An assistant coach who has experience with five collegiate programs as well as Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth has been named the third head football coach of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's football team.
Mark Robichaud (ROE-bi-shawd), who has served as an assistant at Bishop Stang High School since 2004 and spent nine years as an assistant at Shepherd College, an NCAA Division II university in West Virginia, will succeed Bill Kavanaugh, who resigned to become the head football coach at Bishop Stang High School after compiling a 104-64 record in seventeen years.
Robichaud, who graduated from Springfield College, served two different stints as an assistant coach at his alma mater sandwiched around a stint at Milford Academy. He then served as the inside linebackers coach at Wesleyan and was defensive coordinator while teaching physical education at the University of Chicago.
In 1992, he began a nine-year stint at Shepherd, where he served as defensive line coach, recruiting coordinator and athletic-academic advisor. During his tenure, the Rams went 54-31, posted eight winning seasons, were the champions of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference five times, and advanced to the NCAA Division II Playoffs three times, twice reaching the second round. He served under Monte Cater, whose teams have won 140 games in 20 seasons, ranking him as the all-time leader at Shepherd in both victories and conference championships with 10. He served as an assistant at Brown during the spring of 2000, and since that time has assisted at Portsmouth High School in Rhode Island and Stang while teaching physical education at Westport Middle School.
"I'm very excited to build on the success that the program had under Coach Kavanaugh," said Robichaud. "He left the program in great shape, and I just want to build on that foundation. I've been preparing to be a head coach for my whole career. My immediate priorities will be to hire a staff, evaluate the young men who are in the program, and get ready for our first game. I understand that we have an excellent senior class and some very good players, and I'm looking forward to having some immediate success."
"We're very happy to have Mark Robichaud become part of our coaching staff here at UMass Dartmouth," said Corsair Director of Athletics Louise Goodrum. "With his extensive football background, I am sure he will continue the strong tradition of our football program."
