Marchese ready to build on a winning tradition at SMU

“It’s very simple. It’s a dream job and a dream opportunity.”

Those are the thoughts of Saint Mary’s Huskies new head football coach, Perry Marchese. On Friday, the university officially ended a search that started a little over two months ago by naming Marchese as the the leader of the football program.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Marchese. The last time he was at SMU, he graduated in 1997 with a master’s degree in business administration and was quarterback of the Huskies football team in the mid-90’s.

Now, Marchese has come back and is center stage of the football program. He joins the list of great coaches who have held the position previous him: Bob Hayes, Al Keith, Larry Uteck, Blake Nill and most recently Steve Sumarah.

As he gets set to take the reins, Marchese reflects on the future vision he sees for the team.

“Having a vision of a football family is big for us; that is our current players, our past players, our alumni, community and the city of Halifax,” says the former Guelph Gryphons offensive coordinator. “We are hoping to build on our football family and on a winning tradition.”

“Building relationships and making sure everyone is on board while focusing on the big picture.”

During the interview process with SMU, Marchese hammered home a recurring theme during a presentation to the selections committee.

“I had the opportunity to do a presentation and one of the things I talked about right from the beginning was that we wanted to get the best student athletes in the country and bring them to Saint Mary’s,” explains the new head coach. “We want to keep them here, then have them graduate as active alumni and maximize their football and university experience.”

“We have the opportunity to compete on a national championship level every year.”

Going forward, the Huskies football program is faced with some concerns. They center around the recruitment of players as well as the retainment
of current SMU players and coaching staff. On Thursday, offensive line coach Gord Beattie resigned from the football team. Moreover, quarterback Jesse Mills is considering a move to Ottawa to reunite with Sumarah at Carleton.

Marchese is already addressing both issues and realizes the importance of moving quickly.

“It’s one of the most important things for us to do,” comments Marchese. “It’s something we need to address immediately.”

“I am familiarizing myself with the players at SMU.”

As for the recruiting process, Marchese says that he already has been busily working on it. One thing Marchese says is that the program will not use the excuse of not having a head coach in place for the last couple of months in their recruitment efforts.

“We will just get to work,” adds the new Huskies head coach. “I’m fortunate to have a great network across the province of Ontario and many people have reached out already in Nova Scotia and other provinces.”

“There are still many players out there for us and we are already working on it.”

Coming into this position, it will mark the first time Marchese has been a CIS head coach (previous CIS stint was as offensive offensive coordinator at Guelph in 2010). Ultimately, he is looking forward to becoming an effective leader and having the opportunity to become part of a football program that thrives on excellence.

“I worked with and learned from some of the best head coaches and leaders in football,” explains Marchese. “I have no doubt that I am ready and I look forward to working with our staff, administration, alumni, and our football family , especially the Old Dogs, who have been tremendous supporters of the football program for years.”

As for what’s next on the agenda, there is a lot for Marchese to do in such a short amount of time.

“It’s a pretty big agenda,” comments the Huskies head coach. “There’s lots of phone calls to make and emails recruiting wise and moving too.”

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