The search for the third head football coach in Endicott College history wound up looking back before it could look forward.
That brought Paul McGonagle back to Beverly as he was named the Gulls' head coach earlier this week. McGonagle served as offensive coordinator at Assumption College in Worcester the last five years, spending two years as an offensive assistant at Endicott before that.
"I'm very excited to be back," said McGonagle, who had also been the Hounds' associate head coach. "Knowing the campus, knowing how committed Dr. Wylie and Brian Wylie are to athletics and academics, that made it a lot easier to decide to go for this job."
Just a week ago, McGonagle was with Assumption at Penn State University practicing for the NCAA Division 2 playoffs. The Hounds almost upset the nation's top ranked team (Indiana-Pennsylvania) in the national quarterfinals, with a late Hail Mary pass called back with the quarterback having ventured past the line of scrimmage.
Two days after finishing up a record setting season with the Hounds — who will almost certainly be ranked in the top 10 in Division 2 to end the year — McGonagle was introduced as Endicott's new head coach.
"It's been a whirlwind," McGonagle said. "Assumption's a great place with a great coaching staff. I think the only place I would've left for is Endicott."
McGonagle takes over for Kevin DeWall, who stepped down after three seasons. Wall, who posted a 13-17 record with the Gulls, including last year's 3-7 mark, had taken over for J.B. Wells, the head coach McGonagle worked under in his previous time in Beverly.
A graduate of the University of Kentucky, McGonagle has been coaching in college football for 18 years. He's worked at the Division 1 level (with Northeastern, Eastern Kentucky and Stony Brook), in Division 2 (with Bentley and Assumption) and had three years of head coaching experience in Division 3 at Fitchburg State.
"In all of his coaching experiences, coach McGonagle has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the academic success and community involvement of the student-athletes involved in his program. That, coupled with his collaborative approach to working with others and ensuring growth and leadership within his program, has yielded tremendous success both on and off the field," said Endicott athletic director Brian Wylie.
Endicott could hit the ground running under their new head coach: of their 11 All-Commonwealth Coast Conference honorees this fall, nine were underclassmen including four first-team picks.
Though Assumption piled up points the last few years, McGongale knows that scoring can come in a variety of ways.
"It tell people my offensive philosophy is whatever it takes," McGonagle said. "It's not air raid or ground and pound; it's what best fits the personnel and the game plan. If we have to throw 40 times to win, we will. If we have to run 40 times, we will."
McGonagle, who has three daughters, recruited Eastern Mass in his time at Assumption, landing local standouts like Peabody's Doug Santos and Pingree's Justin Assad. He's familiar with recruiting in New England and hopes it's the kind of experience that will help with the Gulls.
"You want to take care of your backyard first and it's nice knowing the lay of the land and having good relationships with local coaches," McGonagle said. "We got kids from New Jersey, Maryland, our kicker was from California ... so you get the best kids, hopefully get them on campus and at Endicott the campus sells itself."
He was also immediately impressed by all the development on the Endicott campus over the last five years. That includes putting up the Ray Bourque Arena and the new strength and conditioning addition to the Post Center that was completed in the fall.
Mostly, McGonagle is excited to get to know his players and start putting his staff together.
"I know some coaches will come in and say I'll get my guys. I told the team there's no such thing as my guys. They're all our guys," he said. "We're all in this together and I'm really excited about it."
