Fordham Parts with Head Coach Masella

Following a disappointing 1-10 season, Fordham has decided to fire Head Football Coach Tom Masella.

"We feel bad for [Masella] and we're sure he'll be okay wherever he goes, but we have to turn this program around," Executive Director of Athletics Frank McLaughlin said. "We don't want to just be good, we want to be a very, very good program."

McLaughlin made it clear that the move was more than just a reaction to the past two seasons.

"This was not based on one season," McLaughlin said. "The three years prior we were 5-6, and we feel we should be better."

Masella finishes his Fordham career with a 27-40 record, highlighted by a Patriot League championship in 2007. It is his impact off the field, though, of which he is most proud.

"This program is in a lot better shape than when I took over. We have a brand new locker room, money was raised," Masella said. "I'm most proud that we straightened out the graduation rate and graduated our players. We had 42 players All-Patriot academic. That wasn't the case when I walked in the door here. Our kids go to school and our kids graduate. That, to me, is as important as anything."

Fordham hired Masella before the 2006 season to take over a team that finished 2-9 in 2005 after he won back-to-back Northeast Conference championships at Central Connecticut State.

It did not take long for Masella to establish success at Fordham. Fordham improved to 3-8 in 2006 before going 8-4 and winning the Patriot League in 2007. After that season, the Patriot League named Masella Coach of the Year, the AFCA named Masella regional Co-Coach of the Year and Masella was a finalist for FCS National Coach of the Year.

Masella was unable to maintain the success, though. He followed up the conference championship with three straight 5-6 seasons before this year's unexpected and injury-ravaged 1-10 season.

"The one thing I didn't do here is change the culture," Masella said. "If I had one regret, it's how you have to have winning football year-in and year-out. We had one great year, then three mediocre years, and I could never get over that hump."

"I could not change the culture, and there is a culture that needs to be changed," Masella said.

Masella helped introduce athletic scholarships for the 2010 season; however, Fordham football failed to improve, going 5-6 in 2010 and 1-10 this season.

"We've had two years of scholarship players," McLaughlin said. "Teams like Lafayette, Georgetown, Bucknell we'd like to beat."

Masella concluded his coaching career at Fordham with a loss against conference-rival Holy Cross for the fourth straight season.

The move did not become official until after the Holy Cross game, but Masella knew that Saturday would be his and his staff's last game coaching at Fordham.

"It was going to be a long uphill fight this year," Masella said. "I knew it was coming."

The players found out about the decision after the loss, according to senior running back Darryl Whiting.

"We found out just now," Whiting said. "He told us he was relieved of his duties."

According to Masella, he plans on coaching again.

"I'll be coaching in probably a month or two, somewhere," Masella said. "That's just the way it works out. I've got to figure out what's best for my family."

Fordham's search for a new coach begins soon, as McLaughlin expects to find interested candidates for the coaching vacancy this week.

"There is an institutional commitment to be good, so we will not have a problem finding a coach," McLaughlin said. "In the next week or so we'll find out who's interested."

There is no timetable on naming a new head coach.

"When we find the right person, we'll move forward," McLaughlin said. "We do a lot of talking so it will be a thorough search."

McLaughlin did make it known that it should not be a long search.

"We'll have a search in a timely manner," McLaughlin said. "We have eight commitments."