New UMass Staff "Doing Things The Right Way"
The high school coach of a top 2026 recruit says to watch out for UMass based on the new coaching staff.
Jack Muldoon knows what big-time football programs look like.
Shoot, he’s in charge of one, albeit at the high school level.
But as the head coach at Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast in Drexel Hill, Pa., Muldoon has gained visibility into several big-time college football programs as well.
Muldoon, who led Bonnie & Prendie to a state title this past season, has had players seriously recruited by schools like Penn State, Pitt, Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas A&M among dozens of others.
He knows how coaches at big-time schools carry themselves, especially when it comes to recruiting.
After having his 2026 edge defender CJ Amobi get recruited by UMass and ultimately commit to the Minutemen last month, Muldoon is convinced the new staff in Amherst is well-equipped for a turnaround.
“They have the right guys in there,” Muldoon told Minuteman Command. “I'm telling you, these dudes, they're football guys and they're not there to play. They want to take that program to another level.”
While UMass will make top in-state prospects a major priority in recruiting, the Minutemen have already shown an eagerness to expand that base throughout the Northeast.
We’ve always stressed the importance of prioritizing successful programs with established cultures as prime sources for exactly what first-year head coach Joe Harasymiak is attempting to build.
The New England prep schools provide those opportunities as do programs like St. Peter’s Prep, Don Bosco Prep, Bergen Catholic and St. Joseph Regional in New Jersey.
And programs like Bonnie & Predie in Pennsylvania.
When UMass brings in a player from those types of programs, the Minutemen aren’t just adding a talented prospect, they’re bringing in a player who has been exposed to how things are supposed to operate within a big-time program and one who has played and practiced against elite players.
“100 percent,” Muldoon agreed.
From a recruiting standpoint, that requires UMass coaches to recruit the way Power-4 programs do. They’ve shown a propensity to do just that and not only has that separated them from previous UMass staffs - according to high school coaches we talk to - but also from their peers.
Muldoon says he met with UMass coaches multiple times about Amobi, something Amobi recognized.
“They were serious to him,” said Muldoon. “They made him seem like a priority for them and that's how you do it.”
Muldoon said he didn’t have UMass coming through his office much in years past.He had to go all of the way back to tight end James Welde, who was a prospect in the Class of 2021, who ended up at Villanova.
“James was a really good student, and I think that was one of the schools that he was thinking about and considering,” Muldoon said. “But he was considering them more than they were considering him.”
Muldoon said the current UMass staff is “absolutely doing it the right way.”
“I tell people, I'm like, ‘Man, you watch out for UMass. They're not playing,’” Muldoon said. “They're doing it the right way. They're serious and they're expanding outside of that Boston area. And even down to where they were hitting Bosco and Bergen and those guys.
“I'm glad they came down 95 a little farther.”
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