University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Recruiting Areas: Pennsylvania (Bucks County), New York (Westchester, North), Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Canada/International

Hank Hughes enters his seventh season as Penn's defensive line coach in 2025.

Penn began the 2024 season battling FBS-bound Delaware close on the road before picking up victories against Colgate, Bucknell, Brown, and Cornell. Hughes found success up front once again even after the graduations of Joey Slackman and Micah Morris. Hughes saw Carter Janki break through on the interior, earning second-team All-Ivy honors. Janki made a start in all 10 games at defensive tackle, finishing with a team-high 3.5 sacks for a loss of 16 yards, ranking fourth among Ivy defenders. He totaled 40 tackles, his four TFLs ranked second, and he registered a sack in two of his final three games. In addition, Hughes coached Travis McFarling and Sam Carlson to strong seasons while overseeing David McMorris’ bright rookie campaign.

Hughes mentored his first Asa S. Bushnell Cup recipient in defensive lineman Joey Slackman, who was named the 2023 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Slackman closed the year with 12 tackles for loss and 50 total stops to become Penn's first recipient of the award since 2015. The senior also took home a pair of All-America nods from the AFCA (second team) and Phil Steele (third team).

The Quakers wrapped up a 6-4 overall record in 2023, going 3-4 in one of the most competitive Ivy campaigns in conference history, in which Penn had a shot to play for an Ivy championship up until the final whistle of the penultimate weekend of the year. The Red and Blue began the season with back-to-back road victories over Colgate (20-6) and Bucknell (37-21) and rounded out the unbeaten non-conference slate with a 42-39 overtime win over Georgetown at Franklin Field. Penn knocked off Columbia, 20-17, and took down Yale, the reigning Ancient Eight champs, for a second straight year, 27-17. The Quakers won on Homecoming by defeating visiting Cornell, 23-8, to hold onto the Trustees' Cup for the second year in a row. In addition to first-team All-Ivy selection Slackman, two other D-linemen earned All-Ivy—Micah Morris and Paul Jennings—under Hughes' watch.

In 2022, Hughes worked closely with Third-team Associated Press All-American defensive lineman Jake Heimlicher, who earned First-team All-Ivy League laurels and was named a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the National Defensive Player of the Year in FCS football.

The Quakers completed a very successful season in 2022, going 8-2 overall with a 5-2 record in Ivy play. Recording the program's most victories since 2010, the Quakers ended the year with a second-place finish in the Ivy standings. Penn won its first six games, going 6-0 to start a season for the first time since 2003. Victories included a double-overtime, 23-17 thriller against Dartmouth on national television, a 34-14 home win over Columbia, a 20-13 homecoming victory against eventual Ivy champion Yale and a come-from-behind, 20-19 win at #22 Princeton to close out the year. Three players won a total of four Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week awards during the season, including back-to-back honors for senior defensive lineman Jake Heimlicher to start the season, the first player in program history to achieve that feat. Four members of the defense earned All-Ivy selections, including Heimlicher.

Hughes' work with the defensive line helped them rank in the top 15 in several FCS categories during the 2022 campaign - No. 2 in rush defense (89.2 ypg), No. 4 in sacks (3.4 per game), No. 4 in fourth down defense percentage (28.6 percent), No. 4 in first downs (176), No. 6 in red zone defense (69.7 percent), No. 6 in scoring defense (19.7 ppg), No. 12 in tackles for loss (7.5 per game) and No. 13 in total defense (322.8 ypg).

In 2021, Penn went 3-7 with non-conference victories at Bucknell and at home versus Lehigh. The Quakers defeated Bucknell, 20-0, and it marked Penn's first shutout since the 2009 team capped a perfect Ivy League season with a 34-0 win over Cornell. The Red and Blue scored an Ancient Eight win at home versus Brown thanks to defeating the Bears, 45-17. During the year, Isaiah Malcome was honored as the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week on October 11 and Garrett Morris was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week on November 1. Seven Quakers brought home All-Ivy honors, highlighted by Prince Emili and Brian O'Neill bringing home first-team accolades. 
 
In 2019, Hughes worked with First Team All-Ivy honoree Prince Emili. Emili ranked second in the Ivy League and 25th in the nation in tackles for loss. The Quaker defense ranked 24th in that nation in sacks (2.70 per game) and he also saw two players rank in the top-40 in the FCS in tackles for loss per game.

In his first season, he worked with first-team All-Ivy selection Cooper Gardner and a defense which ranked No. 14 in the nation in sacks per game (3.0).

Hughes has spent the 2016-17 seasons in the FCS after spending the previous 22 at the FBS level. After spending 2016 as defensive tackles coach at Lafayette, Hughes was linebacker coach and defensive run game coordinator with Davidson in 2017.
 
From 1993 to 2015, Hughes coached at the FBS level. In 2015, he was defensive line coach at Nebraska where he helped the Cornhuskers to Top-15 FBS rankings in rushing defense and fourth down defense.
 
In 2014, Hughes served as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Cincinnati when the Bearcats went on a seven-game winning streak to close the season and earn a share of the American Athletic Conference title.
 
From 2001-13, Hughes was on staff at Connecticut as the Huskies transitioned into the Big East en route to two Big East titles and five bowl game appearances – including the 2010 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. While at UConn, Hughes helped the Huskies' defense to three Top-10 finishes in total defense.
 
Before his time at UConn, Hughes was defensive line coach at Memphis from 1998-200, helping the Tigers finish No. 1 in rushing defense in 2000.
 
Hughes' previous college coaching experience includes stints at Harvard, Cincinnati and James Madison University among others, and he also spent two seasons in the professional ranks with the Montreal Machine of the World League of American Football.
 
Hughes played linebacker at Springfield College, graduating in 1979.