Joe Fusco led the Titan football team to a 154-34-3 (.814) record from 1972-90, leading the Titans to four NAIA Division II National Championships in 1976, 1977, 1988 and 1989. When he stepped down following the 1990 season, his career winning percentage was the second highest among all active NAIA football coaches with more than 10 years of experience. Fusco was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2001. He was honored as Westminster's Letterman of Distinction in 2012, only the fifth former Westminster student-athlete to receive this prestigious honor, joining Titan legends David B. Fawcett '29, Dr. Harold E. Burry '35, C.G. "Buzz" Ridl '42, and Chester P. "Chet" Claire '49.
A 1960 Westminster alum, Fusco began his coaching career at nearby Wilmington and Grove City High Schools, where he had a 55–14–3 record from 1960 to 1967, before joining Harold Burry's staff as an offensive line coach in 1968. After serving as an assistant over the next four years, helping the Titans to the 1970 national crown, he began a head coaching career that included nine NAIA national playoff appearances and 15 NAIA Division II Top 20 finishes. However, it was the national championship years that left Fusco an undeniable legacy of success. Fusco led Westminster to a 21-1 record while capturing the 1976 and 1977 NAIA Division II national titles. His 1977 team finished 11-0 (Fusco's first undefeated team) and also won the Lambert Bowl trophy as the top small college team in the Eastern United States. Fusco again led Westminster to back-to-back titles in 1988 (14-0) and 1989 (13-0), compiling a 27-game winning streak that, at the time, was the longest win streak of any college team in the nation at any level.
In total at Westminster, Fusco was a guard on the football team from 1957 to 1959, an assistant coach from 1968 to 1971, the Head Coach from 1972 to 1990, and the Director of Athletics from 1985 to 1999.
Fusco earned a master's degree in education in 1965 and a doctorate in education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1980.
In addition to the College Football Hall of Fame, Fusco is in the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, Western Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, Lawrence County Hall of Fame, and NAIA Hall of Fame.
