Feb. 8, 2010

Information on the funeral for former UMass football coach and administrator Bob Pickett has been announced. A funeral mass will be held on Friday, Feb. 12 at 10 a.m., at St. Pius X Church in Portland, Maine. The burial will be at the Calvary Cemetery in South Portland.

Feb. 3, 2010

AMHERST, Mass. - Former UMass football head coach Bob Pickett passed away on Tuesday night in Florida. Pickett was 75 years old and is survived by his wife Sylvia and children Robbin, Debbie and Judith.

Pickett served as head coach of the Minutemen from 1978-83, winning four Yankee Conference Championships. He went on to serve as an Associate Athletic Director at UMass until retiring in 1997. He also worked as a color commentator on radio broadcasts of Minutemen football from 1998-2003.

"It is a tremendous loss to the UMass athletic community and the Minuteman football program," said Athletic Director John McCutcheon. "Bob was a vital part of the UMass program for more than four decades in a variety of roles. He was still a presence at several games every year including this past season. He will be sorely missed. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends."

In his first season as a head coach in 1978, Pickett led UMass to a berth in the first-ever NCAA Division I-AA championship game. UMass lost to Florida A&M 35-28 at the Pioneer Bowl in Wichita Falls, Texas, but on the way to the championship game, the Minutemen routed previously unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Nevada-Reno on its home turf. For his accomplishments that season, Pickett was named Coach of the Year by both the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston and the ECAC, while the team earned the Lambert Cup (given to the best Division I-AA team in the East) and was named ECAC Team of the Year.

In his six-year tour as head coach, Pickett compiled a 36-28 record and led the Minutemen to four Yankee Conference titles. Prior to serving as head coach, he was UMass' defensive coordinator for seven seasons from 1971-77. During that time, UMass captured four Yankee Conference championships under head coach Dick MacPherson.

The Augusta, Maine native graduated from the University of Maine in 1959. With the Black Bears, Pickett was a wing-T quarterback and defensive back for Coach Harold Westerman. After received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Maine in physical education and secondary school administration, respectively.

Following graduation, he served as head football and basketball coach at Laconia High School in New Hampshire from 1959-62. In his first year as a high school football head coach, he led Laconia to the New Hampshire Division II State Championship. From 1962-64, he was the head football coach at Portsmouth High School in New Hampshire. He coached that team to the 1962 and 1964 state titles, earning New Hampshire Coach of the Year following both championships.

He returned to his alma mater in 1965, where he served as an assistant coach until coming to UMass in 1971.