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New coaching staff is in place
As I mentioned in my previous post about new coach Tony Reno, the new coaching staff is in place. The staff will be officially announced tomorrow but here it is:
Offensive coordinator - Kevin Morris: Former UMass head coach had a total of nine years as the offensive coordinator at the I-AA or FCS level with four years at Northeastern followed by five years at UMass before he ascended to the head coaching spot at UMass in 2009. UMass had a 43-19 record and made a trip to the 2006 national championship game during his time as the offensive coordinator.
Defensive coordinator - Rick Flanders: Returns to the coordinating role he held for 12 seasons under Yale coach Jack Siedlecki. Flanders spent the last three seasons coaching defensive backs on Tom Williams' staff. During the 2007 and 2008 seasons, Flanders was the coordinator of a Yale defense which led the FCS in scoring defense.
Here is the rest of the staff listed alphabetically:
Kris Barber, tight ends: A former quarterback at Yale, Barber comes to Yale after spending one season on Tim Murphy's staff at Harvard. Before helping the Crimson winning the 2011 Ivy League title, he spent three seasons at Colorado School of Mines.
Kevin Cahill, special teams coordinator/wide receivers: Cahill spent the last three seasons coaching special teams at the University of Maine. He also had stints coaching running backs and receivers during his four years in Maine.
Larry Ciotti, running backs: Another member of Siedlecki's staff to return to the fold. Ciotti's first season at Yale was 1991 and he helped Rashad Bartholomew become Yale's all-time leading rusher. Ironically, that mark was broken by Robert Carr and then Mike McLeod, both who were coached by Ciotti's. Ciotti won five state titles during a 19-year run as the head coach at Hand High before coming to Yale.
Joe Conlin, associate head coach/run game coordinator/offensive line: One of three coaches Reno hired off of Harvard's staff, Conlin helped the University of New Hampshire to seven straight NCAA tournament appearances before joining Harvard in 2011.
Dave Petzing, outside linebackers: Spent the last two years as a graduate assistant on the Boston College staff and in 2009 was a volunteer assistant at Harvard. His coaching career begin as a student volunteer assistant coach at Middlebury when injuries ended his playing career.
Steven Vashel,, defensive backs: Another member of the staff with stints at Harvard and Maine. Vashel spent the last three seasons coaching defensive backs at Maine and he helped the Black Bears lead the Colonial Athletic Association in pass defense. Vashel got his start coaching in college at Trinity in 1991 and three years later was on the staff at Harvard.
Dwayne Wilmot, recruiting coordinator/defensive line: Another member of the 2011 Ivy League champion Harvard staff, Wilmot spent five seasons holding down both positions at Maine, the school where he was a standout wide receiver.
Offensive coordinator - Kevin Morris: Former UMass head coach had a total of nine years as the offensive coordinator at the I-AA or FCS level with four years at Northeastern followed by five years at UMass before he ascended to the head coaching spot at UMass in 2009. UMass had a 43-19 record and made a trip to the 2006 national championship game during his time as the offensive coordinator.
Defensive coordinator - Rick Flanders: Returns to the coordinating role he held for 12 seasons under Yale coach Jack Siedlecki. Flanders spent the last three seasons coaching defensive backs on Tom Williams' staff. During the 2007 and 2008 seasons, Flanders was the coordinator of a Yale defense which led the FCS in scoring defense.
Here is the rest of the staff listed alphabetically:
Kris Barber, tight ends: A former quarterback at Yale, Barber comes to Yale after spending one season on Tim Murphy's staff at Harvard. Before helping the Crimson winning the 2011 Ivy League title, he spent three seasons at Colorado School of Mines.
Kevin Cahill, special teams coordinator/wide receivers: Cahill spent the last three seasons coaching special teams at the University of Maine. He also had stints coaching running backs and receivers during his four years in Maine.
Larry Ciotti, running backs: Another member of Siedlecki's staff to return to the fold. Ciotti's first season at Yale was 1991 and he helped Rashad Bartholomew become Yale's all-time leading rusher. Ironically, that mark was broken by Robert Carr and then Mike McLeod, both who were coached by Ciotti's. Ciotti won five state titles during a 19-year run as the head coach at Hand High before coming to Yale.
Joe Conlin, associate head coach/run game coordinator/offensive line: One of three coaches Reno hired off of Harvard's staff, Conlin helped the University of New Hampshire to seven straight NCAA tournament appearances before joining Harvard in 2011.
Dave Petzing, outside linebackers: Spent the last two years as a graduate assistant on the Boston College staff and in 2009 was a volunteer assistant at Harvard. His coaching career begin as a student volunteer assistant coach at Middlebury when injuries ended his playing career.
Steven Vashel,, defensive backs: Another member of the staff with stints at Harvard and Maine. Vashel spent the last three seasons coaching defensive backs at Maine and he helped the Black Bears lead the Colonial Athletic Association in pass defense. Vashel got his start coaching in college at Trinity in 1991 and three years later was on the staff at Harvard.
Dwayne Wilmot, recruiting coordinator/defensive line: Another member of the 2011 Ivy League champion Harvard staff, Wilmot spent five seasons holding down both positions at Maine, the school where he was a standout wide receiver.
Labels: Tony Reno
posted by Jim Fuller at
10:17 PM
13 Comments:
I hope this New England-centric group is able to recruit successfully in more football-rich areas of the country.
I agree that the New Eng concentration might be a problem - similar to the prior staff being so oriented towards California in their recruiting, especially in the first 2 yrs.
Of the names added to Yale commits by Portal 31 after Reno was hired are Archuleta (CA), Thomson (TN). Dillard (GA), Meador (TX), Reuland (CA), Reece (FL). Also, Carter (FL) via Choate was persuaded by Reno over Princeton and Penn. Sounds like Reno is a pretty effective salesman. Strikes me that is the key, not where assistants are from.
Plus many of the best players from the past few years have all come from the Northeast, as many of these players are often overlooked by other programs. Abares, Henley, Mante, McCarthy, Harts, McLeod, Polhemus, Thomas all from New England + PA and NJ. Given the somewhat substandard talent of Williams last few west coust oriented recruiting classes, it might be wise to bring the focuse back to the Northeast.
Really? California versus New England? There's no comparison in terms of supply of talent.
Don't know about the others, but the Abares were hardly overlooked. Harvard made a rare mistake by only offering a place to Bobby. Harvard also dropped the ball with Dick Jauron. Maybe it will happen again.
Obviously California has more talent but my point is that by the time Yale gets their pick of the Cali talent all the best players are taken by FBS and high level FCS teams. Yale effectively is taking many of the lesser players on those high level football teams. In New England there is more accessible talent due to the fact that it is largely underrecruited by FBS teams, so the chances of high impact players falling to the Ivies is greater. Look at the impact players from New England across the league the past few years. Abare, Pizzotti, DeOssie, Farnham, Sewall, McLeod, Polhemus, Schweiger to name a few.
I have complete faith in Coach Reno to assemble a terrific staff. The guy knows who will and will not cut the mustard from a coaching perspective. I also believe he will be a great recruiter. We are lucky to have him.
Most of Yale's California impact players(Gavin,Randell,Coty,Okano,Orpenheimer,Liquori)all played varsity and are only Sophomores. I certainly would not call them "lower level" players!
Remember, Coach Reno's geographic recruiting area for Harvard was Florida. He has lots of great contacts in the Sunshine State, and those helped him quickly lock down some strong recruits with many other Ivy options,(e.g Carter and Reece) when he made the move. According to Ivy Sport's Board, Yale landed six Florida players. Penn had one. I'm guessing most of those players had multiple options, but chose Yale.
Get your facts straight...
Coach Metzler from the previous staff recruited ALL of the Florida kids that Yale landed this year before Reno was hired.
I believe I have my facts straight. I said Coach Reno recruited Florida for Harvard and had contacts that helped him close the deal with some of the Florida players soon after arriving at Yale. That is a fact.
I know Coach Metzler recruited the Florida kids for Yale, and did a great job in that regard. However, when he and others were not retained, the fact that Coach Reno may have known some of those same kids, or their coaches for a year or more was a positive.
The initial post was focuses on the New England make up of the staff being potentially detrimental to recruiting in states like Florida. My point was that our new head coach has good contacts and can recruit well outside of the New England area, and particularly in Florida where we lost Coach Metzler. I mentioned Carter and Reece because I believe both committed after Coach Reno was hired and because I believe both had contact with him as Harvard's Florida recruiter
Just give the guy a year or two before you judge. Coach Reno will know how to go about recruiting and will upgrade the talent. I don't know why so much time would be spent speculating as to whether he will recruit well or not. The proof will be in the pudding. Meanwhile, I think he will be the leader the program needs to take us to the next level.
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