Rumors that the University of Massachusetts is honing in on one specific candidate to fill its vacant athletic director position appear to be nothing more than speculation.
According to a report from the Daily Hampshire Gazette, former Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo said he hadn’t heard from UMass, nor did he have any interest in the position. A Northampton native, DeFilippo headed Boston College’s athletic department for 15 years before retiring in 2015.
His name surfaced recently in connection with position at UMass, which opened after former athletic director John McCutcheon left earlier this month to take the same position at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
According to the report, UMass is instead interested in Kennesaw State athletic director Vaughn Williams, who graduated from UMass in 1992 and played football for the Minutemen.
Rounding out the football schedule
Despite not having an athletic director in place, UMass is actively trying to fill the remaining vacancies on its football schedule, according to the report.
The University reportedly reached out to ESPN’s Dave Brown to assist in scheduling three more home games for its 2016 schedule. Brown is currently ESPN’s vice president of college sports programming and has experience aiding other schools in similar situation.
Currently, UMass only has two home games scheduled — against Connecticut and Rhode Island — and NCAA rules mandate every team has at least five home games.
Mark Chiarelli can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.
