Perkovich tries to 'move needle' for UAlbany football, picked 11th in CAA poll

New University at Albany head coach Tom Perkovich said he feels "we have the ability to be a pretty good football team" in his debut season with the Great Danes.

The Coastal Athletic Association coaches predict that won't be the case. They chose the Great Danes 11th out of 13 teams in the preseason poll released Wednesday morning.

Perkovich takes over a program that went 2-10 in 2025, its only season under interim coach Jared Ambrose. UAlbany hired Perkovich from Division III Susquehanna in December. 

The Great Danes open training camp next Thursday and begin the regular season Aug. 28 against CAA rival New Hampshire at Casey Stadium. 

"We're trying to just be one game at a time," Perkovich said during Wednesday's virtual media day. "I'm not going to sit here and say we're going to contend for a championship. I think we want to move the needle forward from where it was last season and that's the goal, is to put our program in a position to grow and be a contender."

UAlbany junior linebacker Dillon Dunathan, an honorable mention selection, was the only Great Dane to receive preseason all-CAA recognition.

At Susquehanna, Perkovich took over a team that went 2-8 in 2014, the year before his arrival. He improved the River Hawks to 5-5 his first season, won eight games in his third year and went 84-25 over a decade with NCAA Tournament appearances in his last four seasons.

While he tries to build a winner again, Perkovich will have an unexpected extra responsibility with the Great Danes. He'll take over the offensive play-calling because offensive coordinator Mike Wiand, who followed Perkovich from Susquehanna, stepped down in June to deal with a personal matter.

Perkovich said he's looking forward to the challenge. He called plays at Susquehanna before grooming Wiand over several years to take over. 

"I love calling the plays," Perkovich said. "When I gave that up two years ago to Mike, that was one of the hardest decisions I made back then. He was ready. … So I'm glad to be back in that chair, to be honest with you. It's something I love about coaching, is doing the coaching and not just being the game manager, (but) being heavily involved in the outcome."

The Great Danes had one of the more anemic offenses in the Football Championship Subdivision last year. They ranked 112th nationally in scoring offense at 16.8 points per game and 117th in total offense at 280.2 yards per game.

UAlbany senior wide receiver Jordan Rae caught 19 passes last season, making him the Great Danes' second-leading returning receiver. He did a Google search of Perkovich when he was hired.

"You see that he's a winner," Rae said. "He's won every year at that (Division III) level, and it doesn't matter what level you're at - if you're a winner, you're a winner."

Perkovich said the questions about moving from Division III "drive me a little crazy, to be honest." 

"It's just my competitive nature of why I wanted to be up at this level as a head coach, right?" he said. "Players want to play at the highest level they can. It's no different for us as coaches. I want to go against the best coaches in the country, which the CAA brings, right?"

The coaches picked Rhode Island to repeat as CAA champion in Wednesday's poll. Monmouth, Elon, New Hampshire and Stony Brook rounded out the top five. Only North Carolina A&T in 12th and Hampton in 13th were chosen below UAlbany.

The CAA, which adds Sacred Heart, lost members Villanova and William & Mary to the Patriot League after last season. The CAA has seen a talent drain with James Madison, Delaware and Richmond also departing in recent years.

CAA commissioner Joe D'Antonio said he's "fairly confident" the league will again get multiple teams into the FCS playoffs.

"I think we're well-positioned for that," he said. "If there is complete parity in the conference … we might not get multiple bids because everybody's beating up each other. If you have two to three to four teams that separate themselves at the top, then your chances of getting multiple bids are very high."

UAlbany is trying to get back to the playoffs for the first time since reaching the FCS semifinals in 2023.

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