UMass adds assistant coaches

I was going to wait until tomorrow to blog on two additions to the UMass staff, but enough material is accumulating to make a decent post, so here goes.

Several sources report that former Hawaii offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich has joined the UMass staff as offensive coordinator/ QB coach.

Story from Matty V.

Story from Jeff Thomas.

Rolovich's Hawaii bio. Read it. Wikipedia bio.

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Also reported to join the UMass staff is Ron Hudson offensive line/ run game coordinator from New Mexico.

Hudson's New Mexico bio.

Story about Coach Hudson's early days in coaching.

Coach Hudson talks about the run game at New Mexico's 2011 media day

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Also reported to be joining the Minutemen is Charlie Molnar Jr, a graduate assistant from the Buffalo Bulls.


Story about his hiring at Buffalo.




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Former UMass assistant coach Dyran Peake became the first of the former UMass staff to land a job as he has been hired as an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina.

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Wednesday--January 16, 2013

UMass OL coach Ron Hudson has taken a job with former UMass coach Nick Rolovich in Nevada.

Matty V. also has a blog post about Hudson leaving.

Since both Hudson and Kruczek were sharing an apartment in Sunderland during this past year and did not bring their families to Amherst, it would seem that neither were planing a long term coaching career with the Minutemen.

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Talking about recruiting, Scout,com currently ranks UMass' 2013 recruiting class as 7th in MAC, ahead of Western Michigan, Ohio, Northern Illinois, Buffalo, Akron and Kent State.

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A Bleacher Report writer ranks Kansas State's OOC schedule (which includes UMass) as the easiest in the Big 12.

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Patriots.com has a post on the local connections of various Ravens coaches and players. Mentions Clarence Brooks and James Ihedigbo.

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The Boston Globe rarely misses a chance to be negative about UMass sports. Dan Shaughessy has a sour comment about UMass retiring Marcus Canby's jersey.

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Saturday--April 13, 2013

Matty V. has a story about UMass tight ends. Featured is Rob Blanchflower.

Dave Roback/MassLive image

Blanchflower will one of the UMass captains this year. He went 43-464 10.8 AVE 2 TD 27 Long in 2012.

Good news is the return of Brandon Howard, RSSO 6-5 250.

Also in the mix will be Derek Beck, SO 6-4 205. Beck had 3-20 6.7 AVE 20 LONG.

Rodney Mills, 6-1 205 will get some reps as well as playing WR and FB.

True Freshman Sharif Custis, 6-3 215 is listed as a TE/H-back. From the UMass signing page: "As a senior, was an All-Catholic League Class AA First Team Selection ... Named to the Philadelphia Inquirer All-Southeastern PA Second Team ... Earned "Top Tight End" honors at the 2012 Nike SPARQS Football Combine ... In 2012, had 11 receptions for 289 yards and 7 touchdowns ... Also held offers from Stony Brook and Temple ... Older brother Kadeem played defensive end for Temple from 2009-12."

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UMass Football Clinic for Kids today at Gillette Stadium!!

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The UMass Radio Team (again) won the Associated Press award for MA & RI college football broadcast for the UMass-Ohio game on 09/29/12.

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A Nevada Blog has a story about former UMass OL coach Ron Hudson.

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Around the MAC:

Paul Haynes has Kent State in position to succeed.

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Breaking down a college QB's pre-snap reads.

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Tuesday--March 6th, 2012

Coach Molnar announces his coaching staff.

UMass article here.

Matty V and the Gazette article here.

MassLive.com here.

Boston Herald here.
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Some additional material on coaches I haven't covered before:

Jeff Burris Defensive backs /community outreach

Wikipedia article. Notre Dame career.













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Ted Daisher

Bryant bio here. As well as his other coaching jobs, Daisher has coached at two MAC schools: Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan








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Rod Plummer

Yale bio here.

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I've previously covered

• Ron Hudson
• Phil Elamassian
•  Mike Kruczek
• Dave Sollazzo
• Allen Suber

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ESPN blog says it will cost Temple $2 million to leave the A10 immediately.

Philly.com says the Big East presidents will vote Wednesday on admitting Temple.

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Saturday--January 26, 2013

Harry Plumer reports that the 2014 game between UMass and Penn State may be canceled. If we have a contract with the Nittany Lions, not just a handshake agreement, UMass should get a fairly large buyout payment.

ESPN has more here.
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Brian Polian comments on his staff at Nevada, including former UMass coaches Nick Rolovich and Ron Hudson.

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Central Michigan extended the contract of HC Dan Enos recently.

BTW, remember when UMass played Central Michigan and I said I was impressed with the size and strength of their OL?

Multiple sources say CMU's Eric Fisher 6-7 305 is a first-round NFL draft pick.

Another story about Fisher here.

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Purdue picks up a Boston College decommit.

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Dan Peeves turned the Raven's defense around (quotes by James Ihedigbo).

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Wednesday--April 4th, 2011

Linebackers, not the sanest of individuals

Continuing our series on the UMass defense. The Minutemen lost only one linebacker out of the last two-deep chart I have. But it was a big loss as Tyler Holmes graduated. He was the leading tackler on the team going 11-11 GP-GS 69 UT 49 AT 118 TT 6.0 TFL 2.0-17 SACKS 1-0 INT  7 BKUP. Holmes also led UMass in pass BKUP.

UPDATE: As a commenter pointed out I missed Shane Viveiros and Courtney Jackson. Actually, I picked up that this morning, but Comcast dropped a 10 hour service outage on me for the rest of the day.

The Minutemen also lose Shane Viveiros 6-6 GP-GS 15 UT 11 AT 26 TT 3.0-17 TFL 1-26 INT 2 BKUP. The UMass defense was a lot better when Viveiros was in there. Also graduating was Courtney Jackson 8-3 GP-GS 7 UT 5 AT 12 TT.

Returning in 2011:

• D.J. Adeoba RSSR 11-3 GP-GS 15 UT 15 AT 30 TT 2.0-4 TFL 1-2 INT 3 BKUP
• Stanley Andre RSSO 1-0 GP-GS 1 UT 1 TT
• Tim Brandt RSJR 11-0 GP_GS 24 UT 9 UT 33 TT 3.5-15 TFL 1 BKUP
• Tom Brandt RSJR 9-1 GP-GS 7 UT 2 AT 9 TT 1.0-4 TFL 1.0-6 SACK
• Matt Campbell RSSO 
• Ryan Delaire RSSO 10-0 GP-GS 3 UT 6 AT 9 TT 10.0-4 TFL 
• Chad Hunte SR 11-10 GP-GS 37 UT 21 AT 58 TT 2.0 TFL
• Perry McIntyre SR 11-10 GP-GS 53 UT 63 AT 116 TT 11.5-56 TFL 6.5-43 SACKS 2 BKUP
• Carlito Weaver RSJR 3-0 GP-GS 2 UT

The Minutemen return the #2 and #4 leading tacklers on the defense. Counting dual-position players there are five possible LB's on the the 2012 recruiting list.

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Matty V reports the UMass offensive line has impressed Coach Hudson.

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Ron Chimelis has a story about the improved UMass hoops program and covers the four MAC games we will play next year. Ohio's run to the Sweet Sixteen should make a good home for UMass fans.

A couple of NCAA appearances would not hurt UMass' image if we try for a BCS league in football in the future.

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Victor Cruz is a restricted free agent, so he is stuck with his contract. He can't imagine holding out.

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