York University Athletics

Frank Cosentino is the winningest coach in York football history, an impressive line on a resume for someone who didn’t even come to the institution with the intention of coaching the program.

His first job at York was actually as the Chair of the Department of Physical Education and Athletics, but just a couple of years into his stint he realized there was something else he could make his mark on.

“There was pressure to drop the football program because some felt the school was getting a bad reputation from the results,” he says about why he chose to coach. “Because I enjoyed football, I decided to coach for three years and see if I could right the ship.”



Cosentino’s influence had an immediate impact. After putting up just four wins in the previous eight seasons, the Yeomen jumped out to a 4-1 start to the 1978 season en route to a 4-3 finish that earned him the OUA West coach of the year award. His teams amassed another six wins over the next two seasons and earned the first national ranking in program history. He stepped down from his coaching role in 1980 but was lured back four years later and spent another four seasons as co-head coach with program founder Nobby Wirkowski, leading the team to back-to-back playoff appearances in that stretch.

Success has followed Cosentino wherever he has gone. He actually didn’t make his high school football team the first three years he tried out, but he finally got his chance in grade 12 and made the most of it, putting up two impressive seasons. A talented football and baseball player who was being recruited on both sides of the border, he chose to attend Western University because it was close to his hometown of Hamilton, Ont., – and his girlfriend (now wife) Sheila – but still afforded him the opportunity to be away from home and play football. While there he won a pair of Yates Cup championships and was the team captain in his final season. He then went on to a 10-year playing career in the CFL, where he twice won Grey Cup titles, before completing his master’s and PhD at the University of Alberta. He returned to Western as an assistant professor and head football coach, leading the team to two Vanier Cup titles, and became the chair of the Undergraduate Physical Education Department before making the jump to York.

Even after walking away from the sidelines for the final time in 1988, Cosentino remained at York in administrative and teaching capacities until 1997, when he took an early retirement to focus on his writing.

Cosentino’s odyssey through sport in Canada was part of the inspiration for his post-graduate work while at the University of Alberta. Heeding the advice that it was best to study what was most interesting to him, he naturally turned to the gridiron for his topic.

“The thesis for my master’s was about the history of football in Canada, and I found writing that to be very much like sport: I went in with a goal and had limitations, I had to overcome obstacles and I had the ability to be creative. While I was doing the research for that and my PhD, there were a lot of subjects in football and sport that I uncovered and I wanted to write about all of them.”

He may not have dived into all the topics yet, but Cosentino has since authored or co-authored 17 books and is currently working on another. Today, he splits his time between Eganville, Ont., and a home in Florida, where he enjoys his retirement by golfing regularly in the summer and hitting the tennis courts in the winter. He and Sheila, who have been married for 58 years, also make sure to spend time with a family that now includes four children, 12 grandchildren and one great grandchild.