From The Pros to Pioneer Valley
UMass' new wide receivers coach brings professional expertise & outlook to Amherst
AMHERST, Mass. - Many levels of experience fill UMass football’s coaching ranks, but few have NFL experience like the Minutemen’s new wide receivers coach Jordan Hogan. As the 2024-2025 NFL season came to a close, Hogan finished up his stint with the San Francisco 49ers as an offensive assistant coach. This job marked the fifth professional team he worked with prior to Amherst.
“Just being with a really good organization like the 49ers, obviously they know a thing or two about winning,” Hogan said. “(It was great) being around Coach Shanahan and (John Lynch), and how they go about putting the team together.”
Hogan worked with many of the premier wide receivers in the world, constructing gameplans to maximize their potential in specific cornerback matchups.
“If I’m working with a player like Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk or Larry Fitzgerald…you got to make sure that your star players are getting the reps that they need to get,” he said.
Hogan compared dealing with stars like Samuel, Aiyuk and Fitzgerald, to working with T.Y. Harding and Jacquon Gibson.
“We’ve got (Harding and Gibson) in the room that are head honchos, and are kind of the lead dogs right now,” Hogan said. “They wake up already barking, chomping at the bit.
“Those are the types of guys you want in order to win football games.”
UMass’ wide receiver room continues to show progression. Both players that Hogan referred to made the decision to stay at UMass, instead of entering the transfer portal.
“They have almost been taking out all the losing that has been going on in the program on the defense so far in spring ball,” he said. “They have been making plays every single day. They have been a pleasure to work with.”
The wide receiver room, as a whole, isn’t preparing for specific moments. They want to be part of something much bigger than just moving the chains.
“I am not looking for wide receivers,” Hogan said. “I am looking for football players, because if you just play wide receiver, that means you will only be on the field for third downs when we are throwing the ball. I want guys that will be on the field for (all downs).”
He compared the skillsets of the wide receivers he has at UMass as prototypes of the group he was around in San Francisco.
“You want to have a weapon, a true number one, a third down option and a utility guy, kind of like George Kittle and Christian McCaffery,” Hogan said. “I believe we have the pieces and the people already in the office.”
As practice continues, guys are starting to separate themselves into the roles that Hogan referred to, but the learning curve is unique for each individual player.
“Some guys can just hop on the field, others are visual and some guys need to see clips,” he said. “It’s a really great brotherhood in the room. We are bringing each one along together.
“Everyone is going to need to step up in order to have a successful season this year.”
Along with Hogan’s experience in the pros, he also arrived with a MAC coaching job on his resume with Buffalo.
“I am already used to knowing what type of talent we are going to need to play with and win with at this level,” Hogan said. “We have a saying in our room that there is always more meat on the bone.
“There is always more that you can be doing, whether that’s getting an extra yard, or to finish your block a second longer.”
In all of Hogan’s vast experience at a young age, culture still is the main identifier with UMass that has stuck with him.
“I’ve been a full-time coach with two organizations, but I’ve been with five organizations, and you would think that all the organizations would be about winning,” he said. “It’s all different … Everyone has bought into what we are trying to do here. It’s going to be a quick turnaround.”
Hogan sure has a lot of confidence in his position room, as well as the future of Minutemen Football as a whole.
The spring game is less than two weeks away from kicking off at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
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