College football: Marist football set for season opener with new coach, philosophies

Before Mike Willis leads the Marist College football team onto its home field Saturday, into what likely will be a charged setting, there probably won’t be the kind of rah-rah speech typical of a coach before a big game.

“There’s no such thing as rising to the occasion or being clutch,” said Willis, who was hired as a first-time head coach in December. “I’ve tried to center myself and the program around focusing on the process. Performing well means falling back on good training.”

Their training, the philosophies being implemented by the new coaching staff and the early results of that process will be on public display for the first time as the Red Foxes host Georgetown on Saturday (noon) at Tenney Stadium.

A season opener, particularly at home, creates for any new coach the opportunity to make a good first impression before the fans and set a tone. For Marist here, there also is a chance to immediately turn some heads against an opponent that has dominated its recent matchups.

Home turf: Marist plans new turf field and track, launches fundraising campaign

Willis: Marist College hires former Princeton OC as football coach

'A satisfying experience': Marist football coach Jim Parady retires after 32 years

But that won’t be the emphasis, Willis insisted, and his team will focus only on “winning the day” and “putting our best foot forward.”

Still, the coach said gleefully: “If you’re reading this, come to our game!”

Marist will have an “analytically driven approach,” Willis said, adding that games are won not on the excitement and emotion of Saturdays, but in the meticulous study and preparation days before.

“The commitment to sabermetrics and analysis correlates to the way we train our team and staff,” said Willis, a former player and coach at Princeton University. “Everything is planned and practiced during the week so when it comes up in a game, it’s second nature.”

The New Jersey native succeeds Jim Parady, who retired last November after a 32-year run that was the longest active tenure among Division I football coaches. Willis joined the Red Foxes after a successful stint as offensive coordinator and associate head coach at Princeton, helping turn his alma mater into a high-scoring team that excelled in the Ivy League and developed some NFL talent.

Marist, of course, hired Willis in part because of that expertise and a belief that he eventually can produce an exciting team here and elevate the program. The Red Foxes went 4-7 overall last season, including finishing 4-4 in the Pioneer Football League for the third time in four years. They also averaged only 17.4 points per game last fall.

Willis hired as his offensive coordinator Bob Davies, whom he had worked with at Princeton in 2017 before the 29-year-old went on to help Division III Carleton College become a prolific offense. Davies, offensive line coach TJ Weyl and Willis work collaboratively on the offense but Davies’ voice “is so important,” the head coach said.

“We need to win the line of scrimmage and allow fast people to make full-speed decisions,” Willis said of his offensive philosophy, in the simplest terms. “We want to able to play with varying tempo, but I believe that operating fast leads to explosive plays.”

Offensive lineman Dominic Perricone and running back Tristan Shannon were among five Marist players named to a preseason all-PFL list, selected last month by DraftScout. Defensive lineman Nick Jackson and linebackers Tyler Ruscher and Angelo Vokolos were also chosen.

Shannon, who qualifies as one of those “fast people,” totaled 1,109 all-purpose yards last season, contributing as a runner, receiver and returner.

Jackson, along with wide receiver Mohamed Diawara, tight end Jackson Willette, offensive lineman Jake Anapol and defensive linemen Miles Kauderer and Gannon McCorkle were named captains earlier this week.

“I'm thrilled about the way our guys have worked,” said Willis, adding that his players had their highest ever collective GPA last spring. “I’ve been impressed with their commitment to strength and conditioning and raising their football IQ. I'm proud of how they've progressed so far.”

The syllabus for their football semester begins with a test as the Red Foxes face a “terrific team” in Georgetown. Marist has dropped four straight games to the Hoyas by an average margin of 34.5 points, including a 49-7 loss last September.

“I won’t dwell on that, and I haven’t talked to the players much about it,” Willis said. “Each season is its own living organism. The only relevance of games played in previous seasons is what can be gleaned in preparation, and studying how they approached our personnel.”

Georgetown opened its season last week with a 46-24 win over Davidson in which the offense averaged 8.2 yards per play. Running backs Naieem Kearney and Bryce Cox combined for 183 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries.

They’ll present an obvious challenge for Marist and defensive coordinator Mike Horan, a former defensive line coach at Harvard. During his tenure the Crimson won five Ivy League championships, the most recent last season.

“I've known him for a long time because he worked at Harvard when I was being recruited there,” said Willis, a former offensive lineman who graduated Princeton in 2014. “He’s smart and diligent, and I have a lot of confidence in him. The Harvard D-line room produced a lot of elite talent.”

After Georgetown, Marist travels to Pennsylvania to face Lafayette on Sept. 14 and then Bucknell the following week, before returning home to host Dayton on Sept. 28.

Willis became Princeton’s offensive coordinator in 2020, after which the team went 22-8. The Tigers averaged 33.4 points per game in 2021, going 9-1 and winning the Ivy League title. They went 8-2 and led the league in scoring at 27.8 points per game the next year before going 5-5 last fall in a rebuilding season.

He was effusive in thanking former colleagues, including Princeton head coach Bob Surace and current Missouri assistant Sean Gleeson, for their “great mentorship.” From them, Willis said, he learned about schematics, personnel management and his passion for recruitment was fostered. Those things, he said, will be carried over to Marist.

“Success, to me, is defined by, ‘Did this team maximize its potential?’” he said. “I’ve been part of a team that reached its potential and went 10-0, and an 8-2 team that exceeded all expectations. Success for us, this year, will be measured by how close we came to fulfilling our potential.”

Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: College football: Willis, Marist set for season opener vs. Georgetown