As news of former University of Massachusetts football coach Bob Pickett's death Tuesday in Florida continued to circulate, people who knew him well remembered him fondly.

As an assistant coach at Maine, Pickett recruited Jim Reid as a player, helped hire him as an assistant coach at Maine and eventually UMass, and then served as a mentor and sounding board when Reid became the head coach of the Minutemen in 1986.

"It was a shock this morning when I heard this," Reid said Wednesday. "It goes well beyond that. Bob Pickett loved football players first and foremost. He loved being part of their lives.

"He recruited so well because he recognized the good qualities in the people he was recruiting," Reid added. "The players would run through a wall for him."

Pickett was the head coach at UMass from 1978 to 1983, and then worked as an associate athletic director until he retired in 1997.

Former athletic director Bob Marcum said, "I just remember Bob Pickett as someone that really cared about UMass and really cared about the football program.

"Pick was one of the first people I met at UMass," Marcum added. "He was someone I could always count on to give me an honest assessment of things for the athletic program. It was always great to work with him. He was someone you enjoyed being around."

Bob Behler, who was the play-by-play voice of UMass football from 1999 to 2007 said, "Bob Pickett gave me an education in the history of UMass football. He loved it and shared it with me, making me a better broadcaster. The UMass family will miss Bob."

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a UMass sports blog, go to http://www.gazettenet.com/blog/umass-sports.