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University of Massachusets Athletics
Whipple Earns Additional Coach of the Year Honors
December 04, 2003 | Football
Dec. 4, 2003
AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts head football coach Mark Whipple has been selected as the New England Division I Coach of the Year by both the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston and the New England Football Writers announced this afternoon. The award is the third Whipple has received as he was also named the 2003 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.
UMass finished its season 10-3, went 8-1 in the Atlantic 10, made its sixth appearance in the NCAA Playoffs and is currently ranked fifth in the nation. The Minutemen also won a share of the 2003 Atlantic 10 Conference title for the first time since 1999 (its 19th football conference championship overall), posted a school-record 10 regular season wins, had a school-record eight conference victories and started the year 9-1, their best mark in over 100 years.
Whipple concluded his sixth year at the helm of the Minutemen, and has led the team to a 49-25 (.662) mark including five winning seasons. Earlier this season, he moved into sole possession of second place on the UMass all-time list for victories, and needs just 10 more wins to tie all-time leader Vic Fusia, who posted a 59-32-2 mark from 1961-1970. In 16 years as a collegiate head coach, including six seasons at UMass (49-25 / 1998-present), four years at Brown (24-16 / 1994-97) and six seasons at New Haven (48-17 / 1988-93), he carries an overall record of 121-58 (.676). In 2000, Whipple became the first Minuteman coach in 20 years to lead his team to three consecutive winning seasons. He is also the only coach in school history to win 20 games in his first two years and needs just one more victory to become only the second coach in school history with 50 career victories.
Whipple will be formally honored by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston at its annual Bob Whelan College Football Awards Banquet on January 9, 2004 at the Sheraton Needham Hotel. He will be honored by the New England Football Writers at their annual Captains and Awards Banquet held this evening, December 4, 2003 at the Lantana Restaurant in Randolph, Mass., beginning at 6:00 p.m.