Massachusetts football coach Mark Whipple continued his award-winning ways yesterday, when he was named New England Division I Coach of the Year by the Gridiron Club of Boston and the New England Football Writers Association.

The New England Football Writers announced Whipple as their selection last night during their annual Captains and Awards Banquet at the Lantana Restaurant in Randolph, and the Gridiron Club will make things official at its annual Bob Whelan College Football Awards banquet on Jan. 9 at the Needham Sheraton Hotel.

It is the third such honor given to Whipple, who earned the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Award as well for his work in bringing the Minutemen to a 10-3 record overall, and 8-1 in the A-10. Both of those marks are school records, and UMass also appeared in the NCAA playoffs for the sixth time after earning a share of the A-10 title along with Delaware.

With the Minutemen’s 28-24 win over Northeastern on Nov. 1, Whipple took sole possession of second place on the all-time victory list with 47, and continued on to finish 2003 with a UMass career record of 49-25, putting him just 10 wins behind all-time leader Vic Fusia. Whipple is also the only coach in University history to win 20 games in his first two years.

In six years at UMass, Whipple has brought the team to a winning record five times, and the team won its first-ever National Championship in 1998 under the tutelage of the Brown graduate.

Whipple took the Minutemen to one of their most successful seasons ever, as they jumped out to a 9-1 record – the program’s best since 1901 – and took the other A-10 co-Champion, Delaware, to three overtimes before losing 51-45. Despite an early exit at the hands of Colgate Saturday, UMass finished the season ranked fifth in the nation.