A confirmed candidate for the Massachusetts football team’s head coach position has been hired by another school.

Tom Masella, a former head coach at Boston University who has served as former UMass coach Mark Whipple’s defensive coordinator each of the last two seasons, has agreed to become the next head football coach at Central Connecticut State University.

“It became pretty clear over the weekend,” Masella was quoted as saying Monday. “I would have loved to have stayed and be the coach at UMass. But I figured if they hadn’t named a coach from the current staff by now, they were going in a different direction.

Masella takes over a CCSU program in turmoil following the dismissal of coach Paul Schudel, which included an internal audit requested by president Richard Judd that eventually exonerated Schudel after rumors began circulating that the coach was improperly handling meal money.

Prior to his tenure at UMass, Masella served as the defensive coordinator at Division I Louisiana Tech, where in 2001 his defense ranked 13th in the nation in turnovers forced and 11th in interceptions.

He is also returning to Connecticut, where he previously spent two years under then-coach Skip Holtz as the Huskies assistant head coach and secondary coach.

“The situation at Central was just what I was looking for,” Masella said. “It’s nice to be wanted.”

As for Massachusetts, sources indicate that the University would like to name an athletic director, as well as a new football coach, within the next seven days. However, the University has said it will name a new AD prior to filling any coaching vacancy.

The position was vacated when Whipple departed to become the quarterbacks coach with the National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers.

Northeastern head coach and former Minuteman defensive coordinator Don Brown has been mentioned as a possible candidate, as has current recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach Paul Gorham.

Brown, a 1977 graduate of Norwich University, has guided Northeastern to a 27-20 overall record in his four years, and an 18-17 Atlantic 10 record in that span. The Huskies also won their first-ever share of the A-10 title under Brown in 2002, which was also the year of their highest end-of-season ranking, No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, and No. 11 on the Sports Network list.

Gorham is a 1986 New Hampshire graduate, and has overseen the UMass recruiting program for the last five years. He took on the job of wide receivers coach in 2002. In his first year as wideouts coach, he helped the Minuteman receiving corps to a 203.9 yards per game average, putting it fourth in the A-10.