After three years as youth coach for
Modena and
Spal, Colomba took his first head coaching job in 1993, at the helm of
Olbia of
Serie C2. After an impressive season with
Novara one year later, in 1995 Colomba was called to coach
Salernitana, where he narrowly missed immediate promotion to
Serie A; he was fired one year later, because of poor results. In 1997, Colomba signed for
Reggina of
Serie B, where he obtained a seventh place. At the end of the season, he left Reggina for Serie A team
Vicenza, where he however did not end the season, being fired after nineteen matchdays. Colomba returned to Reggina in 1999, and stayed in
Calabria for three seasons, with a relegation in 2001 (after having lost a play-off match to
Verona) and a successive promotion in 2002. In the 2002–03 season, Colomba had a somehow turbulent Serie B experience at fallen giants
Napoli, with a sacking and a successive recall, and a disappointing fifteenth place as a result. The next year saw Colomba making his third comeback at Reggina, but he is fired after the eleventh matchday and replaced by
Giancarlo Camolese. The 2004–05 season started with Colomba at the helm of newly promoted Serie A side
Livorno, but abruptly ended in January, when he was sacked and replaced by
Roberto Donadoni. In October 2005, a Serie B team in danger of relegation,
Avellino, called him to replace
Francesco Oddo; however, Avellino finally lost its place to Serie B after two play-off matches lost to
AlbinoLeffe. Colomba returned to coach in December 2006, when he was appointed to replace
Marco Giampaolo at the helm of Serie A club
Cagliari. He was fired on 26 February 2007 following a 2–0 home defeat to
Lazio. On 19 July 2007, he was announced as head coach of
Serie C1 club
Verona. However, Verona had a very poor start in their
Serie C1 2007–08 campaign, with no wins in the initial seven league matches, and a shock 1–2 defeat against
Legnano led the club management to sack Colomba on 8 October 2007. In December 2008, he was appointed as new head coach of
Ascoli, becoming the third manager of the
bianconeri in the
Serie B 2008–09, and replacing
Vincenzo Chiarenza. He guided Ascoli into a mid-table finish at the end of the season, but his contract was not extended and therefore left the club. On 20 October 2009, Colomba was appointed new head coach of Bologna, taking over from
Giuseppe Papadopulo. Notably, despite being born in Grosseto, Colomba grew up in Bologna and is a fan of the local club since childhood, and Bologna was also the club that gave him the chance to make his professional football debut. After taking the reins of the
rossoblu club, he defined his appointment as head coach of Bologna as a dream coming true. He guided Bologna to keep their place in the Serie A in 2009–10; however, his position was put under question after
Sergio Porcedda took over the club. Originally confirmed at the helm of the club, he was ultimately dismissed on 29 August 2010, exactly one day before the first game of the season, allegedly due to disagreements with the board. On 5 April 2011, Colomba was announced as the new head coach of
Parma, replacing
Pasquale Marino, and saved the club from relegation, being subsequently confirmed at the helm of the club also for the new season. On 9 January 2012, he was fired and replaced by
Roberto Donadoni following Parma extended winless streak to six matches with a 5–0 loss to
Inter. On 22 June 2014, he signed with newly formed
Indian Super League outfit
Pune City as manager. On 6 August 2018, he collected the Salvatore La Gamba Sports Prize in Vibo Valentia (VV) for the section Young Promised Coach. ==References==