UMass has added veteran coach Dave Wissman to the coaching staff. He will coach the defensive line. Wissiman spent the last six seasons as Sacred Heart's defensive coordinator.
In 2016 UMass had three players named to the New England Football Writers All-New England team. FCS Sacred Heart had two.
The Pioneers' best win was over CAA member Albany who was ranked #20 at the time.
UMass also added D.J. Pirkle as an assistant to new DC Ed Pinkham.
Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on the coaching additions.
My take is that the Minutemen are getting serious about defense. Wissman is an older coach and thus UMass has to pay more than for a younger man just getting started in coaching. The addition of D.J. Pirkle should help coach Pinkham in installing his defensive system. The Minutemen also recruited defense more heavily this year than any other since we moved to FBS.
Defense wins games. It looks to me UMass is investing more on the defense side of the ball. I hope the results will show in the next couple of years.
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Boston College blog "BC Interruption" wonders how to get BC students to go to the Eagles games.
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