FB Head Coaching List

rhodyrudder · Unread post by **rhodyrudder** » 10 years ago

I'm not criticizing your guy. My guy is a retired HS coach, for pete's sake.
But don't settle for a 'functioning offense.' It's not enough for me to just not get blown out anymore. I want excellence. Hopefully we all do, too.

SmartyBarrett · Unread post by **SmartyBarrett** » 10 years ago

I'm still 100% sold on Bob Chesney. URI may want a guy with more of an established track record, however.

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 10 years ago

Blue Man wrote:
rhodyrudder wrote:Don't settle blue man.
Want a winner.
I want a tournament team in '15.
If the Sox can win it all, and if Maine can win the CAA, then don't settle for adequate.
Think big!
Just curious...how does 2 1a bowl victories, 2 grey cups, and a national championship not = a winner?

More importantly he won at this level at lafayette and richmond - and he's an alum with family around here so it's not like he's looking to pull a rizzi.

Was fired at Virginia because the offense was terrible.

GansettRam74 · Unread post by **GansettRam74** » 10 years ago

Wasn't Thor at UMASS when Mark Whipple then Don Brown were there? Maybe they are two coaches Thor fancies. Honestly though, unless the school give the next coach the assurances the infrastructure will be better in say the next 5 years, I highly doubt we'll get anyone with a good 1AA pedigree.

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 10 years ago

Hal Kopp wrote:OK,here we go,candidates for next coach @ Rhody:

KC Keeler (told by reliable source he is interested) ex Delaware HC 1 Natl. championship.
Pete Rossamando (New Haven)
Reggie Barlow (Alabama State)
Pat Narduzzi (Mich. St.)
Bob Chesney (Assumption)
Todd Vasey (Dean JC)
Tom Masella (Wagner asst.)
Brian Jenkins (Bethune Cookman HC)
Mark Nofri (Sacred Heart HC)
Don Brown (BC asst)
Mark Whipple

Quite a list. If any others,let me know so can add when I send to Thorr. I will bet for half these guys,it is a slam dunk.
Need ASAP any others.

Rossamando hasn't lost in two years. He should get a call.

OBRAM · Unread post by **OBRAM** » 10 years ago

http://articles.mcall.com/2013-01-09/sp ... r-delaware

Here is a an article on KC Keeler.

Rhody74 · Unread post by **Rhody74** » 10 years ago

"... an 11-year resume at his alma mater ... included a national championship, four NCAA playoff appearances and a .623 winning percentage."

That would make him a football CFL at URI ....

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

Yeah, but a GOOD CFL, not a bad one.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 10 years ago

Iggy1979 wrote: Was fired at Virginia because the offense was terrible.

How is the RB coach responsible for the fact that Lazor and London couldn't get on the same page of which QB they wanted until week 10 that season?

He was a cheaper contract to eat than the mil/year Lazor commanded.

Not that it matters because London will be done there soon.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 10 years ago

GansettRam74 wrote:Wasn't Thor at UMASS when Mark Whipple then Don Brown were there? Maybe they are two coaches Thor fancies. Honestly though, unless the school give the next coach the assurances the infrastructure will be better in say the next 5 years, I highly doubt we'll get anyone with a good 1AA pedigree.

He overlapped the beginning of Whipple's tenure at UMass. He's definitely comfortable with Don Brown though. From 9/03-2/04 Bjorn was interim AD at UMass and from then until the end of his tenure he was senior associate AD with one of his job functions being supervising the day-to-day operations of UMass' football program. Brown was UMass head coach from 04-08, so you'd have to think Bjorn had a key role in his hiring, if not being the outright decision maker.

OBRAM · Unread post by **OBRAM** » 10 years ago

KC Keeler's record at UD
Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens (Atlantic 10 Conference) (2002–2006)
2002 Delaware 6–6 4–5 T–6th
2003 Delaware 15–1 8–1 T–1st W NCAA Division I-AA Championship 1
2004 Delaware 9–4 7–1 T–1st (South) L NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal 7
2005 Delaware 6–5 3–5 3rd (South)
2006 Delaware 5–6 4–5 T–4th (South)
Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens (Colonial Athletic Association) (2007–2012)
2007 Delaware 11–4 5–3 T–3rd (South) L NCAA Division I Championship 2
2008 Delaware 4–8 2–6 5th (South)
2009 Delaware 6–5 4–4 T–4th (South)
2010 Delaware 12–3 6–2 T–1st L NCAA Division I Championship 2
2011 Delaware 7–4 5–3 T–5th 17
2012 Delaware 5–6 2–6 8th
Delaware: 86–52 49–41

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 10 years ago

Here's a fun little exercise and might illustrate the difficulty any coach coming in will have. Coach A had a .689 winning percentage at his job before taking the URI position. He won one FCS championship, and made the playoffs in half of the seasons he was the head coach. Coach B had a .623 winning percentage, won one FCS championship, and made the playoffs 36 percent of his head coaching seasons. Can you guess who Coach A and Coach B are? Coach A is Tim Stowers who went on to a 33-57 record here at URI in 8 seasons with 1 winning season. Coach B is KC Keeler.

rhodyfan3 · Unread post by **rhodyfan3** » 10 years ago

How long do you think it will take to find a new coach? It really can't be the most desirable job.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 10 years ago

I haven't heard anything yet that makes me change my top 3 of Whipple, Keeler, and Brown, but at this point Don Brown is a clear number 1 for me. In 4 seasons at Northeastern (2000-2003) he went 27-20, 18-16 in conference play, had 1 playoff berth and finished the season ranked twice. In 5 seasons at UMass (2004-2008) he went 43-19, 29-11 in conference with 2 playoff berths, 1 time reaching the national championship game, and finished the season ranked 3 times. He was successful at Northeastern with facilities on par with ours and showed he could take it to the next level with his time at UMass. Who knows how KC Keeler would perform without Delaware's facilities and tradition behind him.

rhodyfan3 · Unread post by **rhodyfan3** » 10 years ago

Decided to look up Don Brown. Rhowdy, as you probably know he is the defensive coordinator at BC. Do you think he would want to leave that position to come coach at URI? BC is bowl eligible this year and can build off that success in the next few years.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 10 years ago

I don't know if he would A. be interested in leaving BC or B. if he would be in line for UConn's head coaching job. He was DC there in 2011 and 2012, and I'd have to think he would be someone they'd take a look at this offseason. That said, he's 58 and off the top of my head I can't remember a lot of BC coordinators that have gone on to top level head coaching jobs elsewhere. If he really wants to be a head coach again, UConn passes, and his relationship is as strong with Thorr as it seems it might be I think he's our next coach.

I can't think that this coaching vacancy will take long to fill. The fact that it took longer to announce Trainer's firing than Baron's would seem to indicate that Thorr had someone or a few people in mind, reached out to them, and got a positive response that they would be interested and that's when he moved on Trainer. All speculation though.

rhodyfan3 · Unread post by **rhodyfan3** » 10 years ago

He is definitely qualified. I like the names that have been thrown out here the past couple of days. I'll be excited when we finally know who the guys is.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

You could bring in Knute Rockne himself and he couldn't win here.

Stowers had the pedigree, but he couldn't recruit here for obvious reasons.

It's all about the facilities and infrastructure. What did URI do to improve those things while he was here?

Until upgrades happen, why would a recruit come here, versus even the lower level schools who have nice stadiums, etc?

If I was a CAA level recruit, I would look elsewhere.

brady1 · Unread post by **brady1** » 10 years ago

Rambone are you positive URI on anything?

GO RHODY!

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

I would/will be, once URI makes a concrete commitment to improve the football program.

They are doing it in basketball. Football will take a while longer, but they've got to start somewhere.

brady1 · Unread post by **brady1** » 10 years ago

Oh ok. I guess.

GO RHODY!

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 10 years ago

RhowdyRam02 wrote:Here's a fun little exercise and might illustrate the difficulty any coach coming in will have. Coach A had a .689 winning percentage at his job before taking the URI position. He won one FCS championship, and made the playoffs in half of the seasons he was the head coach. Coach B had a .623 winning percentage, won one FCS championship, and made the playoffs 36 percent of his head coaching seasons. Can you guess who Coach A and Coach B are? Coach A is Tim Stowers who went on to a 33-57 record here at URI in 8 seasons with 1 winning season. Coach B is KC Keeler.

So what you're saying is that Keeler wouldn't do as well at URI as Stowers did.

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 10 years ago

Hal Kopp wrote:OK,here we go,candidates for next coach @ Rhody:

KC Keeler (told by reliable source he is interested) ex Delaware HC 1 Natl. championship.
Pete Rossamando (New Haven)
Reggie Barlow (Alabama State)
Pat Narduzzi (Mich. St.)
Bob Chesney (Assumption)
Todd Vasey (Dean JC)
Tom Masella (Wagner asst.)
Brian Jenkins (Bethune Cookman HC)
Mark Nofri (Sacred Heart HC)
Don Brown (BC asst)
Mark Whipple

Quite a list. If any others,let me know so can add when I send to Thorr. I will bet for half these guys,it is a slam dunk.
Need ASAP any others.

From this list, I like Rossamando, Brown and Vasey.

Rhody4012016 · Unread post by **Rhody4012016** » 10 years ago

Todd Vasey can recruit even at a JC level he gets players from all over the country. Look at
the roster. Dean College went to a bowl game a few years back.

http://www.dean.edu/uploadedFiles/Conte ... Roster.pdf

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 10 years ago

I'm told from someone close to the BC team that no way on Brown.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 10 years ago

Iggy1979 wrote:
RhowdyRam02 wrote:Here's a fun little exercise and might illustrate the difficulty any coach coming in will have. Coach A had a .689 winning percentage at his job before taking the URI position. He won one FCS championship, and made the playoffs in half of the seasons he was the head coach. Coach B had a .623 winning percentage, won one FCS championship, and made the playoffs 36 percent of his head coaching seasons. Can you guess who Coach A and Coach B are? Coach A is Tim Stowers who went on to a 33-57 record here at URI in 8 seasons with 1 winning season. Coach B is KC Keeler.
So what you're saying is that Keeler wouldn't do as well at URI as Stowers did.

Not necessarily. Mostly just pointing out how similar the two of them seem to be from an accomplishment standpoint and that there probably isn't a miracle coach on this list. Any coach we hire will most likely fall flat if we don't back them up with the proper program upgrades. That's what made Don Brown so interesting to me, his success in FCS with poor facilities at Northeastern. Hopefully your BC source is wrong.

CTRamfan · Unread post by **CTRamfan** » 10 years ago

I like Rossomando's teams ability to move the ball. He was the OC at Albany when they made their nice run in 05-09. At New Haven as HC, his teams are darn exciting to watch. He seems to be able to restock talent each year.

jcru · Unread post by **jcru** » 10 years ago

My observation was/is: You need a good coach that can run some kind of Offense that can hog the ball and move the chains. Even better if they are dominant passing teams like Whipple had.

Then you need to be able to recruit talent. Because at this level, the teams with the talent advantage usually crush the other team, all things being equal.

And you need a commitment to infrastructure and salaries.

I don't want to put them 1, 2, 3 like that, a brand new stadium worth tens of millions would be like a rising tide, just like it was for basketball. But you need to invest in the coaches too.

Picking the right coach and trying to recruit players are the things you can do immediately. I like Thor, but handing the keys to that last guy, no the last two guys, was akin to giving up. Like saying "whatever" and mailing it in. That excited no one and did nothing. A lot more thought needs to go into this coaching search than that, if you want to be serious about winning. Keep in mind that the coach is going to be trying to field a team with both arms tied behind his back for the time being, so it not only takes the right guy, right philosophy, right attitude, but someone who is willing to leave something cushy to roll the dice with their career here, and believes 100% they can be successful here without a lot of empirical evidence to support that.

That can be difficult to find, but not impossible. Who is that on this list and is hungry, likes the area, etc?

Who on this list runs exciting smart offense, gets more than you have right to expect out of his players, and runs a lock down punch you in the mouth and bloody you defense?

jcru · Unread post by **jcru** » 10 years ago

I just looked on New Haven's site. That Rossomando looks good. Real good. His team plays in a glorified high school stadium with carpet. So, even given the state of Meade, that could be a virtual wash for the time being.

There is an idea too. If this guy could be had, and he likes preparing his team on carpet, it might be worth it to pave Meade for the time being. The team will play fast and give them a home field edge. It actually reduces maintenance costs as well after the initial bite. People at URI won't like that, but it doesn't have to be forever, I would make it the coach's prerogative what they want to play on.

jcru · Unread post by **jcru** » 10 years ago

Keeler looks good too. If he were interested as someone stated, I would pursue it. Right attitude. Either of those two guys should be able to produce something here.

Hal Kopp · Unread post by **Hal Kopp** » 10 years ago

With Albany as Rhodys main competitor,one of these guys will be available.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 10 years ago

I'm just glad that Thor made the move.
I trust that Thor will make the right decision here.
I am glad that Thor saw the light and backed out of the NEC - REALLY glad now that we are looking for a new Coach. This is the best League for URI to hope for in Football.
We should be able to recruit a solid Coach. Then the Coach and Thor can put together plans for enhancing the facilities. Coach first, facilities second - that is the quickest way to bringing success to the program.
2014 CAA Members
1 New Hampshire
2 Delaware
3 Stony Brook
4 Richmond
5 Towson
6 William & Mary
7 Maine
8 James Madison
9 Elon - new in 2014
10 Albany
11 Rhode Island
12 Villanova

BIG_FISH_RI · Unread post by **BIG_FISH_RI** » 10 years ago

The issue here is the recruiting has been SO poor here the past few years that it is going to be hard to dig out. The roster is so depleted of talent. the new coach is going to have to work his way thru a lot of bad players before he turns up on the right side of the win's and losses.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 10 years ago

BIG_FISH_RI wrote:The issue here is the recruiting has been SO poor here the past few years that it is going to be hard to dig out. The roster is so depleted of talent. the new coach is going to have to work his way thru a lot of bad players before he turns up on the right side of the win's and losses.

BIGFISH,
How much do you think that the decision to go NEC (and then of course back to CAA) hurt recruiting?
How much do you think it was simply we did not recruit as well as we should have period?

rhodyrudder · Unread post by **rhodyrudder** » 10 years ago

How much do you think that the decision to go NEC (and then of course back to CAA) hurt recruiting?
How much do you think it was simply we did not recruit as well as we should have period?

How can you recruit at all when you're shedding schollys.
You graduate 15 or so schollys, but you hafta go from 60 to 40.
Hopefully they saved a lot of recruiting $ that year!
Cuz they couldn't sign anybody even if they fell in love with Rhody!
That pump-fake was an enormous factor in our play the last 2 years,
to say the least.

GansettRam74 · Unread post by **GansettRam74** » 10 years ago

The monies saved on schollys was reallocated to other areas in the athletic department and I've been told by a few that most went to basketball! The $2mil the CAA gave them helped but many of the schollys given out the past couple years were 1/2 scholarships, and believe it or not 1/4 schollys. This has a lot to do with the poor recruiting and why they have so many RI kids on the roster. They were given most of those types of schollys. The number of RI kids decreased a bit this year and I envision will even more with the new coach. When I was in school in early 90's there was maybe one or two RI kids(Swistak, Gresh, Boyd and maybe one other). The last few years it's been like 8-10/yr.

Hal Kopp · Unread post by **Hal Kopp** » 10 years ago

Nah,The last 2 RI recruits Wiley and Conley are no longer on the team (I believe)?
Neither is Neill (good player but walk on). There were also 2 kids from Narragansett recently one was a transfer, They are no longer on team. You have Greenhalgh,Johnson,Favreau,Delgado,Bentsen and Ferland accumulated over 5 years. But really I don't see that many.
Does Maine,New Hampshire and Boise State have recruiting bases? Go to New London or Everett and get some kids.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

The turnaround will start with the next coaching staff [assuming we get a quality coach] and the next recruiting class.

The results on the field won't begin to show until the year after. To get to at least a mid pack level in the CAA, it might take at least another year or two after that, meaning most of not all of a complete 4 year recruiting cycle.

Of course, this will also heavily depend on what kind of facility improvements happen, and how fast.

GansettRam74 · Unread post by **GansettRam74** » 10 years ago

Hal Kopp wrote:Nah,The last 2 RI recruits Wiley and Conley are no longer on the team (I believe)?
Neither is Neill (good player but walk on). There were also 2 kids from Narragansett recently one was a transfer, They are no longer on team. You have Greenhalgh,Johnson,Favreau,Delgado,Bentsen and Ferland accumulated over 5 years. But really I don't see that many.
Does Maine,New Hampshire and Boise State have recruiting bases? Go to New London or Everett and get some kids.

Hal, there actually are 19 RI kids listed on the 2013 roster. That is such a sign of low level recruiting and I live and coach in RI. It's great for RI kids but bad for the program as a whole. Hopefully the new coach has deep ties in recruiting hot beds(PA, Ohio, NJ, etc).

Hal Kopp · Unread post by **Hal Kopp** » 10 years ago

Gansett,OK-you can't have a whole team of kids from RI any more than a whole team from Northern NJ or one HS in Miami.
They need to recruit east of the Miss. river. Diversity=mirror the student body.
Anyways,I heard the RI HS coaches are endorsing Todd Vasay from Dean JuCo.
Do you know him and what is the skinny? One prominent HS coach loves him.

sectionj · Unread post by **sectionj** » 10 years ago

Keeler may be going to Albany, definitely not URI.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

I'm guessing Whipple. Rossamundo would be a good choice, though.

Don't know anything about Vasay.

Do we want an established D1 coach that would cost more?

Or do we want a young guy who wants to move up, that would cost less?

We need to make the BEST choice in any event.

jcru · Unread post by **jcru** » 10 years ago

Whipple would do, if not Rossamondo.

Whipple is like the "Al Skinner" choice. If he has anything left in the tank, could be awesome. I never saw his New Have teams, but I was in love with what I saw of his Brown and UMass teams (from the perspective of being on the receiving end of whoopings, that is).

Too bad about Keeler, but if he doesn't want to be here, don't push it. To be honest, his resume is very much like Stowers was and I'm not sure that is going to get the job done around here. Besides, his "spread no huddle" offense doesn't excite me, sounds too much like Stowers (again). Whipple's pro style passing offense is a much more exciting thing to watch. Offense was never a problem with that guy.

I haven't seen Rossamondo's offense, but it seems good on paper.

Hal Kopp · Unread post by **Hal Kopp** » 10 years ago

Whipple would be great also.
Guys,there are going to be some terrific choices.

woonsocketURIfan · Unread post by **woonsocketURIfan** » 10 years ago

I've been reading posts about the next HC at URI football and Rhody should take a close look the DEAN JC coach Todd Vasey. The guy has had 9 consecutive winning seasons and 4 conference championships. He rebuilt an ailing Dean JC program into a nationally respected program, and in 2011 won the college’s first National Bowl Game. In the final 2011 NJCAA poll, Dean was ranked 8th in the country.

His ability to recruit both FCS and FBS student athletes is evident throughout the CAA. URI football standouts Robbie Jackson, Doug Johnson, and Donavon Walker are Dean alums. Former URI stars Anthony Baskerville, and Stanley Dunbar were former Dean JC players. Maine, Towson, New Hampshire, and Old Dominion have signed Dean players as well.

Lamonte Gaddis from Cleveland finished at Dean, signs with Towson, and is now a 2 time All American. (Trainer didn't offer?)

A former DEAN JC guy who had a offer from Trainer, signed with ODU and could be an NFL draft pick.
Check out the link: http://hamptonroads.com/2013/11/odu-lin ... s-interest

Besides the CAA, he has had players sign to Sacred Heart, Bryant University, Central Connecticut, Wagner, Murray State, North Carolina A & T, North Carolina Central, Lamar, South Florida, Western Kentucky, FIU, FAU, Elon, Akron, Bethune Cookman, Texas Southern, Mississippi State, and Clemson.

The guy has shown he can rebuild a program and maintained consistency for almost a decade. URI needs a coach that can bring a quick influx of talent then build for the the long term.

BIG_FISH_RI · Unread post by **BIG_FISH_RI** » 10 years ago

ramster wrote:
BIG_FISH_RI wrote:The issue here is the recruiting has been SO poor here the past few years that it is going to be hard to dig out. The roster is so depleted of talent. the new coach is going to have to work his way thru a lot of bad players before he turns up on the right side of the win's and losses.
BIGFISH,
How much do you think that the decision to go NEC (and then of course back to CAA) hurt recruiting?
How much do you think it was simply we did not recruit as well as we should have period?

I think the NEC thing and the recruiting is poor excuss. I understand the limited amount of ships available but the talent was just not there. URI for years have recruite the wrong players. They have a pool of former players coaching right here in the state and will not look to them for input. There are about 5 players from RI that URI never looked at and these kids are really good players. I bet the WR from Cranston East is not even on URI radar. The kid is GREAT. He went down to a 7 on 7 tourney at Uconn and the offered the kid right on the spot. The RB from Cranston east Monrow is another one. Unbelieveable talent for URI and they haven't even reached out to the kid. This is Why I wanted trainer gone so BAD!!!!

He was a POOR recruiter and could not judge talent. RI has minimal talent but you cant let the best plears get away from you.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 10 years ago

I agree with the BIG FISH about recruiting.

Trainor couldn't recruit. Don't have to elaborate on it.

His play calling sucked, but some of that was out of necessity. He had very little talent at the skill positions, especially at QB.

Sort of like Geno Smith with the Jets. This guy is a bomb. They will never win with him at QB. Rookie or not, he's awful. Matt Simms is way better, yet he sits. The excuse is, well he doesn't have any experience. That's a ridiculous excuse. They don't want to admit they made ANOTHER mistake at QB, after Sanchez.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 10 years ago

Three CAA schools are now looking for a coach - James Madison today joined URI and Albany firing long time head coach Mickey Matthews. Matthews had one national FCS championship (2004) in 15 years for the Dukes.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/sports/col ... 0f31a.html

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 10 years ago

James Madison will be moving up to FBS soon, perhaps making the announcement as soon as right after the basketball season ends. They released a feasability study in October. Perhaps they're making this coaching move with an eye toward hiring the coach that will lead them in the transition.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 10 years ago

RhowdyRam02 wrote:James Madison will be moving up to FBS soon, perhaps making the announcement as soon as right after the basketball season ends. They released a feasability study in October. Perhaps they're making this coaching move with an eye toward hiring the coach that will lead them in the transition.

I think their eye on the possible move up is certainly part of the reason he is gone. Their program has stalled out in recent years and that is not attractive to prospective conferences.

Furthermore they need to feed the beast that is JMU football. They are at a completely different level than anyone remaining in the CAA with the possible execption of Delaware. They have the nicest and biggest stadium (25k seats) in the league. They have spent on lot on infrastructure and continually spend big dollars on operation expenses. They need to sell tickets to maintain all that and pay off debt. Perennial .500'ish seasonS will not excite the fanbase. The expectations in Harrisonburg are far different than in Kingston.

JMU is very interesting case as they now stick out in the CAA. Their fans are very envious of what ODU was able to do in such a short time frame. Many of their fans are hoping for a CUSA or MAC invite.

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