Staten Island, NY – Wagner College Athletic Director/Head football Coach Walt Hameline has announced that Tom Masella, a former star defensive back at Tottenville High School and Wagner College, who has gone on to coach at nine different institutions, most recently serving as head football coach at Fordham, has re-joined the Seahawk football staff as Associate Head Coach.

Masella will also serve as the Seahawks' special teams coordinator and secondary coach. A 1981 Wagner graduate, Masella played on the first team that Walt Hameline coached at Wagner and, during his four years on Grymes Hill, he intercepted 14 passes from his defensive backfield position, which ranks fourth on the Seahawk all-time list.

Masella began his coaching career with the Seahawks as an assistant under Hameline from 1982-84. Following his three years at Wagner, Masella moved on to his first coordinator position, serving as the defensive coordinator at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., here he also served an assistant athletics director.

“I am truly excited to that Tom has agreed to come home to Staten Island and Wagner College,” said Hameline. “I've coached Tom, I've coached with him, and I've coached against him. He is first and foremost a great person who is also a tremendous football mind and someone who will lend veteran leadership to our coaching staff. I am confident that our student-athletes and young coaches alike, will benefit from Tom's wisdom.”

 Masella has been a head coach at five different schools - Fairfield, Boston University, Central Connecticut State and Fordham. In addition to Wagner and the Merchant Marine Academy, he has also served in various assistant coaching roles at UConn, UMass and Louisiana Tech. All told, Masella has been a part of five conference championships, winning titles in 2004 and 2005 at Central Connecticut, in 2003 at the University of Massachusetts and in 2001 at Louisiana Tech in addition to the 2007 Patriot League crown.

““I'm excited to be back at my alma mater and to be back home here on Staten Island,” Masella said. “Obviously I have the utmost respect for Walt Hameline as a person and as a football coach. This is an exciting opportunity for me and I can't wait to jump in and start getting to know and working with the players and the rest of the coaching staff.”

In his second season at Fordham in 2007, Masella guided the Rams to one of the best turnarounds in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as the Rams rebounded from a 3-8 record in 2006 to post an 8-4 mark that year and won the 2007 Patriot League crown, earning a berth in the NCAA FCS Championship. At the conclusion of the 2007 season, Masella was honored as the Patriot League Coach of the Year as well as the AFCA Regional Co-Coach of the Year. He also was named the Bronx Sportsperson of the Year by the New York Daily News as well as being a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award, presented annually to the NCAA FCS National Coach of the Year.

In 2007, the Rams had 12 players named All-Patriot League, four of whom were Masella recruits, including running back Xavier Martin, who was named the League's Rookie of the Year. The Fordham turnaround was the result of a potent spread offense instituted by Masella prior to the 2007 season, combined with a tenacious defense.

Prior to his tenure at Fordham which lasted from 2006-2010, Masella served as head coach at Central Connecticut State University in 2004 and 2005, leading the Blue Devils to back-to-back Northeast Conference (NEC) titles, the school's first ever football championships. He led the squad to 15 wins over the two seasons, the most wins recorded over a two-year period by a Central Connecticut State football team in school history.

In 2005, the Blue Devils finished with a 7-4 record, tying for the NEC crown with a 5-2 conference record. Eleven of Masella's student-athletes received All-Northeast Conference accolades in 2005, including one who was named Offensive Rookie of the Year and another who received Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

In his first year in New Britain, Masella and the Blue Devils put together one of the most successful campaigns in program history, posting an 8-2 overall record and a 6-1 mark in Northeast Conference play. The conference record was good for a share of the NEC Championship, the first conference title in football in school history. For his efforts, Masella was named NEC Coach of the Year, becoming the first Blue Devil head football coach to garner Coach of the Year honors, while the Blue Devils also sported the Offensive Player and Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Prior to his two-year stint at Central Connecticut, Masella served as the defensive coordinator at the University of Massachusetts for two years where he coached current Seahawk Defensive Coordinator Malik Hall. In 2003, the Minutemen won the Atlantic-10 championship and received a bid to the Division I-AA playoffs. Massachusetts finished 11th in the final Sports Network I-AA poll that year with a 10-3 overall record with the three losses coming at the hands of Division I-A Kansas State, I-AA national champion Delaware, and I-AA national runner-up Colgate.

In Masella's two seasons at Massachusetts, the Minutemen compiled an 18-7 record, finishing the 2003 season as the 30th ranked team in I-AA in rushing defense (125 yards per game). Individually, three of his defensive players were named to the All-Conference First-Team and four more players were named to the Second and Third Team All-Conference squads.
Masella arrived in Amherst after spending three seasons as the defensive coordinator at I-A Louisiana Tech, helping turn the Bulldog defense into one of the top defensive units in the country. His 2001 defense ranked 11th in the nation in I-A in interceptions and 13th in turnovers forced as the Bulldogs won the Western Athletic Conference championship in their first season in the conference.

Before venturing south, Masella served as the assistant head coach and secondary coach at the University of Connecticut in 1998. That Huskies squad ended the season ranked eighth in I-AA with a 10-3 record and posted their only Division I-AA playoff appearance.

Central Connecticut wasn't Masella's lone head coaching experience, as he served as the head coach at Boston University in 1996 and 1997 after a stint an assistant there from 1990-94. In 1993, he was the defensive coordinator for the Terriers as they finished the regular season undefeated, winning the Yankee Conference and earning a bid to the NCAA I-AA playoffs where they advanced to the second round. He left the Terriers when the University disbanded its football program following the 1997 season. Prior to being the head coach at Boston University, Masella was named the first head coach at Fairfield University when the school started a football program in 1995.