postseason field.