SUNY Maritime Hires Holy Cross Offensive Coordinator Andrew Dresner as Head Coach

Andrew Dresner arrives at SUNY Maritime with a blueprint already proven at three FCS programs, and the clearest signal of where he'll take the Privateers' offense is a single number: 2,400. That was the passing yardage total Dresner produced from Holy Cross quarterback Joe Pesansky during his first season with the Crusaders, a figure that ranked Pesansky in the national Top 25 and helped Holy Cross earn a share of the Patriot League title.

Maritime announced the hire on April 3, making Dresner the program's new head coach after a search that clearly prioritized FCS-level experience. The 15-plus-year coaching veteran spent the better part of the last decade in the FCS ranks, with stops at Maine from 2018 through 2022, Stony Brook in 2023, and Holy Cross for the past two seasons. Each stop reinforced the same offensive identity: develop the quarterback, generate yards through the air, and win the completion percentage battle.

The Stony Brook season stands out as the sharpest proof of concept. As offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach there in 2023, Dresner's unit posted the program's highest completion percentage in a decade and its best yardage output since 2019. That efficiency-first philosophy defines the roster archetypes he will pursue in recruiting: quick-processing quarterbacks who can operate within a structured passing game rather than raw developmental prospects, and receivers who can win at the intermediate level rather than pure speed threats built for vertical routes. Offensive linemen who can sustain in pass protection long enough for routes to develop will be the unsexy but critical third piece.

At Maine, where Dresner spent five seasons in roles that included wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, he contributed to multiple all-conference players and helped pipeline talent to the professional level. The accumulated breadth of that resume, from position coach to coordinator to interim head coach, gave Maritime's athletic department confidence that Dresner can manage a full staff rather than simply call plays.

"I am honored to be named the next Head Football Coach at Maritime College," Dresner said in the program's announcement. "Our mission will be simple: compete every day, be relentlessly prepared, and operate with discipline in everything we do."

For a Maritime program framing this hire as the start of a longer-term rebuild, the realistic Year 1 benchmark is offensive efficiency rather than wins: a completion percentage above 55 percent and a passing attack that keeps the Privateers competitive deep into fourth quarters. By Year 2, with a recruiting class shaped by Dresner's FCS-level evaluations and Patriot League and America East contacts, a .500 record becomes a credible target. Those same contacts open a scheduling conversation worth watching; a head coach who has worked inside FCS football for nearly a decade can pursue non-conference matchups against small FCS programs that accelerate player development in ways that conference-only schedules cannot.

Dresner brings the sharpest offensive credential in Maritime football history. Whether the Privateers can recruit to the level his scheme demands will determine whether this hire becomes the program's inflection point.