The Final Four

[Hal Kopp]

Tom Masella
Jim Fleming
Rob Talley
John Perry

Some of their bios look great!
Really like the UNH connection with Perry.


"Deep Throat" aka "The Kingston Insider"

[jcru]

I have Fleming and Masella, 1 and 2, from that list.

I have to say, the list is less than thrilling. These are hardly the big names that were hyped.

That being said, unless he is the most talented person ever at positioning himself into winning situations, Fleming has won everywhere in every job.

Masella, on the other hand, might not be the guy for the long haul, but he could at least get the train moving in the right direction the way he did at Fordham.

My $0.02

edit

Also, obviously Fleming was the one we were waiting for his team to finish playing, so is this Thor's #1?

Links:

http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-foot ... jim00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Flemin ... _football)

[rambone 78]

Fleming or Perry. One of those. Masella? Nope. Talley? Doubt it.

[RhowdyRam02]

Disgusting. If this is the best four, than why waste the money buying out Trainer? If this is the best four, why aren't we disbanding the program and fielding a hockey team. This is a shit list.

[jcru]

Fleming or Perry. One of those. Masella? Nope. Talley? Doubt it.

I'd have to agree with this. Perry looks pretty good, relatively speaking. Would have to be one of those two.

[rambone 78]

I don't know about you, RR, but who with any aspirations would want to take over this program as it stands now?

I guess you could say, there's nowhere to go but up?

I don't have any problem with Fleming or Perry. If they hire Masella or Talley, I agree, they might as well shitcan the program. Or so it seems.

I will say, no matter who they hire, if everything else stays the status quo concerning facilities and infrastructure, then they're wasting their time.

Won't matter how good a game coach or recruiter they are either. If you can't get good players to come here, you can't win.

[jcru]

Well, if they hire Masella, he'll either kill it or cure it, at least you'll get one or the other. It could end up like BU, could end up like Fordham.

With Talley, the team will just flounder like it did with Trainer, maybe a couple more wins per year than that. To me, this is even worse.

[rambone 78]

Talley and Masella will be just another extension of Trainor.

Guys like them, whose successes were based on previous coach's players, we don't need. We haven't had any success with the previous coach!

My God, Thorr, pick either Fleming or Perry. Give the program a chance, willya?

[Hal Kopp]

I love Perry's UNH connection.
That is a model program.

[GansettRam74]

Other than maybe Perry, to me this list shows the school is not really putting a full effort behind the program. Thorr really needed to make a DH kind of splash and these guys won't do that. From people I've spoken to close to the program, there are other more successful coaches that are/were interested so it's surprising to see these guys as the Final Four..

[jcru]

Perry would seem to be the "Hurley" hire...

This from the day he was hired by Merrimack...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... merrimack/

Someone steadily moving up the ranks.

It would have to be him or Fleming.

[rambone 78]

74, maybe they were interested, but maybe they want more than this school could promise, as in program improvements/and or salary, etc.

What can we offer them? That may be the problem.

In other words, are we hiring a coach on the cheap?

If so, buh-bye football program. Soon.

[jcru]

Well, Perry isn't actually a head coach at the moment. He was fired from Merrimack a year ago. He's like the second offensive coordinator at Delaware.

Maybe Fleming is a better candidate. It seems to me, that Fleming is actually the candidate that Thor has been waiting for. I'd be happy with that hire.

http://www.bluehens.com/SportSelect.dbm ... SID=670230

http://www.bluehens.com/ViewArticle.dbm ... EASON=2013

http://themackreport.com/merrimack-foot ... y-resigns/

[Hal Kopp]

Perry resigned.
Anyone associated with UNH (look at Estes),UNH having another great year,knows what it takes.

[rambone 78]

From reading the bios, either Perry or Fleming would seem to be head and shoulders over the other two.

I would give the nod to Perry, but I'm not Thorr, so....

If he picks one of the other two, then I will go have a nice barf.....

[Hal Kopp]

Fleming looks great.
GansettRam74,who are the names that were interested.

[Hal Kopp]

My call=Fleming.
You heard it here first.

[jcru]

lol, when will the announcement take place?

[woonsocketURIfan]

Extremely disappointed with the final four selection. URI football is destined for another gloomy chapter.

There is no doubt Perry is a great coach, but if he would have the opportunity to move up to FBS, he would pull another Rizzi and jump ship as soon as the ink is dry on his URI contract.

Masella's head coaching record is 44-66 (must I elaborate any more?)

Flemming was a HC for a year at Sacred Heart.. rebuilding a program and coordinating a defense are two entirely different responsibilities. He hasn't coached in the northeast since 2000. Oh, most importantly, how many northeast kids are on the UCF roster from Rhody pipeline states NJ, RI, MA, and NH?

Talley's conference coaching record is 22-26..(must I elaborate any more?)

Is it just me or wouldn't make sense to at least grant an interview with a Head Coach who's rebuilt a ailing program, won conference championships (hence PLURAL), 2 national bowl game appearances, a national bowl game victory, and top 10 finish?

If this is the pool of applicants the athletic administration selected, URI football and it's athletic programs are doomed.. As a URI fan it would be heartbreaking to loose our football program and end up like Hofstra, and Northeastern. I hoped for so much more.. If these are the candidates, shut it down.

[jcru]

I would actually be fine with any of these guys except Talley. I would replace him with Vasey and interview the bunch of them, but URI isn't going to do that, for obvious reasons. It's a public institution, so it just can't hire however it likes.

I know people would scream their guts out if Masella got the job, but he would still be a big improvement over Trainer. I personally wouldn't have a problem with it. Rome wasn't built in a day, I don't see how Masella couldn't have this team turned around by year three, and if he dips too badly after that, at least you have the team improved for the next guy to take over.

I think most people would be happy with Fleming or Perry.

Again, I wouldn't mind seeing Vasey get an interview, but we all know if he didn't ultimately get the job, that people in the Blackstone Valley corridor would be fuming, either way. It looks like Thor may have ruled out hiring anyone without at least Div1aa experience this time around. Perhaps next time.

[Hal Kopp]

Vasey had phone interview.
Fleming coached 2 years at Sacred Heart 21-2 ??

[bressler3south]

Vasey had phone interview.
WOW!!!!!!! What, Peter Pan/RIPTA connections not working????????????? Too long of a ride to hop in the car???????????????What a slap-in-the-face!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycKtgZvyGVw&safe=active

[jcru]

Yeah, Fleming sounds like he can flat out coach. However, whether he could recruit to this area remains to be seen. He would have to rely on a more non-regional recruiting base, me thinks, but ultimately any coach isn't going to be able to get all of their players from this one region.

Masella sounds like the opposite. I don't think recruiting would be his problem, particularly New England and New York, but he has had great seasons and really bad seasons. I would rather go with someone like this who is either hit or miss, than someone who is just going to have Rhody at around 0.500 or less for a decade, just my opinion.

Perry may be more of a balance between the two. Someone who can coach and recruit the area.

It will be interesting to see who gets it.

[Rhodymob05]

Fleming does coach the defense of a BCS team that was ranked this season

[GansettRam74]

Fleming looks great.
GansettRam74,who are the names that were interested.

Rumor has it that they tried to make a splash and lure Narduzzi but he politely wasn't interested which isn't surprising in the least bit. He supposedly turned down the UConn job too. Boyles Award winner who was courted by A&M last year, not sure how UConn let alone bottom of barrel Rhody thought they had a chance. Believe it or not, Rizzi was another name being rumbled about but not sure how true that was. I also heard there were several FBS coordinators that expressed interest. I know as a coach, I would want total assurance that the program has complete support from the University, much DH did with the basketball program, and that there were infrastructure plans at least being considered.

[TruePoint]

GansettRam, no offense but there are zero "names that are interested" in your posts. There are names of people who aren't interested and a mention of some unnamed FBS coordinators who were interested (one of the supposed finalists is that, BTW), but you made it sound like Rhody let some better alternatives go by the board and I'm not seeing any proof of that in your posts.

[jcru]

Watched the replay of the UCF v SMU game in Dallas last night. UCF looks like a pro team, ranked #16 in the nation. They play a base four up front on D, 3-4, 4-4, that sort of thing, they switch it up with multiple formations. Not unlike the Maine D I used to watch a decade ago. Against SMU, minus the cornerback getting burned once, they were pretty much dominant.

On offense, they ran a pro style offense. A lot of shotgun with one wide each side, a tight end, a lone back. Sometimes they used trips right. The formation looked at first glance like Stowers spread, symmetrical, but they didn't run a lot of option. Rather, it looked more like the JMU offense we were always used to seeing. Who's to say Fleming would use the same offense or run a different one here.

If he is the guy, then we will be waiting a while, UCF is going to a bowl game. It's tough to keep this interesting in the meantime with so little information.

[RhowdyRam02]

I'm still disappointed in the final four list. To me the program is at a crossroads and I feel they need either a coach that has won in the CAA or they need a young coach on the rise who is so energetic that they can overcome the program's shortcomings and losing history. Anything other than that and you're just ringing up more losing seasons waiting for the program or coach to be axed. I was originally very excited by some of the names thrown out, so that made this list even more of a letdown to me than it would have been. If this is the level of coach we're looking at I would much rather URI go for UNH's or Maine's OC as opposed to a 50 year old retread. At this point the big FCS name or the coordinator on the rise are out, so all that's left is to wait for the disappointing announcement. Rhode Island football, catch the fever!

[jcru]

I understand your disappointment and acknowledge it. That being said, I will withhold my judgement until someone is hired. You said you enjoyed reading my website in 2001. This program is in a much worse position now than it was 13 years ago. Thinking the OC of either Maine or NH would like to come be the coach of this train wreck is an enormous assumption at this point and completely unrealistic unfortunately. Depressing , I know, but the truth. The people on this finalist list have nothing to lose and at least two of them are known to like the challenge of taking a mission impossible situation and turning it around.

The fact is, this list is probably more than we have right to imagine or expect. I'm almost afraid of scaring them off. Did it ever occur to anyone that when Vasey spoke to Thor, he thought to himself screw that, I'll stay right where I am thanks. This is going to be a climb just to get to respectable. I hope there is someone on that list who is capable.

[Iggy1979]

I would think a basic requirement is that the new coach has won somewhere else. That eliminates Tally and Massela.
Fleming is a defensive coach; Perry an offensive coach.
On paper, I would give Fleming the edge. Short stay at Sacred Heart but hard to argue with the record. And a coordinator at a good program.

[Hal Kopp]

Rhowdy,I was expecting bigger names also.
But,Fleming and Perry have the track records that deserve our support. Uri needs to consider somebody out of UNH. Take a look at how well they do under similar circumstances.
Vasey does not quite have their pedigree. His day will come.

[Iggy1979]

Fleming is an interesting guy:
http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-foot ... 12aac.html

[Ramulous]

I was hoping for someone younger seeking to make a name for him or herself.....

[Hal Kopp]

Ramulous-who ?
What is interesting is when I submitted the names,there were not many offered by the people on this board?
My point being,why wait(not you specifically) until after the fact to criticize?

[Ramulous]

I did not have a particular person in mind.....I don't know enough about college football and coaches to make a recommendation .....