Leading the Minutemen will be Charley Molnar, former offensive coordinator at Notre Dame.
Charley Molnar speaks after being introduced as the new football coach for the University of Massachusetts.
Last week, sports reporters and editors at The Republican voted on the Top 10 Sports Stories of 2011. The winners are being counted down daily on MassLive through Dec. 31. The complete list will be published in the Sunday Republican on Jan. 1, along with a separate Top 10 list that focuses on high school sports stories.
Coming in at No. 3: After years of debate, the UMass football team announced plans to jump to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, join the Mid-American Conference in 2012 and play the majority of its home games at Gillette Stadium. Hired to lead the way was new coach Charley Molnar, who most recently served as offensive coordinator at Notre Dame.