The Ithaca College football program added Reece Petty as its the wide receivers coach on April 13, 2017.
In 2017, sophomore Will Gladney produced one of the most successful seasons for a wide receiver at IC. Gladney, who was named all-region by d3football.com, hauled in 72 catches for 1,024 yards (only the second 1,000-yard receiver in school history) and seven touchdowns. The emergence of freshman Andrew Vito (57 catches, 677 yards and three touchdowns) in 2017 added a new weapon the group. Jared Bauer '18 concluded his career with 412 yards and four scores on 27 receptions.
The 2018 season was equally impressive for the receiving corps. Gladney, a D3football.com Preseason First-Team All-American, would be named Liberty League Offensive Player of the Year after he recorded 870 yards on 68 receptions and nine touchdowns in just nine games. Gladney set all three career receiving records during the year. Vito finished the year with 62 grabs for 691 yards and four scores.
In 2019, Petty oversaw the final season for Gladney, who finished his career as the program's all-time leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns. Vito also set a school record for single-season receptions and the duo became the first two receivers to record 1,000 yards in the same year.
At Buffalo, Petty was a graduate assistant with the offense and worked directly with the Bulls’ receivers. He also served has a graduate assistant at Iowa State University from June 2014-December 2015. At ISU, he was responsible for the recruiting efforts in Wisconsin, Missouri and Kansas.
Prior to those two appointments, Petty was a strength and conditioning intern at the University of Kansas, his alma mater, for one year and was an assistant high school football coach in Lansing, Kansas for two seasons.
Petty was a student-athlete at Kansas from 2006-10 and earned a full scholarship for his fifth year as a wide receiver and special teams player. He played on two Bowl Game championship teams – the Orange Bowl during the 2007 season and the Insight Bowl in 2008.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Kansas in 2010 and obtained a master’s in educational leadership at Iowa State in 2016.
2/5/20
