Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
COLUMN: Three Takeaways from MTSU’s Coaching Change Press Conference
11/29/2023 11:45:00 AM | Football
Director of Athletics Chris Massaro hit on several recurring themes in his time with the media on Monday
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — After announcing the departure of Rick Stockstill as head coach of Middle Tennessee football on Monday, Director of Athletics Chris Massaro hosted a press conference for nearly half an hour, going over the reasons the decision was made to change leadership for the football program, as well as the next steps ahead as the national coaching search got underway.
"It's a difficult day, really for all of us, and it's one that I hoped would never happen," Massaro said. "I just feel like change is necessary."
The entire press conference can be viewed on the MTSU Athletics YouTube channel here, where Massaro went into detail on a number of statistical trends over the past few seasons and his vision for the hiring process and future of the program.
Looking forward to the ongoing coaching search, here were three main takeaways I had after sleeping on the press conference for a night.
1) This coaching change is a chance to evaluate every part of the MTSU football program, from coaching to administration.
Shortly after breaking down the whys of moving on from Stockstill, namely MTSU's 16-22 record in Conference USA play over the last five seasons, Massaro made the following comment during his opening statement.
"We need to do better in a lot of areas," Massaro said. "We need to do better administratively. We need to do better to provide resources so we're not sitting here again in the near future."
Massaro would go on to highlight many areas where the university and the athletic department could do more to help the football program. Some are obvious to Blue Raider fans, I'm sure, and some already have progress being made, such as the work being done on the Student-Athlete Performance Center in the north end of Floyd Stadium.
"You'll see steel coming out of the ground in the next couple of months," Massaro said. "That will be a huge asset for us over the next 20 years."
There's also a plethora of other ways Middle Tennessee could look to support the new football staff in the weeks to come, from monetary commitments such as increasing the size of the staff to an increased salary pool for assistants, to finding more monetary support from the donor base for an NIL collective to help the staff recruit. Support might also take a more abstract form, such as reshuffling administrative responsibilities within the athletic department.
The nuts and bolts of what exactly the increased support will mean in concrete terms won't become clear until the new coach is hired and more details are ironed out. But Massaro made it clear on Monday that he's open to examining every part of the athletic department that touches the football program.
"I think we need to take a fresh look at what we do, how we operate and kind of do a whole, up-and-down evaluation of our football program (and) where we need to put our resources," Massaro said. "We don't have infinite resources, but we do have enough resources. Where best can we allocate those resources to give the new coach the best chance for success?"
2) The fan disconnect was felt inside the Murphy Center and rebuilding those bridges is a key part of this hire.
This is a related point to the prior one, but Massaro went out of his way multiple times on Monday to acknowledge the disconnect between the athletic department and many segments of the fan base in recent years, particularly those that thought the university was content with not competing for championships in football.
"I think there's a thread out there that thought we were okay with those results. We want to win championships," Massaro said. "We're building this building to set ourselves up for the future. We're going to do a really good evaluation of our football program and what we can do administratively better to help our coaches. This is a wake-up call. The fans that were disenfranchised, I invite them, as soon as we hire the new coach, we want to have a season ticket plan out there."
The director of athletics highlighted his hopes about working with the new coach and the community to increase MTSU's presence in the NIL game, a goal that's eluded the program in recent years but will be achievable with increased fan support. To regain that support, as well as to find new supporters in the always growing Rutherford County and Middle Tennessee communities, Massaro said that multiple people inside the athletic department will need to step up. But also, the type of coach he hires is important in building those connections.
"I think this department needs a little bit of an 'over-the-top' type personality," Massaro said. "It's something that I don't possess. I think it would be great if our football coach could possess that so we could go and reconnect with our community and our fan base. I see this as an opportunity to build all those bridges."
Onboarding the coach and their staff with the athletic department and community at large, Massaro said, will be critical to hit the ground running.
3) Time is always of the essence, but the hiring process will be sufficiently thorough.
With a packed (virtual) press room on Zoom from the various Nashville outlets interested in the news of the day, I only needed to ask one question specifically to Massaro at the press conference: what's the ideal timeline for making a new hire?
"In an ideal world, it'd be like right now," Massaro replied.
Point well taken. As many Blue Raider fans have noted, quite a few players on the team have decided to enter the transfer portal, nine starters from this year's team so far by my count. The fact that the portal officially opens up for every player in the country on December 4, plus early signing day for prep recruits a few weeks later, means that the sooner a hire can be made, the better for setting MTSU football up for success in 2024.
But while speed is nice, quality is the far more important component in a coaching hire and Massaro enters the search with no preconceived notions of the "type" of coach he wants as far as head coaching experience, experience at the P5, G5 or FCS level, or even offensive or defensive side of the ball. The director of athletics says he wants someone that can coach ball, make use of the transfer portal and help retain the positive parts of the existing locker room culture at MTSU, particularly the academic success and constant effort that remained throughout the 2023 season.
But demonstrated leadership seems to be a big point of emphasis for Massaro as a whole, particularly given the size of modern FBS football programs both in student-athletes and support staff.
"You have to demonstrate the ability to get 150 people or so to all row in the same general direction at the same time," Massaro said. "When you have that, you have a chance for success. That takes a lot of organizational mobility. That takes a lot of motivational ability. Someone that can teach and manage their staff."
"It's a difficult day, really for all of us, and it's one that I hoped would never happen," Massaro said. "I just feel like change is necessary."
The entire press conference can be viewed on the MTSU Athletics YouTube channel here, where Massaro went into detail on a number of statistical trends over the past few seasons and his vision for the hiring process and future of the program.
Looking forward to the ongoing coaching search, here were three main takeaways I had after sleeping on the press conference for a night.
1) This coaching change is a chance to evaluate every part of the MTSU football program, from coaching to administration.
Shortly after breaking down the whys of moving on from Stockstill, namely MTSU's 16-22 record in Conference USA play over the last five seasons, Massaro made the following comment during his opening statement.
"We need to do better in a lot of areas," Massaro said. "We need to do better administratively. We need to do better to provide resources so we're not sitting here again in the near future."
Massaro would go on to highlight many areas where the university and the athletic department could do more to help the football program. Some are obvious to Blue Raider fans, I'm sure, and some already have progress being made, such as the work being done on the Student-Athlete Performance Center in the north end of Floyd Stadium.
"You'll see steel coming out of the ground in the next couple of months," Massaro said. "That will be a huge asset for us over the next 20 years."
There's also a plethora of other ways Middle Tennessee could look to support the new football staff in the weeks to come, from monetary commitments such as increasing the size of the staff to an increased salary pool for assistants, to finding more monetary support from the donor base for an NIL collective to help the staff recruit. Support might also take a more abstract form, such as reshuffling administrative responsibilities within the athletic department.
The nuts and bolts of what exactly the increased support will mean in concrete terms won't become clear until the new coach is hired and more details are ironed out. But Massaro made it clear on Monday that he's open to examining every part of the athletic department that touches the football program.
"I think we need to take a fresh look at what we do, how we operate and kind of do a whole, up-and-down evaluation of our football program (and) where we need to put our resources," Massaro said. "We don't have infinite resources, but we do have enough resources. Where best can we allocate those resources to give the new coach the best chance for success?"
2) The fan disconnect was felt inside the Murphy Center and rebuilding those bridges is a key part of this hire.
This is a related point to the prior one, but Massaro went out of his way multiple times on Monday to acknowledge the disconnect between the athletic department and many segments of the fan base in recent years, particularly those that thought the university was content with not competing for championships in football.
"I think there's a thread out there that thought we were okay with those results. We want to win championships," Massaro said. "We're building this building to set ourselves up for the future. We're going to do a really good evaluation of our football program and what we can do administratively better to help our coaches. This is a wake-up call. The fans that were disenfranchised, I invite them, as soon as we hire the new coach, we want to have a season ticket plan out there."
The director of athletics highlighted his hopes about working with the new coach and the community to increase MTSU's presence in the NIL game, a goal that's eluded the program in recent years but will be achievable with increased fan support. To regain that support, as well as to find new supporters in the always growing Rutherford County and Middle Tennessee communities, Massaro said that multiple people inside the athletic department will need to step up. But also, the type of coach he hires is important in building those connections.
"I think this department needs a little bit of an 'over-the-top' type personality," Massaro said. "It's something that I don't possess. I think it would be great if our football coach could possess that so we could go and reconnect with our community and our fan base. I see this as an opportunity to build all those bridges."
Onboarding the coach and their staff with the athletic department and community at large, Massaro said, will be critical to hit the ground running.
3) Time is always of the essence, but the hiring process will be sufficiently thorough.
With a packed (virtual) press room on Zoom from the various Nashville outlets interested in the news of the day, I only needed to ask one question specifically to Massaro at the press conference: what's the ideal timeline for making a new hire?
"In an ideal world, it'd be like right now," Massaro replied.
Point well taken. As many Blue Raider fans have noted, quite a few players on the team have decided to enter the transfer portal, nine starters from this year's team so far by my count. The fact that the portal officially opens up for every player in the country on December 4, plus early signing day for prep recruits a few weeks later, means that the sooner a hire can be made, the better for setting MTSU football up for success in 2024.
But while speed is nice, quality is the far more important component in a coaching hire and Massaro enters the search with no preconceived notions of the "type" of coach he wants as far as head coaching experience, experience at the P5, G5 or FCS level, or even offensive or defensive side of the ball. The director of athletics says he wants someone that can coach ball, make use of the transfer portal and help retain the positive parts of the existing locker room culture at MTSU, particularly the academic success and constant effort that remained throughout the 2023 season.
But demonstrated leadership seems to be a big point of emphasis for Massaro as a whole, particularly given the size of modern FBS football programs both in student-athletes and support staff.
"You have to demonstrate the ability to get 150 people or so to all row in the same general direction at the same time," Massaro said. "When you have that, you have a chance for success. That takes a lot of organizational mobility. That takes a lot of motivational ability. Someone that can teach and manage their staff."
Derek Mason LIVE: Presented by The Boulevard Bar & Grille Week 3 (Video)
Monday, September 08
MTSU Football Weekly Press Conference 9/8/25
Monday, September 08
MTSU Football Postgame Press Conference @ Wisconsin on 09-06-25
Saturday, September 06
Raider Report Week 2 - MTSU vs. University of Wisconsin-Madison
Friday, September 05
