The Club meeting included hearing from Cornerbacks Coach, Marvin Clecidor and Strength & Conditioning Coach, Chris Stewart.

Our special guest was freshman linebacker, Joseph Zamot. Joe was recognized as a “Fightin’ Hen of the Week” by the Blue Hen Touchdown Club. Joe is from Millville, NJ and the Lawrenceville School. Joe was a team captain and five time letter winner in high school. His two older brothers played college football, as well. Joe is happy to be at UD where his family can see him play. Thank you for being a Blue Hen!

Coach Clecidor has had extensive coaching experience, most recently as defensive back coach at Penn. Coach Clecidor discussed the current Blue Hen cornerbacks as well as how the position has changed since his playing days at Lafayette College.

Chris Stewart discussed in detail the game week preparations in the Flacco Strength & Conditioning Center in the Whitney Athletic Center. Basically, the intensity varies between light to heavy and back again, to be at peak performance on game day. Chris relayed that the science is always changing, and new ideas are always being considered and implemented in order to “sharpen the sword”. An important part of Chris’ position is to work with Jerry Oravitz to provide oversight of the program and to look ahead “around the corner” for the future of the program.

The next evening we enjoyed the return of QB Nick Minicucci, the dominant win over Missouri State, and Club member, Bob Thompson, performing the winning coin toss that led to victory. That helped, as well as possibly wearing the alternate “Midnight Collection” uniforms that now show a 9-0 record under Coach Carty!

We next meet on Friday, October 30th AFTER the Western Kentucky game.

On October 9th, we heard from Chris Rogers, Offensive Line Coach and Running Game Coordinator. Chris related that the team and coaches were disappointed in the performance versus Liberty, but the team is strong and resilient and looking forward to the Middle Tennessee game. Coach Rogers noted that last year’s game with MT was very physical, and in reviewing the game afterwards, we realized that we underestimated the opponent.

We next heard from the two players that were honored by the BHTC in being named the “Fightin’ Hens of the Week”. The honorees were: Defense, #47 Yamdry Hernandez, a sophomore Edge Lineman from Atlantic City, NJ. For Offense, #34 Naseem Tention, a freshman Running Back from Baltimore, MD. Yamdry and Naseem each commented on their recruitment and satisfaction with being Blue Hens.

The guest speaker was alumnus, Tom Hall. Tom is the brother of UD Athletics Hall of Fame member, the late, great Fullback, Chuck Hall. Tom himself played both football and lacrosse at UD, but had an injury shortened athletic career. Tom relayed several stories about Chuck and his way too early passing away, as well as stories about his own experiences with his coaches at UD. Tom has been the owner of CardioKinetics on N. Chapel St. in Newark for the last 47 years. Thank you, Tom!

On Saturday evening, BHTC members were in attendance for the 2026 UD Athletics Hall of Fame induction. Our focus, of course, is football, so we particularly enjoyed the induction of 2011-2014 alumnus, Nick Boyle. Nick received All Conference and All-American honors at UD and was a 5th round NFL draft choice with the Baltimore Ravens. It was good to hear from Nick and meet his family. 

Our next Club meeting is Monday, October 19th when we will hear from Cornerbacks Coach, Marvin Clecidor and guest speakers, Chris Stewart, Strength & Conditioning and Jen Steele, Softball Head Coach.

Prior to the Parents & Family Weekend sold out game vs. Liberty, we had several guests to keep us informed.

Up first were our “Fightin’ Hens of the Week”: For offense, we honored and congratulated Brandon Truszkowski, undeclared major, freshman offensive lineman from Hatfield, PA and Germantown Academy. For defense, freshman linebacker, Gehret Gentzyel, from York, PA and York Suburban H.S. was honored. Gehret is a finance major and cadet in the ROTC program.

The Club particularly enjoys the attendance of our student athletes, when their class schedules allow.

Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator, Terence Archer, discussed our prior week’s game and the next  game vs. Liberty University. It was noted that Liberty had extra days to prepare for us, as we will have extra days of preparation before our next game. Hopefully, it will have a similar effect for us vs. MTSU!

Our special guest was Fritz Stueber, Director of Development. Fritz played at UD from 2008-2012 and coached with both K.C. Keeler and Dave Brock. Fritz had a highly successful career with Gatorade in marketing and development. When his employer wanted Fritz to move to Chicago, he knew he wanted to stay near UD.

Fritz emphasized that what mattered to UD in the 1960’s, 70’s, and ever since, remains the same. That is, athletes that go to class, get good grades and have successful outcomes in life. Fritz reported that last semester the team had a 3.365 GPA and 12 consecutive years of a 3.0 GPA. 

Fritz loves the history and traditions of UD and considers his affiliation with UD to be the best decision of his life. Thank you, Fritz, for being a Blue Hen!

We next meet on Friday, 10/19, and will hear from Offensive Line Coach, Chris Rogers, with special guests Chris Rogers, Strength & Conditioning, and Jen Steele, Softball.

We had three excellent speakers for UVA week!

First, Rocco DiMeco, Co-Defensive Coordinator and Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers, shared that he was proud of every UD player. He noted the team “did not flinch” in a big win and expressed excitement for where the team is headed this season. He highlighted that the Coastal Carolina game was a “game of adjustments,” requiring the entire defensive plan to be changed at halftime. Playing younger players early helped keep the team fresh longer. Coach DiMeco was also pleased to have punter Josh Cupitt back and commended the punt team’s performance.

Joining Coach DiMeco was Ashton Navarrete, a Wide Receiver from Hawthorne  NJ who was honored as the “Fightin’ Hens of the Week.

Next, Women’s Soccer Head Coach Kelly Lawrence discussed the team’s progress since her arrival in 2022, moving from two wins that year to ten last season. The team is currently 5-2-3, though Coach Lawrence noted that is “too many ties!” with several close plays almost converting those ties into wins. She praised the university’s facilities and recognized local athlete Gabby Riley from Middletown, who is on track to set new team records.

Our special guest speaker was former Wide Receiver Vinny Papale (2015–2018). Vinny spoke about his love for UD and his journey there. Coming out of high school in New Jersey, he felt “under-recruited and under-developed” after breaking his collarbone during his senior year. Despite a rough start—his first target resulted in an intercepted pass for a touchdown—his career steadily improved under the “tough coaching” of Dave Brock. Following a coaching change, he praised Coach Rocco as an “exceptional human being” and recalled playing alongside future NFL players Troy Reeder, Bilal Nichols, and Nasir Adderley.

One of his favorite memories was a Homecoming win against #5-ranked Elon at Delaware Stadium, where he caught the game-sealing touchdown pass against a team coached by Curt Cignetti. Vinny earned a finance degree from UD, met his wife Mackenzie here, played in the USFL for the Tampa Bay Bandits as a team captain, and is now a member of the Italy Flag Football team competing in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Thank you to Vinnie for being a Fighting Blue Hen!

We had three excellent speakers for our meeting:

Xavier Dye, Running Back Coach – Xavier played football at Clemson and coached at Coastal Carolina. Three of the current players at Coastal were recruited by Coach Dye. In describing the UD squad, he said that we had an excellent off season and that this is a very close team. After the hard fought loss at Vanderbilt last week, “the guys are hungry and want to get back into the winning column”. The QB for Coastal, “Deuce” Bailey, is red-shirt freshman  and is a very athletic dual threat player. He has 6 TD passes on the year and no interceptions.

Kirby Lynch. Coach of the SPIRIT Teams – Kirby is an Indiana University graduate and was a cheerleader for the Hoosiers. The football team was 1-11 in her senior year, and last year for UD was the first bowl game experience which she described as “amazing”. She is the only full-time coach for the 90 members of the spirit teams, with the others being volunteers. Kirby noted that two of the BHTC members are cheer squad alumni, Cathy Matthews and Darelle Riabov. She particularly noted Darelle and John Riabov as being major supporters of the cheer squads.

Herky Billings, Running Back and Punter 1971-1974 – Herky, when first invited by the Club to speak, wondered why he was asked. Then,  the memories came flooding back to him, of all the great players and coaches that he played with and played under. His love of Delaware Football went back to Middletown H.S. days and hitchhiking to games and sneaking under the fence in the south end zone. He is honored to remember that he played at Middletown with a 53 game winning streak and at UD with a 23 game winning streak. In his final season for UD, the team was in the playoffs and beat UNLV in a 48-21game, and ”that team still doesn’t know what happened to them”. The 1974 team was “beat up” in the championship game, but Herky is proud of the memory of scoring a TD the last time that he touched the ball for the Fight’n Blue Hens.

Join us on Thursday, September 24th prior to our game at the University of Virginia.

We had multiple speakers to keep us informed and entertained. First up was Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator, Manny Rojas. Coach Rojas discussed the challenges of facing SEC opponent Vanderbilt, this week. Vanderbilt has two outstanding quarterbacks with different skill sets, and expects to use both of them.

Our next speaker was Football General Manager, Patrick Callaway. Patrick was UD team captain in 2014, and served as a team scout for the Tennessee Titans. He commented on the challenges in this era of NIL and transfer portal, with retaining players and creating the environment of retaining student athletes for the right reasons. Also discussed was the proliferation of sports gambling, and how the University addresses this with the players.

Former team captain, Bob Lundquist, introduced fellow team captain from 2022, Thyrick Pitts. Thyrick had multiple free agent opportunities over the NFL, all while studying and taking exams to be a Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial. He laments that he has no NCAA eligibility remaining in the NIL era! He invited all in attendance to join his tailgate next weekend with the “omelette king” serving the food!

Club President, Mark Werrell, reminded everyone that next week’s meeting is on Thursday, despite Saturday’s game being home vs. Coastal Carolina.  Next week’s speakers will be Running Backs Coach, Xavier Dye, and SPIRIT Coach, Kirby Smart. Our Guest Speaker will be Herky Billings, running back and punter from ‘71-’74. We hope to see you there!

Thanks to Chip Taylor for his report and photos.

We had a full room of Club members and guests to hear from Head Coach Ryan Carty and Director of Athletics & Recreation, Jordan Skolnick. Club President, Mark Werrell, noted that the Club has supported Delaware Football for 80 years. Here are some of the bullet points from our speakers.

From Coach Carty:

• This is the healthiest we have been coming out of training camp.
• Credit goes to health monitoring, nutrition, and of course, luck plays a role.
• Sometimes the best recruits are the athletes we already have.
• Discussion of the QB room and its depth. Nick Minicucci works so hard, and yes, Nick is QB #1.
• Question of what worries you? Answer: Pretty much everything! Who are you most worried about? Answer Merrimack!

From Jordan Skolnick:

• We are so happy to have Coach Carty and his staff. They care deeply about UD.
• Most proud of how well our student athletes do academically. There have been 25 straight semesters of a 3.0 GPA, and last semester a 3.4 GPA.
• For the 2025 graduating class among all athletic programs, 96% of them are either employed or pursuing graduate degrees. We have 22 teams and 650 student athletes.
• We remain proud that we were the 2nd team ever to win a bowl game in our first year.
• Our focus as a department is: People, Partnerships, Resources and Winning.
• There are a lot ways to support athletics, including being part of Team 302, at the $10,000 level.
• Discussion of scheduling going forward, with one P4 team, one home G5 team and one home FCS game.
• For revenue sharing and NIL funds, it is important that we are financially competitive with the teams that we recruit against. For now, that is our primary focus.

We look forward to our next meeting on Thursday, September 10th prior to our game away at Vanderbilt.

Please make your lunch reservation HERE>.

Go Hens!

Our first lunch gathering is approaching quickly on Wednesday, September 2nd. Please reserve your seat for when we hear from Head Coach Ryan Carty and Director of Athletics and Recreation, Jordan Skolnick.

Our meeting dates in the Bob Carpenter Club are set, and the dates can be viewed on the events calendar. In addition to hearing from a position coach each week, we have confirmation from many Blue Hen legends throughout the season, and others with connections to the program:

• Thyrick Pitts
• Herky Billings
• Vinny Papale
• Eddie Conti
• Dave Raymond
• Nolan Henderson
• Dan Reeder

And many other surprise guests that will get you hyped for the next game!

Also, planning is underway for another “Pre-Tailgate” before our first game on Sept. 3, to be held at the Grain Exchange on the Star Campus, across from Delaware Stadium. Watch for further details!

Expectations Are High After Our FBS Inaugural Season in 2025.

Anticipation is growing for the 2026 season in this new era of Delaware Football. Before we know it, the preseason practices will start, and we will have our home opener on Thursday, September 3rd. The preview magazines and prognostications are coming out, with numerous high expectations. The most complete preseason publication is “Phil Steele’s College ’26 Football” magazine. In the UD write-up: “…this is an improved team and has a shot at topping last year’s 7 win total and they will be a CUSA contender”. There are 14 of our players on Phil Steele’s Preseason CUSA Team, including the league’s top returning QB in #4 Nick Minicucci, 1st team players: Jo Silver at RB, Sean Wilson WR, Steven Demboski OL, Gavin Moul LB and KT Seay, DB. We have the most extensive returning talent in CUSA, and some of most in the entire FBS. The Touchdown Club looks forward to our first luncheon meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd when we hear from Coach Carty and A.D. Jordan Skolnick.