Another Verbal--William Nesselt DE

This article states UMass has picked up another 2009 verbal from William Nesselt, a 6-3 240 pd DE from powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida.

He was second team 6A-5A-4A All-Broward County.

Lots of action images of Nesselt here.

Played in the Dade-Broward All-Star game.

Key quote from this article:"William Nesselt, DL, 6-3, 245, St. Thomas: Emerged as one of the best defensive line prospects in the state by having a productive off season and making plays all year. Quality talent that is only getting better."

Thanks to a special Blog reader who brought this to my attention!

Recruiting 2009 ------ Brandon Levengood

UMass is interested in Brandon Levengood, 6-1 185 pd kicker from Cedar Crest PA.

His Rivals page is here .

In the top 13 kickers available list from Rivals.

Also has interest from UConn, Villanova, Maryland, Penn State and Virginia.

Five Days until Letter-of-Intent Day 01/30/09

Bob McGovern, who at one time was UMass' Defensive Coordinator (92-93) has been promoted to DC at Boston College. Another story here .

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Boston College was nott the only school to fire their head coach for talking to the NFL. FCS/I-AA Hampton did the same thing.

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Kansas State, our FBS/I-A opponent for 2009, has its '09 schedule up.

BTW, the Cats 2008 depth chart is here .

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Lots of FCS/I-AA players in Sunday's Super Bowl.

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Recruiting 2009-- Austin Crabill

UMass is interested in Austin Crabill a 6-0 195 pd Safety from Brooklandville, MD.

His Rivals page is here .

He was All-Baltimore County.

Also interested are Syracuse, Richmond, Wofford, Dartmouth and Liberty.

Recruiting 2009 --- Sean Unterkoefler Part II

I've blogged about OLB Sean Unterkoefler before.

He re-committed to UMass yesterday.

Six days until Letter-of-Intent Day 01/29/2009

Adam White of the Bennington Banner remembers Mark Whipple.

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A couple of Albany players have NFL hopes.

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College basketball tanks in the Big Twelve.

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Sometimes the buddy system works in football recruiting.

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I first read a couple of these links on the Double T Nation and The Wiz of Odds blogs.

Interviews with Todd Bankhead and Jason Peebler

A blog reader sent me the link to Anton Azucar's Blog.

He's a huge Hurricanes fan.

He has two interviews with former UMass players concerning their time with new Miami OC Mark Whipple.

Todd Bankhead interview here .

Jason Peebler interview here .

Lest you forget, Bankhead is still the #2 QB in UMass history with 561/931 comp/att 7,018 yards and 51 TD's. He holds the #1 and #2 highest single season average/game ('98, '99)

Peebler is the #5 career receiver in UMass history with 123/2,395 rec/yards 27 TD's. He's #2 in career average per catch of 19.5 yards/catch.

Recruiting 2009 ----- Ross Flanigan

Image by Gazette/Tom Fedor.

UMass is recruiting Ross Flanigan, a 5-9 169 pd CB from Urbana, MD.

His Rivals page is here .

Flanigan was first team All-conference in 2008 .

Also getting interest from Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Virginia, Richmond, Hofstra and Boise State.

One week until Letter-of-Intent Day 01/27/09

A google search of the news concerning Mark Whipple produced a plethora of articles.

The official 'canes notice is here .

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Speaking of recruiting, many a UMass recruit decided to take the plunge after being taken to Antonio's.

Live webcam from near Antonio's in Amherst.

Antonio's now has a restaurant in Rhode Island.

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Speaking further on recruiting, Albany took a pretty hard hit for NCAA recruiting violations.

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UNH gets Ball State as their FBS game in 2009.

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Some of the 2009 college football TV schedule is already up. UMass-Kansas State is TBA.

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Recruiting 2009 --- Dillion Romain

UMass is interested in Dillon Romain a 5-10 205 pd RB from NJ powerhouse Don Bosco Prep. He's a Rivals two star TB.

His Rivals web page is here .

YouTube highlights here and watch this run.

2008 stats here . Summary: 206 carries 1,426 yds, 6.97 AVE 25 TD's

Romain was the the NJ Gatorade Player-of-the-Year.

Also interested are Hofstra, Central Michigan, Towson and Costal Carolina.

Image by MaxPreps/Daniel Cuppola.

Eight Days until Letter-of-Intent Day 01/27/09

The Miami Herald says it's official: Mark Whipple has been named OC at University of Miami.

Recruiting is intense in Hurricane-land.

So is recruiting quarterbacks, ya never know how it'll turn out.

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Nine days until Letter-of-intent Day

UMass ended up #17 in the final 2008 Gridiron Power Index.

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Matty Vautour reports on Mark Whipple becoming the OC at Miami.

If UMass played football in Thailand, Matty would be writing for a different newspaper.

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The New Hamsphire Player-of-the-year verbaled to Rhode Island.

This article gives UNH's 2009 schedule. It lists UNH @ UMass on 10/17.

This article gives Hofstra's 2009 schdule. It lists @ UMass November 21st.

So that's two more dates known for UMass' 2009 schedule

• 09/05 @ Kansas State
• 09/12 @ Albany
• 10/10 @ Delaware
• 10/17 New Hampshire
• 10/24 @ Richmond
• 11/21 @ Hofstra

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It does not surprise me that Mickey Matthews has his own website.

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Recruiting 2009 --- Cody Morgan

UMass is recruiting Cody Morgan a 5-8 169 pd WR from Milford Academy in New Berlin, NY.

He's a Rivals two star player.

Morgan was a 2007 Boston Herald All-Scholastic.

Recruiting 2009 ---- Ronnie Akins

UMass has offered to Ronnie Akins a 5-11 188 pd ATH from North Penn HS in Landsdale PA.

His Rivals page is here .

He was selected to play in the Penn. Big 33 All-Star Game.

Some video on him here .

Another story on him here .

Image by Elizabeth Robertson/Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sunday News 01/25/09

Another article with information about the Brandt brothers verbaling to UMass.

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This article has a lot to say about Christian Birt, who's a member of this year's recruiting class.

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Recruiting is weird. Consider JUCO MLB Steve Butrick: he's 6-3 230 pds, runs 4.53 forty; he's an academic full qualifier and he led the JUCO nation with 126 TT, 16 TFL, 1 INT and 1 sack. No one wants him .

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Saturday News 01/24/09

The Boston Globe says Whipple is Miami's choice for OC.

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Sean O'Neal, a 6-4 230 pd DE from Ordell, NJ picked James Madison over UMass yesterday.

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Matt Goldstein, color commentator for the UMass Football broadcast team is among nine Arizonans suing a pain pump company.

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Josh Jackson, a 6-3 260 pd DE from Gainsville GA will take a recruiting visit to UMass on 01/30/09.

I've blogged about him before.

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Yesterday I asked if UMass ever had twins on the football team. A very knowledgeable UMass fan reminded me of Bryan and Brandon Smith. Bryan ended up only playing for UMass one year (2004), while Brandon lettered for UMass four years 2003,2004,2005 and 2006.

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Thursday News 01/23/09

Kyle Havens, the JUCO QB from California, moves to UMass on Sunday. Matty Vautour's article also has some quotes about UMass' twin recruits Tom and Tim Brandt.

Back in the '60s we had five Toner brothers play for UMass, but have we ever had twins? Anyone know?


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David Coulson has FCS news here .

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Lawrence Sidbury, the Richmond DE that kicked Montana's ass in the FCS Championship game, will play in the Senior Bowl tomorrow.

In our game against Richmond, we did pretty good against Sidbury. He had 2UT 4 AT 0.5 TFL. No sacks.

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Travis, from AGS, is again work on his 2009 master schedule site.

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Jack Bicknell, who many UMass fans hoped would coach the Minutemen, is leaving Boston College for the NY Giants.

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Martin Hyppolite, the RB from Wakefield, that UMass was strongly interested in committed to UConn on 01/18/09.

I had blogged about him before .

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2009 Recruiting ----- Justin Blake

Image above is from the Star-Ledger. Blake is #3.

UMass is recruiting Justin Blake a 5-10 170 pd CB from Piscataway (NJ).

His Rivals page is here .

Interest from URI, Temple, Delaware, Maine and Towson.

News Wednesday 01/22/09

They're speculating in Hurricane-country about Mark Whipple as offensive coordinator.

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There will be changes to the FCS National Championship game starting in 2010. The game will be moved to January on the eve of the FBS National Championship.

In my view, this will be a good move. In the current setting, making travel plans for what amounts to the week before Christmas, is difficult. The move also allows a bye-week during the regular season, which would have been lost with addition of an additional week in the playoffs to accommodate the increase in playoff teams to twenty.

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Schools are still arguing about an early recruit signing period for college football.

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Rhode Island has added four transfers from Rutgers.

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Sports Illustrated published a spread sheet about the number of BCS recruits from each state. Massachusetts ranks #35 out of 52 US areas (counting DC and US territories).

Wonder what it would look like for FCS recruits?

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The UMass Football Blog has been busy the last week. There have been over 10,000 page views in the last six days.

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Recruiting 2009 -- Thomas & Tim Brandt

UMass received verbals from Thomas and Tim Brandt of Natick, MA yesterday. That raises the number of UMass verbals to five (that I'm aware of).

Thomas Brandt is a 6-0 192 pd two star RB/LB his Rivals page is here .

Rivals also has him ranked as the #7 available prospect in MA .

Had interest from Boston College, Buffalo and UConn.

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Also verbaling to UMass is Tim Brandt. He's the twin of Thomas and he's a 6-0 205 Rivals two star OLB .

His Rivals page is here .

Tim's image by Marshall Wolff/Walpole Daily News

Recruiting 2009-- Kyle Havens QB

Woah! The Kevin Morris era stated with a bang as UMass just signed Kyle Havens a Rivals three star QB from Diablo Valley Community College.

Kyle Havens, a 6-5 230 pd pro-style JUCO verbaled to UMass today.

Rivals position rating of 5.5. viz. "5.7-5.5 All-Region Selection; considered among the region's top prospects and among the top 750 or so prospects in the country; high-to-mid-major prospect; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team "

Video highlights here .

More Diablo Valley CC offensive highlights here .

The links do work, I think we're jamming up their server.

Diablo Valley C.C. had a passing attack that ranked No. 2 in the state of California. The Vikings averaged over 425 yards and 36 points per game in 2008.

Scout.con has him as the #18 JUCO QB in the country.

Chose UMass over Hawaii, Colorado State, Marshal, Middle Tennessee, Hofstra and Eastern Michigan.

Day two of Coach Morris' career as Head Coach

The Boston Herald has a story here .

The Worcester Telegram has a story here .

WWLP has video and a story here .

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UMass received the benefit of Morris' hiring as one of the two UMass 2009 verbals re-committed to UMass. The New Hampshire Football Report has a blog post on Christian Birt.

I've blogged on Birt before. The New Hampshire RB/DB has drawn I-A interest from Ohio University, Central Michigan and Boston College.

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Draft Daddy has a list of 175 "small' school NFL draft prospects. A number of UMass seniors are on it.

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It's Kevin Morris

According to Matty Vautour, UMass has chosen Kevin Morris to be the 28th UMass head football coach.

UMass athletic dept notice here .

The e-mail from Jason Yellin states the 2:00 pm press conference will be available on video from UMassathletics.com.

UPDATE: Some news articles

• Boston Herald
• Worcester Telegram
• UMass Athletic Dept article
• Press conference quotes
• Matt Vautour gives some details. Note that Matty states Brian Picucci will move to offensive coordinator. There have been rumors on the Boston College boards that Picucci may get an offer from the Eagles to be an assistant coach there.

UPDATE II: More details of Morris' hiring from Matty Vautour.

Eleven Days in the new coach search

The Boston Globe report that the interview with Jack Bicknell, Jr went well.

Key quote "I like being a head coach,'' said Bicknell". Bicknell's Eagles bio is here .

The Boston Herald has another article on the UMass meeting with Bicknell here .

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Matty Vautour reports that Kevin Morris' bid to become UMass head coach is gathering momentum.

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Correction: I confused the Day brothers. The Eagles have two other coaches with UMass connections. WR coach Ryan Day played at New Hampshire and his brother Tim lettered for UMass in the early 2000's.

BC linebacker coach Bill McGovern has been mentioned in the UMass coaching search, but now it looks like he may be elevated to defensive coordinator with the Eagles. McGovern had two coaching stints with UMass. He was DB coach 87-90 and defensive coordinator in '92 abd '93.

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Our 2008 and 2009 OOC opponent Albany had a great year. The were undefeated in NEC and finished 9-3 (all losses to CAA teams). A good write-up on their season is here .

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There's been a report (no link) that Hofstra will play UMass on November 21st 2009. If that report is true, then we have the dates for five UMass games this year.

• 09/05 @ Kansas State
• 09/12 @ Albany
• 10/10 @ Delaware
• 10/24 @ Richmond
• 11/21 @ Hofstra (unconfirmed)

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Ten Days into the new coach search 01/18/09

One recruit we missed out on is starting for the Steelers today.

A blog reader reminded me that Matt Lawrence is still on the Baltimore Ravens practice squad. He has a chance to get a Super Bowl ring like Brandon London did with the Giants last year.

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Speaking of recruiting, this is an excellent article on how Maine gets recruits to go to Orono, ME.

Looks like Old Dominion will have some good things to tell recruits.

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You remember Dave Clawson was head coach at Richmond for four years. He also had successful stints at Villanova and Fordham. He was fired at Tennessee. The Volunteers players were mind boggled by his offense.

Key quote" There was too much thinking going on" .


Bowling Green just hired Clawson as its new head coach. Six Falcons were named to the MAC all-academic team. The Blog thinks its a good bet Bowling Green won't have any problems with his offense.

Nine days into the coach search

According to the Boston Globe, Jack Bicknell, Jr. has emerged as the leading contender for the UMass Head Coach job.

Bicknell is probably the highest profile coach mentioned in the UMass coaching search. Recruits won't know him, of course, but their coaches will.

UPDATE: UMass will interview Bicknell this weekend. Matty Vautour also reports on some other coaches not mentioned before.

UPDATE II: Matty Vautour mentions that McCutcheon has met with or spoken with a number of coaches recently. I've published links for Jack Bicknell, Jr, Mark D'Onofrio, Neal Brown, Tom Gilmore, Kevin Morris and Tom Masaella (scroll down). New to the mix are:

• Geroge Barlow, DC James Madison
• Frank Hickson, RB Coach Liberty

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Would we be interested in Iowa QB Jake Christensen? He's transferring.

Former Louisville QB Matt Simms is also available .
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Speaking of recruiting Utah, which did not have a recruiting class rated higher than #55 in the last five years, finished second in most FBS rankings.


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Eight Days into the new coach search 01/16/09

BTW, it was -18 degrees here in Jaffrey this morning.

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The Boston Herald says the coaching search has been narrowed to three candidates.

Relevant quote "The committee is reportedly enamored with a third unnamed candidate."

UPDATE: Matty Vautour disagrees with the Herald. He believes that there are still six names on the UMass' hot sheet--- and one of them is not Boston College's OC Steve Logan, who resigned today. He predicts a hire by the end of next week.

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Memo to UMass football players: Don't buy supplements through the mail.

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QB Andrew Hatch. Harvard--LSU--back to Harvard?

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We loose one in the recruiting wars to SIU.

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The recession, it's getting brutal out there .

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Seven days into the search for a new coach 01/15/09

David Coulson takes a shot at Coach Brown and UMass.

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BTW, the CAA decided to stay together.

UPDATE: Matty Vautour has more on the CAA's decision to stay one league.

John McCutcheon says he can multi--task.

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The American Football Coaches Association has called for a early signing day for football recruits.

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In something you don't see everyday, Villanova signed a recruit and it turns out he lives closer to the college than to his high school.

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Six Days into the the search for a new coach 01/14/09

Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican has an article on the on-going search for Coach Brown's replacement.

Thomas reports the search has narrowed to mostly Northeast coaches. Two coaches I have not blogged about are reported to be on the short list.

• Bill McGovern, Boston College linebackers coach. McGovern knows UMass football well as he has had two stints as a UMass assistant coach. He was DB coach from 87-90 and Defensive Coordinator from 92-93. He has good recruiting connections in talent rich New Jersey.
• Mark D'Onofrio, Assistant Head Coach/ Defensive Coordinator Temple. The Owls led the MAC in five defensive categories. He has coached at Rutgers and UVA. Temple had its most wins (five) since 1990 last year and crushed Army 35-7. He's from New Jersey. He's regarded as an up and coming coach.

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Meanwhile, Maine's Jack Cosgrive denies being contacted about the UMass Head Coaching job.

In other Black Bear news, Maine picked up a QB from the disbanded Iona College football team.

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More information from Matty Vautour, who says any interviews with John McCutcheon, the UMass AD will probably take place in Washington DC.

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This article from the Boston Globe states that Bill McGovern (mention earlier in this blog post) may be in line to be elevated to DC for the Eagles.

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Tuesday Afternoon and happy to be home 01/13/09

Matty Vautour has an article on the current state of UMass football. Relevant quote"

McCutcheon said despite the state of the economy, UMass is not decreasing its commitment to the football program. He said the new coach is inheriting a program he expects to remain a contender for conference and national titles in the Football Championship Subdivision.

"We've been successful at the national level. It's part of what our goals are for the athletic program here," McCutcheon said. "We're giving the kids a good experience and we're doing it in the right way.

"The economy will create challenges no doubt, but we will work through those as a department and cross the bridges as we come to them," he added. "We intend to stay committed to football."

The Blog thinks this is very good news indeed. Unless a UMass fan is totally out of touch, it would be hard to miss the current recession. Although I have not mentioned it, I was expecting some negative repercussions for UMass football. If all that happens is FBS football is put on the back burner, I think we can count ourselves lucky. It could be much, much worse.

This means:

• Brown did not leave because of cuts in resources.
• We could expect a coaching hire with the intent to keep UMass in the top of the Division
• 2009 recruits should find UMass a desirable place to play.

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Meanwhile, Boston college still has its thumb up its butt. Matty infers that UMass would be strongly interested in either of the two Boston College coaches Frank Spaziani or Jack Bicknell, Jr. If either one of them became the next UMass Head Coach, he might bring some recruits and assistant coaches with him.

More on the BC drama from the Boston Globe. The article mentions another coach I think would be a great get for UMass , Florida Offensive Coordinator Steve Addazio.

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The Richmond Spiders have announced their 2009 schedule. That adds another date to UMass' known 2009 schedule:

• 09/05 @ Kansas State
• 09/12 @ Albany
• 10/10 @ Delaware
• 10/24 @ Richmond

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UPDATE: Matty Vautour reports BC announced Spaz in their man.

UPDATE II: More tea leaves from the athletic dept.

UPDATE III: UMass announces the search committee for UMass football Head Coach.

UPDATE: IV: Boston college makes it official, the Eagles hire Spaziani here .
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Blog News

The UMass Football Blog will not publish Monday and may not publish on Tuesday.

Everybody please whack the Delaware trolls for me while I'm away.

Sunday News 01/11/09

Three UMass players were named to the All-ECAC team: Josh Jennings, Courtney Robinson and Brett Arnold.

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Former UMass Coach Ted Roof has been appointed defensive coordinator at Auburn.

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I thought we were considering playing Michigan in 2010? This article says Maine may play at the Big House.

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How about Florida assistant coach Steve Addazio as a possibility for UMass Head Coach? See this article from the Boston Globe. Key Quote from the article"

Addazio, 49, has New England ties, playing at Western Connecticut State from 1978-81. After a stint as a high school coach in Connecticut, he began a coaching odyssey which included stops at Syracuse, Notre Dame, Indiana and Florida, where he has been since 2005. When Dan Mullen, Florida's offensive coordinator, accepted the head job at Mississippi State, Gator Coach Urban Meyer elevated Addazio to offensive coordinator.

But Addazio's goal is to become a head coach. In the past few months, he has interviewed for openings at Yale and Syracuse. He is regarded as an excellent recruiter, which BC officials regard as a key issue, although the overwhelming sentiment is to bring in someone with BC ties, which would again favor Spaziani."

If he was interested in being Head Coach at Yale, he could do even more at UMass.

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Matty Vautour on our next coach

Matty Vautour has a must read article on possibilities for the new UMass Head Coach here. He mentions a raft of possibile applicants for the UMass Head Coaching position.

Key quote from the article: "McCutcheon said he was contacted by interested candidates within 90 minutes of Brown's departure being announced on Friday."

1. Several UMass players, including Liam Coen and Kyle Harrington endorsed UMass Offensive Coordinator Kevin Morris.
2. Former UMass assistant coach and now head coach at Fordham, Tom Masella. He was not happy last time when Brown was chosen. Masella felt he should have been given a longer look. Don't know if he's over that.
3. Dave Cosgrove, Maine. Cosgrove recently interviewed for the Rhode Island and Towson jobs, so he seems to be looking to leave the Black Bears.
4. Dick Biddle, Colgate
5. Tom Gilmore, Holy Cross
6. Phis Estes, Brown. Estes was an assistant coach with Mark Whipple and has done an excellent job with Brown.
7. Matt Griffin, Murray State, a Turners Falls native who knows the Western Mass scene well.
8. Jack Bicknell, Jr, Former head coach at Louisiana Tech could be considered.
9. Neal Brown, Troy State. He's a former UMass player who's been a fast riser in college coaching.
10. Frank Spaziani, Boston College if he's interested in FCS football
11. Ben Albert, Associate head Coach at Delaware. Former UMass star DT. (this one is from me)
    

We'll have to see who applies. Stay tuned.

In the opinion of the UMass Football Blog, of the coaches listed, Tom Masella (talked with him back when he was at UMass), Tom Gilmore, Phil Estes, Neal Brown and the two Boston College coaches, would be on the Blog's final list.

The two BC coaches, if interested, would be looking to leave in three years or so. But I'd rather have dynamic fast riser than a mediocre long termer.

In this article, Matty Vautour states that Brown's buy-out was only $25,000. If UMass gets a high profile guy, they should think of increasing that provision.

The Day after Coach Brown resigned 01/10/09

The Boston Globe has a story here .

The Boston Herald has another here .

The Washington Post's "Terrapin Insider" comments here .

Another story by the Washington Times here .

Thank you Coach Brown

The UMass Football Blog would like to thank coach Brown for the past five years. It was a great ride.

It is the nature of college football that change happens. Coach Brown deserves a chance to coach at the highest level he can achieve. ACC offenses will learn to fear the Turtle.

UMass fans should wish him well.

A new era approaches for UMass football. It is an attractive job in FCS/I-AA. We need to sign another ambitious coach who will cope with any short term difficulties and and take UMass football forward.

Everybody should keep the faith and GO UMass!

I

Coach Brown leaving

UMass Friends of Football is reporting that Coach Brown is leaving UMass football to become defensive coordinator at Maryland.

Updates when I get 'em.

UPDATE: It's official.

UPDATE II: The official Maryland announcement.

UPDATE III: Maryland was irritated by UMass announcing before they did . The Baltimore Sun says Maryland contacted about a dozen coaches on the DC job. The Washington Times weighs in on some ramifications of the move.

Maryland's former DC left for 2009's FCS opponent Kansas State.

UPDATE IV: Matty Vautour has a story about Brown's leaving here .

Friday follies 01/09/09

Back on Tuesday I blogged about former Penn State QB Pat Devlin had reported to the Delaware Football team.

Now, the Hens may add a receiver former USC WR Vidal Hazelton to their roster. He's friends with Devlin. Hazelton's USC bio is here .

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The University of Delaware has published a revised 2009 schedule, moving UMass to October 10th.

I have only three dates for the 2009 UMass schedule:

• 09/05 @ Kansas State
• 09/12 @ Albany
• 10/10 @ Delaware

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Recruiting 2009--- Chris Hubbard

UMass is recruiting Chris Hubbard a 6-3 235 OG from Columbus GA.

His Rivals page is here . Slated to take a recruiting visit to UMass on 1/23/09.

ESPN write-up here .

Also recruited by UCLA, UAB, Duke, Mississippi State, South Carolina and South Florida.

Thursday News 01/08/09

Louisville QB Matt Simms is transferring. His Louisville bio is here .

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Under the "Boston College is the Center-of-the-Universe" category, BC fired head coach Jeff Jagodzinski for the sin of talking to the NFL.

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Recruiting 2009---Sierra, Scyocurka and Lingenfelter

Image by MassLive.com.

Three Western Mass players have been named to the Mass "Super Twenty-Six" football team. All are interested in/being recruited by UMass. Story here . Full roster of the Super 26 here .

Another article about three here .

I've Blogged before about Niko Sierra and Alex Scyocurka of Longmeadow HS. Blogger will display the results below this one.

Scyocurka won the Degenais Award for the top player in Western Mass. He's 6-0 210.

Niko Sierra is 6-3 215 pounds. Article on him here .

New to the UMass recruiting screen is Jeff Lingenfelter a 6-5 WR from Minnechaug HS. His stats here .

Besides UMass, Holy Cross, UNH, UMaine, URI, Northeastern and Boston College are interested.

UPDATE: Maybe the coaching staff will encourage Drew Schwendenman to walk on.

This has been your Western Mass HS football news .

Wednesday Wonders 01/07/09

The Arena Football league may have folded, but the the Manchester Wolves are having tryouts on Jan 31st.

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Boston College Head coach Jeff Jagodzinski interviewed with the Jets. Blogger "Eagle in Atlanta" is all over it.

Be sure to check out his "prospective replacements" post. Key quote :Mark Whipple; Philadelphia Eagles, Offensive Assistant -- he didn't kiss Gene's ring enough last time."

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UMass Punter Brett Arnold made First-Team All-American by The Sports Network. Two other UMass players made the team: Jeromy Miles and Courtney Robinson.

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New CAA Team Old Dominion has just signed their 8th JUCO player.

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Recruiting 2009 ----- Narvarus Thompson

Image by patrick Dorsey/Miami Herald.

UMass is recruiting Navarus Thompson a 6-2 260 pd DT from West Palm Beach FL.

His Scout.com profile is here .

This article dates from June of '08, but has a lot of information about him.

Thompson was 2nd Team All-Area in '09.

Navarus holds offers from UMass, Hofstra, Florida Atlantic and Arkansas State.

Tuesday news 01/06/09

Yale ended up signing Tom Williams a defensive coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars as their new head coach.

He'll be coaching in a rebuilt Yale Bowl.

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Patt Devlin has reported to the Delaware football team. His Penn State bio here .

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We lose one to UNH in the recruiting wars. Chris Beranger a RB/DB from Winthrop MA verbaled to the Wildcats.

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Recruiting 2009---Matt Lincoff

Interested in UMass is Matt Lincoff, a punter from Dean College.

Story about him here.

2008 stats 24-808 1.6 yards-return/ave, 71 long 33.7 ave 8 I20.

Monday minutes 01/05/09

Brandon London had four catches for the Dolphins in their loss to Baltimore yesterday.

A couple of articles with quotes from him here and here (mentions London's Super Bowl ring).

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Former Director of UMass Football Operations Kevin Van Derzee has been named Director of Football ops for Syracuse.

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Mrs. Blog and I drove down to Amherst Saturday to see the UMass-Vanderbilt BB game. Perhaps I should not comment as I make no pretense of knowing a lot about basketball, but I don't think Vandy was that good. We just flat played awful.

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Recruiting 2009--- Mike Portunato

UMass is interested in Mike Portunato a 5-10 160 pd WR from Westerly, RI.

In his senior season he had 32 catches for 556 yards and 10TDs.

His Scourt.com page is here .

He was Westerly's MVP.

Being recruited by UConn, Hofstra, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

Recruiting 2009 --- Daren Davis Part II

I've blogged before about Daren Davis a 6-1 197 pd OLB from Plantation FL.

UMass scouted the North-South Broward All-Star practices.

Davis is a member of the South squad.

He was a member of the 2008 Class 5A All-Florida team.

YouTube highlight film here .

Albany has joined UMass, Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee in teams interested.

Satueday sound offs 01/03/2009

UMass' 2008 FCS team Texas Tech was handled by Ole Miss in the Cotton bowl. The Rebels rang up over 500 yard of offense and the second highest point total in Cotton Bowl history.

UMass' 2009 FCs opponent Kansas State is losing its starting QB to the NFL draft.

This has been your Big 12 update.

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Matty Vautour has a "2008 Superlatives" article, which includes several quotes about UMass football. One of the best:

"Derek Kellogg Award/Graduating senior most likely to be heard from again: Liam Coen - I'll put the over/under at 15 years before Coen is the head coach of the UMass football team."

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UMass was 15th in total football attendance in 2008 out of 117 FCS teams (pdf). We were 5th among the cold weather teams (not counting UNI and North Dakota State; they both have domes).

Recruiting 2009--Josh Jackson

UMass is recruiting Josh Jackson a 6-2 260 pd DE from Gainsville GA.

His Scout.com page is here .

He was class AAA All-Georgia first team.

Jackson holds offers from Ol Miss and North Carolina State.

Friday facts 01/02/2009

Courtney Robinson made the CSN "Fabulous Fifty" first team. Brett Arnold and Victor Cruz were on the positional Honorable Mention list.

JMU's Mickey Matthews was named the Liberty Mutual "FCS Coach-of-the-Year".

The Boston College lost to Vanderbilt in VU Music City Bowl. The game featured some weird statistics. BC lost despite holding the Commodores to a grand total of eight first downs. Vandy also had zero penalties and zero turnovers.

Texas Tech plays in the Cotton Bowl today at 1:00 PM (CST 2:00 Eastern time) Set your VCR.

If you spend any time on football message boards, you'll meet the psycho fan. You know, the guy who's team has to win every game by 50 points or he goes ballistic. Southern Pigskin has a generic fan rant that's hilarious.

Recruiting 2009 ------Justin Mello

Mello is #80. A Boston Globe/Robert Klien image.

Considering UMass is Justin Mello a 6-2 175 pd WR from Dartmouth HS in MA.

His pre-2008 Rivals page is here .

ESPN writeup here .

Member of the 2008 All-State Super 26.

Nice TD catch on YouTube here.

Also considering Northeastern, URI and other FCS schools.