URI names Trainer head football coach

03/04/09 - The University of Rhode Island football team welcomed back former defensive coordinator Joe Trainer at a Friday morning press conference held in the Alumni Room at the Ryan Center. Trainer was named the Rams' 19th all-time head coach."I cannot tell you how honored and humbled I am to be the head football coach at the University of Rhode Island," Trainer said at the conference. "I had a great job at Bowling Green [State University] but I left that job for an even better job. When I had a chance to come here, I really believed that we were going to do some great things here."

Trainer returns to the university after spending less than three months as an assistant head coach under two-time Division I-AA Coach of the Year Dave Clawson at Bowling Green. URI President Robert L. Carothers and Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn attended Friday's press conference and applauded how quickly the football program was able to move past the resignation of former head coach Darren Rizzi.

"Well, this is a press conference I didn't know we would be having," Carothers said. "But we're delighted to be able to name a new head coach here today. I think we ran the fastest search in the history of the University of Rhode Island because we knew we had an extraordinary person waiting to come back to us and to be able to do this job."

Rizzi resigned as URI's head football coach last Tuesday after accepting an offer to become the special teams coach for the Miami Dolphins. At the press conference Trainer said he left URI in December with the intention of someday coming back. He returns as Rizzi's replacement with nine different coaching jobs listed on his resume.

"The future of football at the University of Rhode Island is solid," Carothers said. "We are committed to an excellent program, we're committed to winning, and I think we've got the person who can take us in that direction."

According to GoRhody, Trainer spent two years as a graduate assistant linebackers coach at Temple University before serving as the linebackers/special teams coach at Frostburg State University. He then coached for two years at Colgate University and at New Haven University before spending eight years as a linebackers coach and a defensive coordinator at Villanova University. Trainer spent 2005 to 2007 as the head coach at Millersville University before his brief stay at URI and Bowling Green.

"We are going to build a championship program here," Bjorn said. "When Coach Rizzi mentioned that he had some interest in going down and visiting with the [Miami] Dolphins, there was one person that came to mind who I thought would be the right person to continue to lead this football program forward, and when I spoke with Joe this past weekend, he expressed his strong interest in coming back."

In Trainer's one year as the defensive coordinator here at the University of Rhode Island, the Rams forced 11 fumbles, ranking them in the top five in CAA football, according to the GoRhody Web site. In addition, Trainer coached linebacker Matt Hansen, who finished second in the league with 111 total tackles, earning him All-CAA Football Second Team and Football Championship Subdivision All-England Honors.

"I think I'm a player's coach," Trainer, who is a Dickinson College and Temple University alumnus, said. "I think I'm somebody who's going to be demanding but approachable. The quicker [my players] are in a comfort zone with me, the better they're going to perform on the field. I'm not somebody who's going to micromanage. I'm going to delegate and expect you to be an expert in your area and then I'm going to leave you alone."

Trainer expressed his wishes for the football program, and said he was planning on making the program something for the university and its fans to be proud of.

"We're not going to cut corners and win or lose, I'm certain we are going to be proud of the program and proud of the product that we put on the field every week," Trainer said.