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University of Massachusets Athletics
Stephen Tirrell Named Defensive Line Coach
January 30, 2024 | Football
Tirrell moves from administrative role back to the sidelines.
AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts football has announced that Stephen Tirrell has been named an assistant coach (defensive line). Tirrell had been the Chief of Staff and Director of Football Operations, first joining the UMass staff in November of 2021 as the Special Assistant to the Head Football Coach.
Tirrell, a well-known name in New England college football circles, spent six seasons as a head coach of the Dean College football program from 2015-2021. With nearly 30 years of collegiate coaching experience, he took the Bulldogs from a junior college program to a full-fledged NCAA Division III conference champion in only four seasons. Tirrell and Dean College won the 2019 Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) regular season championship and advanced to the New England Bowl Series game. Tirrell was named the 2019 ECFC Coach of the Year later that season.
In 2018, the team went 5-5 overall and 4-2 in the conference, while seeing 12 student-athletes earn ECFC All-Conference honors and one received All-New England accolades for the second straight year.
Tirrell's coaching journey began in 1989 as the defensive line coach at his alma mater, Plymouth State. He helped guide the Panthers to consecutive NCAA appearances under legendary and current Massachusetts head coach, Don Brown, combining for a 19-2 record in his final two seasons on staff.
Tirrell moved on to Brown for four years, working with the defensive line and the special teams unit, before eventually being promoted to recruiting coordinator. In his final season with the Bears, Brown shared the Ivy League title with rival Yale as both teams finished with identical 9-1 (6-1 Ivy) records.
Spending four seasons (2000-03) with the program, Tirrell reunited with Don Brown at Northeastern. The duo aided the Huskies to a share of the Atlantic 10 title, won ten games and made the program's inaugural appearance in the NCAA I-AA playoffs.
Tirrell then joined the UMass staff, spending seven seasons with the Minutemen during two separate stints (2004-07, 2009-11). He helped Massachusetts reach the 2006 national championship game and win an A-10 Championship title during his time with the program. He also was an associate head coach and defensive coordinator for two years at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts.
A tremendous defensive lineman in his own right during the mid-1980's, Tirrell was a key cog in the legendary "Green Wall" defense at Plymouth State. He played for four seasons with the team recording a 38-6 mark and at one point won 20-straight contests. Overall, the program won four conference championships and made the program's first-ever NCAA appearance in 1984, while Tirrell earned All-Conference and All-New England honors.
A 2001 inductee into the Plymouth State Hall of Fame, Tirrell still holds school records for sacks in a season (14) and career (35) and safeties in a season (3) and career (4).
Tirrell, who also served as an Assistant Director of Athletics at Dean, graduated from Plymouth State in 1989 with a degree in education and he went on to earn a master's degree in Sports Management from Southern New Hampshire University in 2019.
Tirrell, a well-known name in New England college football circles, spent six seasons as a head coach of the Dean College football program from 2015-2021. With nearly 30 years of collegiate coaching experience, he took the Bulldogs from a junior college program to a full-fledged NCAA Division III conference champion in only four seasons. Tirrell and Dean College won the 2019 Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) regular season championship and advanced to the New England Bowl Series game. Tirrell was named the 2019 ECFC Coach of the Year later that season.
In 2018, the team went 5-5 overall and 4-2 in the conference, while seeing 12 student-athletes earn ECFC All-Conference honors and one received All-New England accolades for the second straight year.
Tirrell's coaching journey began in 1989 as the defensive line coach at his alma mater, Plymouth State. He helped guide the Panthers to consecutive NCAA appearances under legendary and current Massachusetts head coach, Don Brown, combining for a 19-2 record in his final two seasons on staff.
Tirrell moved on to Brown for four years, working with the defensive line and the special teams unit, before eventually being promoted to recruiting coordinator. In his final season with the Bears, Brown shared the Ivy League title with rival Yale as both teams finished with identical 9-1 (6-1 Ivy) records.
Spending four seasons (2000-03) with the program, Tirrell reunited with Don Brown at Northeastern. The duo aided the Huskies to a share of the Atlantic 10 title, won ten games and made the program's inaugural appearance in the NCAA I-AA playoffs.
Tirrell then joined the UMass staff, spending seven seasons with the Minutemen during two separate stints (2004-07, 2009-11). He helped Massachusetts reach the 2006 national championship game and win an A-10 Championship title during his time with the program. He also was an associate head coach and defensive coordinator for two years at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts.
A tremendous defensive lineman in his own right during the mid-1980's, Tirrell was a key cog in the legendary "Green Wall" defense at Plymouth State. He played for four seasons with the team recording a 38-6 mark and at one point won 20-straight contests. Overall, the program won four conference championships and made the program's first-ever NCAA appearance in 1984, while Tirrell earned All-Conference and All-New England honors.
A 2001 inductee into the Plymouth State Hall of Fame, Tirrell still holds school records for sacks in a season (14) and career (35) and safeties in a season (3) and career (4).
Tirrell, who also served as an Assistant Director of Athletics at Dean, graduated from Plymouth State in 1989 with a degree in education and he went on to earn a master's degree in Sports Management from Southern New Hampshire University in 2019.
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