Good morning!
Northampton native Jason Tudryn has a new job. Earlier this month he was hired by BC football coach Jeff Hafley to be the team’s recruiting director. “There’s a lot of buckets to fill,” he said of his responsibilities, “but mainly I’ll be directing the scouting department, following recruits on social media and managing the on-campus recruiting.”

The 49-year-old Tudryn hails from a football family. His brother Jeremy was an all-state quarterback and his late father Frank Tudryn was a coaching legend at both Northampton High School and at Gulf Coast High School in Naples, Florida.

Tudryn played for his dad and was recruited by Jim Reid to play at UMass, where he was a four-year starter. A few years after he graduated in 1996, his father and mother Pam left for southwest Florida. “There’s just so much talent down there,” said Jason, who accompanied his parents to Florida along with family friend Mike Kuchieski, who’s now the GHS athletic director and football coach.

When Frank Tudryn died of cancer in 2010, Gulf Coast named its gridiron Tudryn Field and emblazoned his name on a boulder near the locker room for players to “pound the rock” before each game.

“Coach Tudryn changed my son’s life,” one parent told the Naples Daily News. “A lot of kids are in college now because he taught them how to be good people.”

Jason has emulated his father’s approach to the game. This is his eighth stop on a football trail that began at Curry College and continued at AIC, where he got his masters degree in special ed. He was the director of high school relations at the University of North Carolina when UMass coach Walt Bell hired him to coach the safeties and defensive backs.

“To build a program takes time and it’s gotta take some patience and you’ve gotta win games,” Tudryn said of his UMass experience. “I love the place. It’s been through rough times before and I think it’ll persevere.”

When Bell was fired, Tudryn was out of a job with a wife and two children to support. At UMass he was friends with Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, who’s now BC’s associate head coach and who helped Tudryn land his new gig at the Heights.

The Eagles’ spring game is three weeks from today, and the season opener is Sept. 3 at home against Rutgers, but what matters to Tudryn is getting players who will help the program down the road.

“I’m just getting my feet on the ground and knowing our footprint,” he said, “but I’m always working ahead to next year and beyond.”

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Jim Reid has been named the defensive coordinator at Mass. Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay. Reid lives on Cape Cod with his wife Judy and had been the UMass defensive line coach.

The 71-year-old Reid has coached on gridirons from Iowa to Miami and from Richmond to Syracuse. When a friend asked why he didn’t simply retire, Reid responded: “For what? I’m here to coach football.”

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The Keene State men’s basketball team won the Little East Conference tournament and reached the second round of the NCAA D-III tournament. The Owls finished 21-7, their fourth 20-win season in six years under coach Ryan Cain. Cain played at WPI and remains the Engineers’ all-time leading scorer. His right-hand man on the bench in Keene is former Pioneer coach Dave Hastings, whom he hired six years ago and quickly promoted to be his associate head coach.

The Owls roster includes 10 players from the Commonwealth, the closest being LJ Hicks of Gardner, who was the all-time leading scorer at Murdock High School in Winchendon.

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Hockey East has lost its grip as one of the top conferences in the country. By my count, its teams played 31 non-conference games against teams from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (Denver, Colorado College, Omaha and Minnesota Duluth), the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (Bowling Green, Minnesota State and Northern Michigan) and the Big Ten (Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Wisconsin) plus independents Alaska and Arizona State.

Their record was a collective 10-19-2.

“They’re playing a different game than what we’re seeing in the east,” the N.E. Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver told Adam Wodon and Mike Machnik on this week’s College Hockey News podcast. “It’s a much tougher game with older kids playing a high level of hockey.”

Divver speculated better television exposure prompts kids to go west to hone their talent.

As for the Hockey East tournament, Divver said that Northeastern goalie Devon Levi holds the key to the Huskies’ fortunes. Levi leads the country with a .954 save percentage.

Divver also gave props to a pair of UMass players for their stalwart performance in last week’s quarterfinal win against Providence. “I haven’t seen a hit at any game at any level like the hit (Alex) Del Gaizo put on Jamie Engelbert, and (Bobby) Trivigno was laying out cross checks like candy on Halloween.”

SQUIBBERS: Looking for the next Dustin Pedroia? Second baseman Nick Yorke turns 20 next month and was Boston’s 17th overall pick in the 2020 draft. He inked a $2.7 million signing bonus and in 97 games for Single-A Greenville and Salem, he batted .325 with 20 doubles and 14 home runs in 378 at-bats. … … The Yankees took a big chance by acquiring third baseman Josh Donaldson. He’s got a big bat but can be a first-class jerk which is why this is his sixth team in 11 years. Oakland shipped him to Toronto after he angrily called A’s GM Billy Beane “Billy Boy” to his face (as reported by Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller in 2014). … NFL analyst Mike Florio said he was disappointed his publisher wouldn’t use an Aaron Rodgers quote for a blurb on the back cover of his book Play Makers: How the NFL Really Works (and Doesn’t). Florio’s longtime nemesis remarked “Dont waste your time reading crap like that,” although Florio added, “He just said it about me generally.” … The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly covers the Steelers and thinks the Mitch Trubisky signing signals a return to the days of the Steel Curtain. “They need a big stud defensive lineman,” Kaboly said on the NFL Network. … DraftKings stock is down 35.8 percent this year. … Chris Sale is 5-1 and has made $60 million since he signed his five-year contract extension. WEEI’s Rob Bradford said it took three months for Andrew Benintendi to return from a similar ailment. Sale turns 33 on March 31 and is fast becoming a giant Bosox bust. … The Red Sox couldn’t land either Anthony Rizzo or Freddie Freeman to play first base, meaning it’s Bobby Dalbec’s job to lose. … The Red Sox want $308.50 to watch the home opener versus Minnesota from 12 rows behind home plate on April 15.

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