Hall Of Fame Inductee: Patrick Cerroni
This is the 13th in a 14-part series that introduces the 14 members of the 2024 UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Class. Their inductions will take place Friday, August 2 (3:30 p.m.) at the Culver Family Welcome Center (625 Pearl Avenue) on the UW-Oshkosh campus. Tickets ($45 each, aged five and older) for this event are open to the public and will be on sale through July 1. Tickets are required to attend and will not be available for purchase at the event. All purchased tickets will be available for pick up at the event. Click here to purchase tickets.
UW-Oshkosh then celebrates 50 years of inductions into its Athletics Hall of Fame during a special event held Saturday, August 3 (3:30 p.m.) at the Oshkosh Convention Center (2 North Main Street). Hall of fame members in attendance will be recognized and receive a variety of commemorative items. The keynote speaker is Iowa State University Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard, a 1999 UW-Oshkosh Hall of Fame inductee. Tickets ($45 each, aged five and older) for this event are open to the public and will be on sale through July 1. Tickets are required to attend and will not be available for purchase at the event. All purchased tickets will be available for pick up at the event. Click here to purchase tickets.
Offering transcending lessons to his student-athletes and coaching staff in integrity, leadership, personal excellence, teamwork and community involvement, Patrick Cerroni spearheaded a program revival by winning more games, capturing more conference championships and earning more national postseason appearances than any other head football coach in UW-Oshkosh history.
Cerroni replaced Phil Meyer as head coach in 2007 and guided the Titans through the 2021 season. His .707 winning percentage as UW-Oshkosh's head coach for 15 years featured a 109-45 record with four WIAC championships and five trips to the NCAA Division III postseason. Cerroni's 109 coaching wins are the seventh most in WIAC history.
After inheriting a UW-Oshkosh program that won only 221 games and three conference titles during its previous 61 seasons, Cerroni led the Titans to visits to the national championship game in 2016, to the national semifinals in both 2012 and in 2017 and to the national quarterfinal in 2015.
Cerroni's 11 winning seasons at the helm of the Titans included records of 13-1 in 2012, 12-1 in 2017, 11-2 in 2015 and 13-2 in 2016. Cerroni became UW-Oshkosh's winningest coach with his 69th career victory on Oct. 15, 2016, against UW-Stevens Point and earned his 100th career win against UW-Eau Claire on Oct. 19, 2019.
Cerroni guided UW-Oshkosh to outright WIAC championships in 2012, 2015 and 2017, and a share of the league title in 2019. He was named both the American Football Coaches Association Region 5 and WIAC Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2015, and WIAC Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2019. Cerroni was also selected the D3football.com West Region Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2017.
UW-Oshkosh's postseason run to the 2016 Division III national championship game included home victories over Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) and Saint John's University (Minn.) before the Titans won at the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) during the quarterfinal round. UW-Oshkosh then secured a home victory over John Carroll University (Ohio) to advance to the title game against top-ranked University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas), which edged the Titans by a 10-7 score in a nationally televised contest on ESPN from Salem, Va.
Cerroni coached 63 players to 84 All-WIAC First Team laurels, 41 players to 49 All-Region citations and 27 players to 29 All-America selections. UW-Oshkosh quarterback Brett Kasper, a two-time WIAC Offensive Player of the Year, was named winner of the 2017 Gagliardi Trophy for being the Division III most outstanding player.
Cerroni and his football players and coaching staff performed several community services projects, including events associated with the Oshkosh Boys & Girls Club, Oshkosh YMCA, Habitat for Humanity, Old Glory Honor Flight, Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament and Feeding America. In 2015, Cerroni received the Excellence In Leadership Award for his work with Be The Match, a national marrow donor program in which six of his players donated to.
Cerroni joined UW-Oshkosh as an assistant football coach in 2000 and remained in that capacity until being named the Titans' head coach. He came to UW-Oshkosh from Menomonee Falls High School, where served three seasons as the head football coach.
Prior to coaching at Menomonee Falls, Cerroni was an assistant football coach at Arrowhead and Waukesha Catholic Memorial high schools. His four seasons at Waukesha Catholic Memorial included WISAA Division 1 state titles in both 1993 and 1996.
A senior airman in the United States Air Force from 1984-88, Cerroni earned his bachelor's degree from Carroll University in 1992 and his master's degree from UW-Oshkosh in 2004. The 1984 Johnson Creek High School graduate was a member of Carroll University's 1988 football team that shared the CCIW championship with Augustana College (Ill.).
After his retirement from UW-Oshkosh in 2021, Cerroni spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons as an assistant football coach at Dothan High School in Dothan, Ala. This past March he was named an assistant football coach (Defensive Quality Control) at the University of Kansas.
Cerroni was named the recipient of the Johnson Creek School District Alumni Award in 2017 and inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2021.
Cerroni and wife Tammy live in Oshkosh. They are the parents of daughter Kali and son Kyle.
2024 UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Announcements
Wednesday, April 24: Danielle (Rankin) Salm, Whitney (Tyriver) Stenbroten
Thursday, April 25: Leah (Rosenbaum) Cisler, Jordan Timm
Friday, April 26: Tammy (Milz) Baugnet-Heesacker, John LeRoy
Monday, April 29: David Hochtritt, Robin (Schmidt) Schunke
Tuesday, April 30: Phil Devine, Nadine (Pieske) Schuette
Wednesday, May 1: Nick Boehlke, Chad Kopitzke
Thursday, May 2: Pat Cerroni, 2 p.m. • TBA
The UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame was established in 1974 to enhance school tradition and give lasting recognition to those student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and friends of the university who distinguished themself at an exemplary level.
Each hall of fame member represents greatness, with their accomplishments built on campus, after graduation or through meritorious efforts that benefit the UW-Oshkosh athletics program.
The first UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held April 28, 1974, at The Pioneer Inn & Marina. The five inductees were Edward Boguski, Edward Hall, Burton Karges, Robert Kolf and Robert Williams.
Four venues have hosted the UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony – The Pioneer Inn & Marina (1974-2001), Hilton Garden Inn Oshkosh (2002), UW-Oshkosh's Reeve Memorial Union (2003-13) and UW-Oshkosh's Culver Family Welcome Center (2014-19, 2021-Present).