Who is Chris Malleo?

Alan Wang '19, Section editor

Most of the community is familiar with faculty member Chris Malleo. Although he only recently joined Peddie as a celebrated head football coach and assistant director of Admissions, students and faculty alike already know his dynamic personality and presence on campus. Like most Peddie students though, his contributions to the community are not limited to just to athletics.

Malleo graduated from Northwestern University in 2008 with a BA in communications and a minor in business. After college, he had a “cup of coffee” with the NY Giants, playing professional football for a short stint. “Coincidentally, the Giants were also my favorite team while growing up. It was a dream come true for me to be wearing a Giant’s jersey right next to Eli Manning,” he said. Later, Malleo went on to play football for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, as well as some arena football.

Apart from his career in pro football, Malleo started his career in finance. “I’d done some internships at Merrill-Lynch and Lehman Brothers, but I didn’t love the job. I started looking into coaching and education – more than anything, just kind of as a gap year – until I figured out what I really wanted to do. I ended up enjoying so much I felt it needed to be a career path.”

Before coming to Peddie, Malleo started his coaching career at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. He then spent some time at The Hun School and Lawrenceville, and then joining Peddie in 2015 as a successor to Frank deLaurentis.

Aside from being a football coach, Malleo was also a tour guide coordinator and works as an assistant director of Admissions. His experience is not limited to those two groups though, as he contributes to several different elements of Peddie’s community.

“I enjoy every aspect of Peddie. One of the things that is important to me is that I’m involved in as many facets of Peddie as possible. It’s so easy to stigmatize someone as just a football coach and have assumptions or perceptions about who that person is just because they coach a certain sport. I really try to debunk whatever impressions people might have about that particular position. To me, I feel like I’m really involved with this community because I love this place,” he said.

When asked about why he chose Peddie, Malleo commented, “One of the things that stood out to me about Peddie is the level of support from the community and that it was genuine. I’ve worked at other places where the foundation and personality of the school wasn’t as supportive as Peddie. And that really stood out to me, and made me want to be a part of it.”

His wife, Ashley Malleo, also joined the Peddie community. She coaches dance and choreographs with the arts department. In his spare time, Malleo enjoys going to the beach with his dog Jersey and is an avid reader. Aside from football, he follows several other sports too. “I really enjoy all forms of athletics, especially volleyball – I’m a big fan of volleyball. Also, this year one of my goals is to learn the guitar”.

As for the future, Malleo said that he was more focused on his current work than what might be in store. “A lot of people have 5-year and 10-year plans. I have a right now plan, and right now I just try to do the best job where I am. If that leads me to working at Peddie for the rest of my life, then that’s awesome. I just try to enjoy this experience as much as I can.”