It’s 39 minutes, door to door, from Dave Wissman’s home in Guilford, Vermont, to McGuirk Alumni Stadium in Amherst. Since taking a coaching job with the UMass football team earlier this month however, Wissman could just as easily float back and forth the whole way.

The Shelburne Falls native and former Mohawk Trail Regional High School three-sport standout is UMass’ defensive line coach. After nine seasons at Sacred Heart, including the the last six as defensive coordinator, Wissman joined head coach Mark Whipple’s staff and has hit the ground running in preparation for the 2017 campaign.

“This experience is a little surreal for me right now,” Wissman said recently. “I’ve been here about a week, learning what’s going on, how everything operates. As simple as a practice plan, how we meet daily ... it’s a little more detailed than my time down at Sacred Heart. It’s exciting. It’s starting to sink in a little bit now.”

Wissman’s road to UMass began at an early age. As a kid, he used to pick tobacco not far from the facility that now houses his corner office. The son of former major leaguer Dave Wissman Sr., he had his own illustrious career at Mohawk before graduating in 1981. He scored 1,296 points on the basketball team and clubbed nearly .500 as a junior on the baseball team.

But football was his passion. Wissman served as the team’s quarterback and defensive back, playing for coach Dave Bodenstein. His senior season, the Warriors went 9-1-1, won the Intercounty League title and played in the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Super Bowl, a 7-6 loss to Hoosac Valley at McGuirk Stadium.

“Growing up in the Falls, going to Mohawk, it was just a great experience there playing for Coach Bodenstein,” Wissman said. “He was a big mentor, kind of turning the screws for me for football. Not so much the game and the Xs and Os, but how to deal with kids, how to get the most out of them. That old saying, coach them up, not down.”

After graduating, Wissman played football at New Hampshire. That’s where his journey first crossed paths with Ed Pinkham, who served as UNH’s secondary coach and eventually defensive coordinator.

“He was like my second father up there; he really was,” Wissman said of Pinkham. “He’d be banging on my door in the morning and at night, as far as academics go, keeping me in line and watching over me.”

It was also at UNH that Wissman met Paul Gorham. They were teammates and roomed together, forming a bond that came full circle when Gorham, then the head coach at Sacred Heart, hired Wissman for the 2009 season.

But Wissman made his bones on the staffs of several area schools, including 11 years running the Eaglebrook School program.

Wissman said one of his best coaching experiences came during 1997 as an assistant under longtime former Frontier Regional coach Dick Howe. Wissman, just 34 at the time, helped lead the South Deerfield team to an 8-2-1 record, reaching the Western-Central Massachusetts Division 3 Super Bowl, a 38-20 loss to Northbridge.

“Working that one year with Dick Howe was probably a top-three coaching experience for me,” he said. “It was a great, great, memorable experience. Coaching is coaching. Obviously (at UMass), there’s a little more pressure. But I think, ultimately, it’s working with kids, trying to get the most out of them.”

At Sacred Heart, Wissman worked his way up to defensive coordinator. The Pioneers won back-to-back Northeast Conference Championships in 2013 and 2014 while advancing to the FCS Championships during both campaigns.

But he never lost touch with Pinkham. After UNH, Pinkham’s coaching journey took him to Elon, Holy Cross, Minnesota, Colgate, Rutgers and Western Michigan. He was the defensive coordinator at Western Michigan this past season, when the undefeated Broncos earned a Cotton Bowl berth after winning the MAC championship.

“I’ve grabbed his knowledge of the game,” Wissman said of Pinkham. “When he was at Elon, I flew down there. When he was at Colgate, I spent some time out there. Two years ago I flew out to Western Michigan when he was out there. I never lost that connection with him.”

When Pinkham was hired as the new defensive coordinator at UMass in February, Wissman took notice. Gorham was already on board in Amherst as the program’s director of football operations. The stage was set for a UNH reunion.

“When Coach Pinkham was hired, I think it was maybe 10 days after that that he called me and said, ‘We had a position change and there’s an opening and would you be interested in taking a look at it,” Wissman recalled. “I went through the interviewing and all that stuff and here we are. It’s neat being back with those guys.”

Wissman is excited about the opportunity to coach under Pinkham. The pair have never coached on the same staff, but together they’re tasked with reshaping a defensive unit that ranked 108th in scoring defense (35.5 points per game) in 2016. Pinkham’s Western Michigan defense was 15th a year ago (19.8 points per page) and 26th in total yards allowed (353.6 yards per game).

“He’s a hard driver but I like that,” Wissman said. “He’s not going to cut me any slack. I’m just another guy paid to do a job and he expects me to do that job. I know his temperment and I know what his expectations are. He’s a stickler. You’ve got to do your homework, you’ve got to be prepared to do your thing. That’s the way it should be. Nothing is free in life — here today, gone tomorrow — and this business is fickle. The key thing is to win.”

Wissman takes over a defensive line unit that has had three coaches in the last three seasons.

“My thing right now is I’m just trying to create relationships with my linemen,” he said. “They’ve had a number of coaches the last few years, so they’ve seen a revolving door of personalities. I think the one thing in talking with all of them, they just have to learn to trust somebody. For me, that’s been my first week, learning these kids and getting to know what they can and can’t do. Bottom line, the kids have to know you before they operate for you. No matter what I say, it’s nothing personal. That’s the tact I’ve always taken and, knock on wood, I’ve been pretty successful.”

UMass will play its spring game on April 20 and open the 2017 season in Amherst against Hawaii on Aug. 26. Old Dominion, Ohio University, Georgia Southern and Appalachian State will all make the trek to McGuirk in the fall.

“Learning everything that’s going on here, the expectations, that’ll take a bit of adjusting because everything is a little different,” said Wissman. “You go from program to program, the terminology is different, the techniques are a little different. Right now my thing is get on the right path, do what’s asked of me and go from there.”

Wissman and wife Mary built their home in Vermont in 1997. Throughout all the wild twists and turns of his coaching career, the pair decided to keep it as their primary residence.

“It’s been kind of a long road for me,” he said. “Between the prep scene and being down at Sacred Heart for nine years, I’ve been on the road quite a bit. That’s a lot of hours and time away from my wife and my dogs and my chickens. She’s a schoolteacher and she’s been at her school a long time, so she’s been kind of holding the line back here.”

The shorter trips to and from work have been a long time coming.

“We made a decision, rather than keep picking up and moving around, that I’ll go do my coaching thing and some day, I’ll get back,” Wissman said. “Some day is finally here.”

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