Kern: Ferrante preparing for smooth transition at 'Nova

SOMETIMES, IT'S the little stuff that becomes different.

Welcome to Mark Ferrante's evolving world.

He's been a part of the Villanova football program for going on three decades. His role is about to change, dramatically. After this season he'll be succeeding Andy Talley, his coach at St. Lawrence (Canton, N.Y.), where he was the Division III Player of the Year in 1982. First they both have to make it through Talley's final everything.

"We just wanted to have a sense of normalcy, as much as we can," said Ferrante. "He's still the head coach. At times I think maybe it's been harder on him. After 32 years you can get nostalgic. There's been some of that. But we're doing what we've done. We've been together so long. The formula is in place to have success. Things will change, eventually, because I'm not Andy and he's not me. But that time's not here yet."

It is getting closer. The Wildcats (6-2, 4-1 Colonial Athletic Association), ranked 11th in FCS, are off this week. They're at Maine (4-3, 3-1) on Nov. 5 then host No. 8 James Madison (6-1, 4-0) before finishing with Delaware (2-5, 0-4) in Newark. They've made the NCAA playoffs five of past eight years. So that takes precedence over pending transitions. Still . . .

"I don't want to say it hasn't hit me yet, because I know what we're headed into, and there's times when I probably will feel a little more on edge about certain things," said Ferrante, who will be inducted into his alma mater's Athletic Hall of Fame Friday night. "Coach has given me a lot of extra responsibility, all the time, over how many years. This year, it has been a little more frequent. But coach has the final say. When we're behind closed doors, he's listened. And taken things I've shared with him into account from time to time. And I've obviously sought his guidance.

"I think it's great to have a guy who's done it at a school where I'm going to attempt to do it. And I can walk down the hall and go, 'Hey coach, how would you handle this?' "

Ferrante went with Talley to the CAA coaches meetings this summer. And accompanied him to the CAA preseason media day. Because of the bye he also spoke at this week's weekly small-college luncheon at Penn in place of his boss. About the only thing he hasn't done is make his annual appearance on Talley's weekly radio show, which of course will become his.

"I've done them all before," Ferrante said. "I just hadn't done all those things in the same year before. I guess I'll be a guest on his show later on. Maybe he's saving me."

Last Friday the university announced that its $18 million facility at the west end of Villanova Stadium will be named after Talley. The staff is still in the process of moving into its new digs, and Ferrante has pretty much been put in charge of the details. With Talley's blessing. Talley has two offices. The one for the man in charge, and the one for the coach emeritus status he will retain into the future. It's a unique dynamic, but each of them seem comfortable enough with the setup.

"I want it to be as smooth as possible," Talley said. "I'll only be in the head coach's office for four weeks. Mark's really good at taking care of the fine points. He made sure every player had a permanent seat in the team room. If that were me, I would have told them to sit wherever they wanted. He's very structured. I'm a final-results kind of guy. I don't care how you get to the bottom line, just get there. He cares how you get there. I've allowed him a lot of leeway. He's a Dunkin' Donuts guy, and I'm Starbucks, if you know what I mean.

"The rigors of the season have kept us focused on the next week, because we're in the hunt here. The moving has been more of a hassle than anything else. The rest is all good. It's been no big deal between me and Mark. He's a players coach. That won't change."

Ray Priore was a longtime Penn assistant under Al Bagnoli. Then he became the next one up when Bagnoli left. And when he started 1-3, maybe some folks were questioning the decision. But the Quakers won their last six to get a share of the Ivy League title, and now they're 4-2 and tied for first. Ferrante has already spoken with him, and plans to do so more extensively after the season. If nothing else, he comes off as being very thorough. Even to a fault, as if that's really possible in his position.

"The busiest part has been the involvement with the new building," Ferrante noted. "I'm the guy who's talking to contractors, saying this needs caulking or the furniture needs to go over there, what furniture are we going to have. Coach stayed away from that. He's just super-excited there is a new building, after all these years of trying to upgrade our facilities. And in his final year he's finally able to do that. But even when he lets me handle things, I always get him involved. I think he feels good about what's happening and how it happened, but every now and then it's like, 'Wow, I can't believe it's happening.' That kind of thing, if that makes sense.

"I think I'm more than ready to be the head coach at Villanova. Because I've been at Villanova. I don't know if it's a strength, weakness or idiosyncrasy, but I observe. I tell the players all the time, I see a lot more in here than you might think. And I've observed coach. I haven't been sitting here watching the clock or the calendar or a sun dial as to when is my opportunity going to be. I've been doing my job, living my life. Coach Talley has made that possible. So has Villanova. It's one of the reasons so many of us have stayed. You can't put a price tag on that."

And soon, it'll be his turn to keep it going.

"The question came up, 'Who's going to watch the film to make the final (recruiting) evaluations?' " Ferrante said. "It used to be I'm watching all the offensive linemen. Now I'm watching everybody. But I'll still go to him. We don't want to get out of his way. We want him to do his thing. This past weekend we had 15 recruits at the game (against Albany), six of which had already verbally committed. We did what we always do. He welcomed them, then he introduced me. I did my spiel. I just did it a little differently than in previous years. Then we went through our usual gameday activities."

The Wildcats won, 24-13. Normal can be good.

@mikekerndn