Tuesday--January 10, 2012

Don Brown has withdrawn his name from the Yale coaching search as per the Hartford Courant. Several sources said he was the front runner in Yale's search. I'm not sure how well he would have fit at Yale. Brown had a significant portion of his success at UMass with FBS transfers and some prop 48 players. Both those sources would not have been available at an Ivy League school.

More from the Daily Yale news.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NBC's "Inside the Irish" blog says Coach Molnar was going to be let go by Notre Dame before he was hired by UMass.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former UMass assistant coach John Strollo (1992-95 has joined the Penn State staff. The article also mentions former UMass coach Ted Roof (1994-96) as a possible hire for Bill O'Brien. That brings the known Penn State staff to seven.

I've blogged about Strollo and Roof several times in the past.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of coaching staffs, wasn't UMass' staff supposed to be complete by last week?

Still no announcement from the UMass Athletic Dept.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No news on recruiting either.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday--March 5, 2011

A couple of inspiring stories this morning: Albany DL Eddie Delaney sheds disability like blockers, Yankee players step up to the plate for a Red Sox coach's daughter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Hartford Courant says under the current FBS Bowl system red ink is part of the game.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Hampshire opens its 2011 season with Toledo.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former Lehigh and Elon HC and now HC for the Ball State Cardinals Pete Lembo looks at the proper OOC schedule for a MAC team.

Note that the Cardinals will get $900,000 for a date with Oklahoma and former UMass assistant coach (1991-1995)  John Strollo is  OL coach there.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recruiting 2014--Thomas Holly

247.com image

Thomas Holly is the highest rated player UMass has offered to as per the ESPN website. Holly is a 6-4 303 pound DT from Brooklyn, NY. Most recruiting services consider him a four-star prospect.

ESPN bio here.

Being recruited by former UMass coach John Strollo for Penn State.

This article from September features Holly.

From the same HS as UMass DL Robert Kitching.

Holly has offers from 23 FBS schools. UMass has playing time to offer. He'd be an instant four year starter.

Sunday--February 19th, 2012

First of all, check out an update on Ryan Carter in the comments section of last Wednesday's blog post.

I think it's interesting that anytime there is something negative about UMass, dozens of news outlets pick it up. Ryan Carter does something heroic and, as far as I know, the sole article about his story has been in the Gazette.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass legend Marcel Shipp was at the UMass hoops game last night being honored as one of this year's UMass Athletics Hall-of-Fame class.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


An NFL Draft report on Emil Igwenagu from a Jacksonville Jaguars blogger. He projects Emil as a 5th to 7th round pick.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Victor Cruz will not get performance pay for his 2011 efforts with the Giants.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Penn State has two former UMass assistant coaches John Strollo (1992-95) and Ted Roof (1994-96) on the new coaching staff. The Nittany Lions also grabbed a QB coach from Miami of Ohio.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday morning aticles

Dave Coulson of Sporting News has an article about coaching changes in FCS/I-AA this year.

Speaking of coaching changes, a number of former UMass coaches lost assistant coaching jobs this year.

Former UMass coach and player Bill Durkin, was replaced after new Richmond Coach Mike London brought in his own staff.

Former UMass assistant coaches John Strollo and Brian Sherrod were replaced when former UMass coach Ted Roof was fired as head coach at Duke. Roof was hired as defensive coordinator at Minnesota.

In other news, Ricky Santos had his number retired at the UNH football banquet(with some bonus coverage of UMass hockey).

UMass coaching tree--- Duke University

Duke University recently fired former UMass assistant coach Jerry Azzinaro as defensive coordinator.

Azzinaro was assistant coach at UMass from 1992-1994.

Duke Head Coach Ted Roof was an assistant coach at UMass in the middle 1990's.

Duke assistant coach John Strollo was an assistant coach at UMass from 1991-1995.

Another assistant coach at Duke, Brian Sherrod was an assistant coach at UMass in 1995.

Saturday--November 15th, 2014

Blake Frohnapfel

Dan Malone has news on Blake Frohnapfel's injury. Apparently, Frohnapfel has a "bone bruise" and is making progress. As of now, Austin Whipple is taking the first team reps. The sounds positive as far as it goes. If Blake can't go for Akron with the short week, maybe he'll be available for Buffalo.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I received the following E-mail. Not sure if it went out to all the season ticket holders or just the Gridiron Club.


That was a heck of a game Wednesday night, wasn't it? Your Minutemen — our Minutemen — played tough on both sides of the ball for 60 minutes and delivered a strong 24-10 win in front of a great home crowd and a national TV audience. That's what we've been building toward this season.

I hope we made you proud. I know you made us proud.

It was incredible, on a night when winter temperatures descended on Amherst, to look up into the stands and see all of you — students, alumni, community members … UMass fans, more than 13,000 strong — there to cheer on our team.

Thank you for being part of a great night for UMass football.

I've been saying this all season: We Win Together. Last night, that's just what we did. Won. Together.

I hope you'll come back to McGuirk Stadium November 28 when we wrap up our season against the Buffalo Bulls. Show our senior players how much their efforts have meant to you. And let's all head into the recruiting season on a high note.

If you're traveling for the holiday and you can't make it, tell your friends who are staying in the area or coming back to Western Mass for Thanksgiving about the team we have and the tradition we're building. Encourage them to get out to the game, and bring their families. Tell them what it means when we say, We Win Together.

Go UMass!

Mark Whipple

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spencer Riddenhour, who played one season for UMass after transferring from Penn State, is in trouble again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This article speaks about Akron's improvement under Terry Bowden. Note that Bowden has 14 FBS transfers and 8 JUCO's playing for the Zips. Akron's best game this year was a 21-10 win over Pitt. The Panthers own website said the Zips dominated.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The MAC website features Akron OL Travis Switzer. Switzer's Zips bio.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I forgot to mention that former UMass assistant coach John Strollo in on the Ball State staff as offensive line coach.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the MAC Conference, Western Michigan is the team currently making the biggest turnaround.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Former UMass assistant Robert Talley appointed Head Coach at Stonehill

Former UMass assistant Coach Robert Talley has been appointed Head Coach at Stonehill College.

San Francisco Chronicle has an article here. The Boston Globe here . The Brockton Enterprise here.

He was an assistant coach at UMass from 1992-95. Delaware Assistant Head Coach Ben Albert was a senior at UMass in 1994. Also on the UMass coaching staff in 1994 was Duke's current head coach Ted Roof.

The image above is a scan from the 1993 UMass football press guide. Right Click for a larger view.

Coaches shown:Front row (L-R) John Strollo, Doug Berry,Todd Rundle, Bill McGovern. Back row (L-R): Head coach Mike Hodges, Jerry Gordon, Robert Talley, Bobby Erhardt and Jerry Assinaro.