Quote from: GroundandPound on February 07, 2025, 09:52:23 AMhttps://www.ctinsider.com/gametimect/football/article/donte-kelly-football-maloney-choate-wesleyan-20151264.php

I follow CT high school football pretty closely and this is a great get by Wes. He'll be a star.

Quote from: The truth 101 on January 29, 2025, 04:17:04 PM

Quote from: Charlie on January 29, 2025, 02:02:05 PMI heard rumors that the NCAA could potentially allow players 5 years of athletic eligibility across all sports. This is under serious consideration and could be implemented in under a year. Does anyone know how this would affect the NESCAC landscape if at all ?

If anything I think it means many more NESCAC grad transfers up to the division 1 level in the near future considering only a handful of NESCAC schools actually have grad programs to support a given athletes 5th year.

It is worth noting that the three NESCAC schools that have grad programs (Trinity, Tufts, and Wesleyan) are three of the top four programs in the league.

Quote from: nescac1 on January 28, 2025, 02:10:06 PMSome more Perry highlights here:

https://x.com/D3Direct/status/1884316667817382076

NESCAC: It Just Means More™

Quote from: lumbercat on January 24, 2025, 06:27:10 PM9-0
That's what I was saying 2 days ago. The new President may bring some changes but will not get in the way of that Bantam Football revenue arsenal, will not kill the golden goose. Way too much support from Alums, administration and faculty, it all works beautifully for Trinity.

Trin is unlike any other NESCAC Football program. Though I'm not a fan of the HCOF and his arrogance Ive always commended the College for their unwavering commitment to winning Football.

And I'll still disagree on the financial point. Why do you believe so strongly that Trinity has a "revenue arsenal"? What evidence do you have to support your claim that the Trinity football program is a "golden goose"?

They do plenty of things right in Hartford; and I'm certainly not arguing that they don't have certain advantages. But I'm confused as to why you so fervently believe the football program is printing money without ever providing rationale. Please enlighten us.

This will be Trinity's fourth Athletic Director and fifth President since 2002 when the program began winning championships again. I'm confident that football will adapt to changes under the new administration.

Sadly, I can confirm Charlie's report about Drew Galbraith leaving Trinity as he has accepted a position as a Senior Vice President at the NBA. Drew's tenure in Hartford has been exceptional and he will leave big shoes to fill. The year prior to his arrival, Trinity finished 179th in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings. This past year they were 45th. I imagine the College will wait until the newly announced President, Daniel Lugo, is inaugurated this summer to make any decisions regarding the vacancy but in the meantime I'm sure they'll do their due diligence regarding a candidate pool.

Regarding lumber's post, it's important for everyone to realize that at every College/University it is the Board of Trustees, and not the President who approves spending for any capital projects (athletics or otherwise). Certainly it helps to have the support of the administration but these are anything but unilateral decisions made by presidents based on their perceived support of athletics. I do agree that President Berger-Sweeney was great for Trinity and understood the culture/importance of Athletics at Trin.

Trinity does indeed have a passionate football alumni base who support the College and the program but it's not anything disproportionate to the rest of the league. In fact, as illustrated below, Trinity is clearly on the lower end of the NESCAC financially; both in endowment and fundraising capabilities.

This not only limits what Trinity's Athletics Department receives as their annual allocation from the College's budget but also their ability to fundraise for Athletics because the College's priorities from a fundraising perspective will always be for the endowment and financial aid (as they should be). I would actually argue that from a financial perspective Trinity athletics, and football in particular, is doing more with less.

SCHOOL         CURRENT ENDOWMENT      MOST RECENT CAMPAIGN  Williams $3,911,574,095    $650,000,000 Amherst $3,775,153,114    $625,000,000 Bowdoin $2,718,438,000    $500,000,000 Tufts $2,646,506,000    $1,500,000,000 Wesleyan $1,669,796,000    $600,000,000 Middlebury $1,511,001,000    $600,000,000 Hamilton $1,411,536,000    $400,000,000 Colby $1,257,738,000    $1,000,000,000 Trinity $795,206,957    $425,000,000 Bates $466,016,288    $300,000,000

I'll add to the chorus of happy and optimistic NESCAC football alumni who believe this (likely?) outcome is long overdue. If for some reason it doesn't get approved by the league Presidents I think a Title IX lawsuit would not be far off.

On a separate note, the league roster size rules appear to be having an impact at Trinity where they have 21 players committed in this recruiting cycle. They are looking to add "a few more" in the coming weeks but even that would mean a smaller incoming class than what they've averaged over the past few seasons:

2024 - 29
2023 - 32
2022 - 33
2021 - 29
2020 - 31
2019 - 29

How long until we start hearing rumors of NESCAC transfers to North Carolina...? 

This is pre-Super Bowl era but Trinity legend, Roger LeClerc, won an NFL Championship as a linebacker and placekicker for the 1963 Chicago Bears.

Quote from: 8i Technique on December 06, 2024, 11:13:07 AMTruly enjoying the Mt Rushmore of modern-history NESCAC D-Line discussion. I see Helbig has been mentioned as a notch above Mike Blair. I'd love to hear Trinity 9-0 (or Coach DiCenzo's) comparison of these behemoths.

For those unaware of Blair's accomplishments, he was a 4-time All-American Heavyweight for the Bantams (125-10 career record) and generally considered their cornerstone for the Defense that led all of D3 in multiple defensive categories (scoring, rushing yards, etc.) for each of the 8-0 years. The team was 31-1 when he was on the field.

He was the NESCAC rookie of the year (2002), NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year (2005), D2/D3 Defensive Player of the Year (2005) and AFCA All-American (2005).

Simply put, from his Freshman year forward, he was the most disruptive force for what is likely the greatest defense in NESCAC-history (4.9 points per game allowed over a 3 year period, 24 wins/0 losses...6.8 ppg if you add in the 2002 stats, 31 wins/1 loss).

His speed was likely the hinderance from sincere looks at the next level, though it would have been quite interesting to see an NFL team bring his weight up to 290 lbs. and move him to OG. His wrestling talent (balance/leverage), natural power and pugnacity would have given him a reasonable chance to make a roster.

Mike Blair was the single best athlete that I ever played with/against. He has more career sacks (23.5) and tackles for loss (37.5) than Helbig who had 21 and 33.5 respectively. However Blair did play in five more games. As noted, Blair also benefitted from playing on a FAR superior defense. My former roommate, Jamie Creed who graduated two years before Blair actually holds the Trinity record for career sacks with 24 and is second to Blair in TFLs with 35. Safe to say that defensive line was formidable.

The 2003 Trinity team allowed just 30 points for the entire season. There were 17 NESCAC games this past year where a team allowed more than 30 points.

One final note on Blair, who was inducted into Trinity's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022. He was the first wrestler in New England Division III history to earn All-American four times and he was also an All New England thrower for the track team.

Ted Rogers had an absolutely insane 37.5 sacks for the Ephs from 1987-'90 (including 13.5 in '89). Even if he played every game for our years that's still over a sack per game in an era when NESCAC teams weren't passing nearly as much.

Trinity announced their 23rd President earlier today. Daniel G. Lugo, who is currently president at Queens University of Charlotte will succeed Joanne Berger-Sweeney after she completes her 11 year tenure in June.

Lugo has some NESCAC ties having served as Vice President of College Advancement at Colby where he planned and orchestrated Colby's highly successful $750 million "Dare Northward" fundraising campaign. As for his stance on athletics, all I can offer is that under his leadership Queens reclassified the university's 25 NCAA sports to Division I competition so I can only assume he understands their value to an institution.

No word yet on whether he thinks football belongs in the D3 playoffs. 

Jumes may not make All American (although he did last year and was named preseason All American this year). And while you can certainly make the argument that Shuran had a more impressive season based on the number of attempts and distances made, I'll double-down on saying I'd be very surprised if Jumes wasn't the first team All NESCAC kicker for three reasons:

• Jumes still went perfect on the season
• Trinity gets more all-conference slots based on record
• It's rare for players who previously made first team (in his case twice) to be "demoted" for lack of a better word to second team.

One final note, Shuran actually did miss an important 28 yard kick in the 4th quarter against Wesleyan. However, he got bailed out by a questionable roughing call.

I mostly agree with nescac1:

OPOTY: Zebrowski
DPOTY: Carbeau
COTY: DiCenzo

There is no Special Teams POTY but I'd be very surprised if Jumes doesn't get a third straight nod for 1st Team All NESCAC placekicker. He was perfect this season making all 36 kicks he attempted on the year. Trinity attempted half as many field goals this season and nearly half the number of extra points as they did last year so his total points isn't as high. But Jumes made an insane 92 of his last 94 collegiate attempts (97.8%).

As mentioned a few weeks back, there is a number of outstanding kickers in the league this year but it'd be hard to not give the first team award to a kicker who has won it two years in a row and didn't miss a kiss all season.

Congrats to Wes on their first outright NESCAC title! It's certainly the culmination of a turnaround that started with Mike Whalen being recruited back to Middletown 14 years ago. Proof that it can take time to reach the summit, but Wes has certainly made the commitment and investment in football (and athletics in general). The consistency through the transition to Dicenzo along with his ability to recruit and develop players gave them enough firepower to compete annually and they eventually broke through for a title via an improbable stretch of gutsy wins. I applaud their commitment and  their success is well deserved.

A shout-out to the Cardinal faithful as well who've waiting a long time to see their team alone atop the NESCAC. At their lowest point, a winless season back in 2005, I bemoaned the state of Wes football on these boards and hoped they could find a way back to relevancy because the league is just better when Wes is competitive. Watching the Cards reach the summit in The Coop was surely a tough pill to swallow in the moment, but it undoubtedly adds some juice to a rivalry which has been overwhelmingly one-sided for nearly 50 years.

I was unable to be at the game but live-streamed as much as I could and the best thing I can say is that the Cardinals went out and took the game. They were physical and made some exceptional plays along with some very smart and gutsy play calling. Much like Trinity's loss to Middlebury, the Bantams didn't exactly play poorly, the opponent simply made more than a few really high-quality plays in critical moments to claim victory.

In the nearly 25 years that I've followed NESCAC football it always seems like someone is touting an increase in parity across the league and I've never really agreed. However, I do think this past season was as close as we've seen to actual parity in the NESCAC. Sure the same teams that usually win did win and the same teams that usually lose did lose. But the the individual outcomes were much closer and in my opinion the overall quality of teams across the board was more on par with one another than I've seen in the past. The fact that Wes won their first outright title while losing to Bates is further evidence of that.

As for how that relates to the discussion about this being a down year in the league I'll add that among the 29 teams since 2000 who have won (or tied for at least a share of) the NESCAC title, the 2024 Wesleyan team ranks tied for 23rd in average point differential (10.6 points per game) and 18th in average yardage differential (103.3 per game). You can argue whether that's due to an increase in league parity or just a case of a better than average team who made a few exceptional plays when it mattered most. But for now the Cardinals deserve their moment in the sun.

Nescacman, I'll be sure to pass along the gift receipt for my donation to Wes Football to show that I've made good on our wager.

Quote from: Nescacman on November 07, 2024, 01:53:26 PMThe wager has been set between Hs8-1 and NESCACMAN...thank you for the 19 points (based on the SP+ Model). We definitely put our $$$ where our mouth is.

Rest assured, the alma matter (substantially) wins either way.

We hope (and believe) that the game will be (much) closer than that. Our full breakdown to follow tomorrow.

#rollcards

NM

Nescacman definitely hustled me into the 19 point spread as opposed to whatever line he'll come up with... but since he's got (a lot) more cheddar on the line I figured I couldn't say no, especially since it's going to a good cause.
Safe to say I'd be happy with a(nother) Bantam championship regardless of whether or not they cover!


IVY, welcome to the board and well said! It's easy to get caught up in the wins and losses so thank you for the reminder that it's the dedication and love of the game from all the players and coaches that really matters.