Perry seeks to take Bryant to new level

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:41 p.m. ET

(STATS) - Bryant University football has been competitive yet not won a championship since entering the Northeast Conference in 2009.

Former Princeton offensive coordinator James Perry, named Bryant's third head coach on Tuesday, will try to take the Bulldogs to the championship level.

The first-time head coach, who helped Princeton win Ivy League co-titles in 2013 and this past season, replaces Marty Fine, who resigned on Dec. 1 after a 5-6 season and an 80-61 record in 13 years. The former NCAA Division II program has gone 53-47 on the FCS level, including 31-25 in NEC games.

"I think one of the best ways to look at it is, these guys here and every guy that's going to wear a Bryant football jersey moving forward is going to hit that field running," Perry said.

The native of Andover, Massachusetts, quarterbacked Brown to the 1999 Ivy title as the league's player of the year. He was an assistant at his alma mater for three seasons before joining Bob Surace's initial staff at Princeton in 2010.

He runs a fast-paced offense, and the 2013 Princeton squad set Ivy League records for scoring (43.7 points per game) and total offense (511.6 yards per game).

Perry also has coached on the staffs at Maryland, Delaware, Dartmouth and Williams.

Jim Micelli, who was 26-15 from 1999-2003, preceded Fine as Bryant's only other head coach.

The Bulldogs have yet to finish higher than third in the NEC. Their best season on the FCS level was in 2014, when they went 8-3 overall and 4-2 in the NEC.