Matteo Zennaro

Biography

Penn State Athletics announced the addition of Matteo Zennaro as associate head coach for the men’s and women’s fencing programs in early August 2023. He will be in his third at Penn State during the 2025-26 campaign. Zennaro had been an assistant for Harvard since 2018. During that span, the Crimson tallied nearly 40 All-Americans between the men’s and women’s teams. Harvard posted more than 300 wins in dual event competition and notched three top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships. Prior to his time at Harvard, Zennaro was an assistant coach at Ohio State for one season. Internationally acclaimed, Zennaro served as a foil coach with the Italian Junior National Team from 2007-17. He had an outstanding international career as a competitor as well. Zennaro won gold in men’s foil at the 1998 Italian Championship and took home silver at the 1999 Seoul World Championship. He grabbed a second Italian Championship in 2004 and won silver at the Mediterranean Games in 2005. Zennaro helped lead the Italian men’s foil team to a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Two years later, he and his teammates captured gold at the 2002 European Championships in Moscow, Russia. During Zennaro's tenure at Penn State, the Nittany Lions have posted a combined 32-22 record on the men's side and a 28-27 record on the women's side. Penn State has also notched two top-ten finishes at the National Collegiate Championships (combined men and women). Penn State has won 10 combined NCAA team