Matt Stansfield had been something of an anomaly.
Hired into the University of Buffalo program in 2021 by then-head coach Maurice Linguist, Stansfield helped navigate the transition to Pete Lembo prior to the 2024 season.
But after two years on Lembo's Buffalo staff, Stansfield is no longer part of the Bulls program moving forward. After a nine-win 2024 season, Buffalo dipped back to five wins in 2025 and Lembo has dramatically reshaped his offensive staff.
Earlier Lembo parted ways with Dave Patenaude, the veteran play-caller who ran the Buffalo offense in 2024-25, and hired Tony Tokarz away from Florida State to orchestrate the Bulls offense in the upcoming 2026 season.
Tokarz and Lembo had previously worked together at the University of Memphis, where Tokarz was an offensive position coach and Lembo served as the Tigers' special teams coordinator.
Stansfield had proved productive in his work with the Buffalo offensive line; the Bulls had two more All-Mid American Conference honorees in 2025, the fifth-straight year that Stansfield developed multiple All-MAC performers.
He arrived at Buffalo five years ago on the heels of spending five seasons at his alma mater, Duquesne, as that program's offensive line coach and running game coordinator.
Buffalo was the No. 10 rushing team in the MAC in 2025 at 132.3 yards per game despite missing its starting center for much of the season. The Bulls were the conference's No. 4 rushing team during their breakout, nine-win 2024 campaign in which they averaged almost 170 ypg.
In Year 3 under Lembo, Buffalo is scheduled to open on Thursday, Sept. 3, against Football Championship Subdivision program and in-state foe Albany before back-to-back scheduled road games at Florida International University (FIU) and Penn State, which will be guided in 2026 by first-year head coach Matt Campbell. He was hired by the Nittany Lions away from Iowa State after the 2025 season to replace the fired James Franklin.