Bio

Dan Atencio enters his third season on the sideline with the Bulldogs in 2023. The former coach of De Anza College, who guided the Dons to three conference championships and received three Coach of the Year awards, will focus his attention on special teams.

Atencio has accumulated more than 50 years of coaching experience at different levels of football before retiring as head coach at De Anza College in November 2015.

During his playing career at San Francisco State, he was a linebacker and long snapper while sharing the sidelines with quarterback Bob Toledo, with whom he would later coach at UC Riverside.

After finishing his teaching credentials at Skyline High School in Oakland, Atencio joined Toledo at UC Riverside and was part of the coaching staff that won consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships in 1974 and 1975.

Following UC Riverside, stops at Cal Poly and Santa Clara added to an already well-established resume. In 1986, Atencio, then an assistant coach, was part of the San Jose City College coaching staff that won the Junior College National Championship. After this accomplishment, he made one more career move to Gavilan College before finally landing at De Anza College as a linebackers coach.

Atencio was promoted to head coach in October 2006. His teams showed vast improvement in three years, with the 2009 football season, culminating with the first of three conference titles.

Atencio is a San Lorenzo High School graduate who also attended classes and played football at Chabot College in Hayward before completing his education at San Francisco State.