Bill Dando
William R. “Bill” Dando (April 30, 1932 – February 15, 2022) was an American college football player and coach. He was born in Ashland, Pennsylvania, and died in Watkinsville, Georgia, at age 89.
As a player, Dando was a halfback for the University of San Francisco from 1950 to 1951. The 1951 Dons were left out of a bowl game that year because the team included two African American players, Ollie Matson and Burl Toler.
Dando began coaching in 1960 at John Carroll University as an assistant and was head coach there in 1964. He coached linebackers at SMU in 1965 and then served as an assistant at Buffalo from 1966 to 1970. He became the University at Buffalo’s head football coach in 1977 and led the Bulls through 1989, compiling a career college record of 63–68–1.
At UB, Dando helped rebuild the program after it had been dropped from Division I to Division III in 1970, and he laid the groundwork for UB’s rise to Division I-A. Notable seasons include 1983, when the team went 8–2 and set offense records, and 1986, when the Bulls went 9–2, finishing fifth in the East and 20th in the NCAA Division III poll.
Dando was inducted into UB’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. He passed away on February 15, 2022, at the age of 89.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 00:52 (CET).