Good morning!
Quarterback Gary Wilkos was a Staten Island kid who came to UMass when Jim Reid coached the team. He was tall, lanky and self-assured, knew how to run a play action offense and sling the ball deep.
The season opener in 1990 was against Holy Cross at Fitton Field in Worcester. A small Jesuit college, “The Cross” as it’s called, has taught students who later became senators and congressmen, educators and judges, and each year a handful of graduates go into the priesthood.
Wilkos came from a large family, and one of his uncles liked to stand on the sideline and watch his nephew play. Reid never had any qualms about it but Holy Cross wouldn’t allow anyone on the field who wasn’t part of the team. Reid told the uncle there were no exceptions, and he took it in stride.
Imagine his surprise after the game kicked off to see Wilkos’s uncle not only on the sideline, but standing near the Crusaders’ bench. Undaunted by the school’s strict policy he had come dressed as a priest.
For what it’s worth the game ended in a 10-10 tie.
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UConn coach Jim Mora needed four years to fix a broken football program that had won just four games its previous three seasons. After the Huskies finished 1-11 in 2021, athletic director David Benedict hopped on a plane and met Mora at his home in Idaho where they worked out a five year, $7.5 million deal.
To the best of my knowledge, the furthest anyone from UMass has ever gone to hire a gridiron coach has been the Sheraton Hotel conference room at Bradley International Airport.
Mora’s teams went 9-16 his first two seasons but had back-to-back nine win seasons in 2024 and 2025. Having accomplished his mission in Storrs, Mora’s off to Colorado State to coach the Rams for four years and $15 million.
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Yale and URI were the only two New England schools to advance to the second round of the I-AA playoffs. Last week URI beat Central Connecticut, 27-19, and the Bulldogs upset Youngstown State, 43-42, in front of 4,869 fans at Arnold D. Stambaugh Stadium.
Trailing 35-7 at halftime, the Bulldogs scored five touchdowns in the second half. Josh Pitsenberger of Bethesda, Maryland, and the Avalon School carried 32 times for 207 yards and three touchdowns, including a 56-yard run with under three minutes left.
Unseeded Yale plays at No. 2 seed Montana State today at 2 p.m. and No. 9 seed URI plays at No. 8 seed UCal-Davis tonight at 10 p.m.
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Boston College athletic director Blake James emailed alumni on Tuesday informing them that Bill O’Brien will remain the head football coach despite the Eagles’ 2-10 record. “Philanthropic support will be critical,” said James, a not-so-veiled way of telling them to send lawyers, guns and money. “[We] rely on your partnership, especially during this pivotal time in intercollegiate athletics.”
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Mike Cadran reports that the West Springfield High School’s boys soccer team was the only WMass team of 135 that competed to win an MIAA state title. The Terriers took down Duxbury, 3-0, at Doyle Field in Leominster last month.
Cadran found another nugget that was originally reported by former Recorder staffer Jay Butynski. “Only three quarterbacks in the area have ever run and passed for over 1,000 yards in the same season. Two played for GHS. Ken Suhl in 1987 and Zak Bartak in 2012. Athol’s Eric LaFountain did it in 2009, and fell 14 rushing yards short of repeating in 2010.”
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Three individuals who work in UMass athletics deserve credit for meritorius service in a bureaucratic system. There surely are others, but the people I regularly hear about are Title IX coordinator Kirsten Britton, ticket manager Warren Hayden and football publicist Dan Colleran.
Colleran’s also responsible for getting news out about the UMass rowing team. Back in the day he’d have been called the sports information director; nowadays he’s a senior associate athletic director for brand advancement. He’d probably prefer the former.
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Pro football’s hot stat of the year is the “EPA” which stands for Expected Points Added. According to AI Overview, the system was originally used for chess in order to rank players based on their performance.
Let’s not get into the weeds of how it works, but of 49 quarterbacks, Drake Maye leads with a plus 135, followed by Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott both at plus 133, Josh Allen (plus 111) and Daniel Jones (plus 89).
The three lowest are Geno Smith (minus 57), JJ McCarthy (minus 55) and Cam Ward (minus 87).
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SQUIBBERS: After 15 straight losing seasons how can anyone be excited about this year’s recruiting class until we’ve seen them in action? Not the spring game or training camp, but September when it counts. … Big Apple podcaster Mike Francesa called the Giants’ 33-15 loss on Monday, “A stinker in every way. The Patriots came out laying the lumber and the Giants were not prepared for that.” … Pats coach Mike Vrabel was on the Pats the year they lost Super Bowl XLIII to the Giants and undoubtedly told the team how terrible it felt. … Alex Bregman’s horse Governor Sam ran eighth under Flavien Prat at 19/1 in last month’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. The colt is named for his father Sam Bregman, a district attorney who’s running for governor of New Mexico. … Jack Musa needs 16 points to become the 11th UMass skater to reach 100 career points. Musa got his scoring touch from his dad Joe who is Western New England University’s all-time points leader with 187 (82 goals and 94 assists) from 1988-92. … Former GHS goalie Lynn Westlake is in WNEC’s 1,000 saves club with 1,053 stops from 1980-83. … Injuries have thrust the Powertown’s Madi Liimatainen into the starting pitcher’s role at St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vermont … UMass hockey forward Bo Cosman’s dad was drafted out of Ole Miss by the Mets in 1993 and started his pro career in Pittsfield. … Bob Robustelli passed away last month at age 72 in Stamford, Connecticut. His dad Andy owned a grinder shop at the Oxbow in Gill and was an NFL Hall of Famer with the NY Giants. In college he was teammates with the late Bob Sanderson whose son Gary was the Recorder’s longtime sports editor. … Joe Maddon wasn’t thrilled that Giants GM Buster Posey hired University of Tennessee coach Tony Vitello to be the team’s new manager. “When I was coming up you had to, like, go through the minor leagues. You had to ride buses. I started in 1981 and finally got a managerial job in 2006. There was a rite of passage, a method to get to that point.” Maddon managed three teams over 19 years and won the World Series with the Cubs in 2016. … Headed into Thursday’s game at Dallas, the Lions were 0-for-their-last-7 in fourth down conversions. “Take the field goal, Dan,” griped Detroit sportscaster Mike Valenti. … Redshirt sophomore quarterback Pop Watson made it into only four games for the 3-9 Va. Tech Hokies this season. Watson starred at Springfield Central where he was a Mass. Gatorade Player of the Year. … Retired Patriots center David Andrews to Jed Hoyer on NBC Boston’s Quick Snap: “I frickin’ love football coaches. They’re just a special breed and they’re messed up in the head, but maybe I am too.” … Twice during the Woody Hayes era the Ohio State Buckeyes ran up 50 points against archrival Michigan. After one of those blowouts a reporter asked him why he went for the 2-point conversion. “Because I couldn’t go for three,” Hayes answered. … Last but not least, happy third birthday to my adorable granddaughter Jules, who gets two parties this year not one.