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UPDATE: Ed Pinkham's Twitter feed lists him as "UMass defensive coordinator"
Matty Vautour reports UMass has hired former Western Michigan defensive coordinator Ed Pinkham for the same position with the Minutemen.
Kyle DeLuz has a post on the hiring at the UMass Daily Collegian.
Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a report on Pinkham's hiring.
Pinkham's Western Michigan bio.
Was interviewed for the head coaching job with the Broncos.
Mentioned as an assistant who could move to the SEC.
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As it happens, Mrs Blog and I were talking about the potential defensive coordinator hire on the way back from Amherst yesterday. Good thing I'm not a hockey fan, between basketball and football, there have been a lot of long drives back to New Hampshire over the the last few years.
This seems to be a good hire. Pinkham was a FBS defensive coordinator for a successful team. Mrs Blog and I were speculating about a FCS guy or an internal hire. He is a veteran coach and UMass would have to pay more than for a younger man. I assume UMass AD Ryan Bamford was willing to make the extra expenditure.
Besides X's and O's, make no mistake what moved Western Michigan from 0-11 to 13-1 and a trip to the Cotton Bowl was recruiting. Hopefully, some of T.J. Fleck's recruiting prowess rubbed off on Pinkham. I have no idea what would lure recruits to Kalamazoo could be, but Amherst should be at least equal. Pinkham needs to identify and recruit defensive players for the Minutemen. The old saw is offensive sells the tickets, but defense wins the games. Tough to sell tickets for a 2-10 team. You probably get more bang for your bucks with defense.
Western Michigan was #15 in scoring defense in 2016 allowing 277 total points and 19.8 points per game. The Broncos were #26 in total defense last year and allowed 353.4 yards a game. Western Michigan was #25 in passing yards allowed with 200.1 yards a game. UMass was #106 and allowed a 64.5% completion ratio. Pinkham's pass defense completion was 56.2 %. The Broncos gave up 17 passing TD's; UMass gave up 27.
Hiring Pinkham looks to be a positive addition to UMass football. Welcome to him and Go UMass!