A familiar face will return to UMass as the Minutemen continue the transition into FBS play.
The school officially announced Monday that Mark Whipple will return to Amherst as head coach and will be introduced in a press conference Tuesday morning at 11 a.m.
As the head coach of the Minutemen from 1998-2003, Whipple guided his team to a 49-26 record and an NCAA I-AA National Championship in his first year in 1998. Whipple’s team also reached the I-AA playoffs in 1999 and 2003.
Whipple is replacing Charley Molnar, who led UMass to back-to-back 1-11 seasons in the school's first two seasons competing at the FBS level.
The 56-year-old Whipple has been a coach for 31 years, with stints with both colleges an NFL teams. He was the head coach at New Haven and Brown before originally taking the UMass job in 1998. He left UMass in 2003 for a position with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also coached with the Philadelphia Eagles, University of Miami (FL) and the Cleveland Browns.
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