FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Jonny Utah]

for a pot4ential nescac recruit what are the advantages other than records to bates, hamilton, colby wesleyan, any color on who will get the hamilton job. Also anyone looking at similar school on westcoast.

dont know too much about hamilton, but bates and wesleyan have more of a hippie/long hair/liberal crowd and Colby is more like Bowdoin with the rich New England Yankee crowd.

[buzztd]

well hamilton is coachless, bates and wesleyan seem a little different  wesleyan more liberal, nobody from my school even looks at these places much so references are non existant, colby may be preppie so I may not fit, do not like amherst or williams too too rich, the football seems similar, the academics are all great, cost about the same. will probably come down to coaches and who might want me. Will look at some biggere schools in the ivies as well.

[frank uible]

buzz: If you are any good at all, you can and will play at any NESCAC college. At some of them even if you are not any good. At any rate they all will let you fill out the squad (don't worry about the Rule of 75 - most of them don't have to use it). Each of them has its own relative strengths and minor shortcomings. Go for the academics!

[buzztd]

frank, not going to do the macho thing, I can play, come from a place where football is the only thing, can read, write and have good board scores, just looking for info, and your correct its all about theschool. But like my dad says we are comparing mercedes, bmw, and maybe if we play are cards right we will be all very happy in four years at graduation. Thanks for your words.

[bant551]

Purely on academics, Williams and Amherst would be your top choices.

If you are secure in getting into those places, I reccomend, just to see the place, going by Trinity.

I visited Williams, Hamilton and Trinity in the NESCAC and chose Trinity.  My friend who cared almost exclusively about academics thought I was insane (and apparently so did Williams' coach, who said something about making the "biggest mistake of my life").  I just felt alot more comfortable at Trinity.  Kind of a mix of being a good school but also being a place that looked like it would be alot of fun.

But if you were going by pure rankings, and don't want to visit good old Trin, I think you can rule out Hamilton because those other schools, as you've alluded to, are very similar.  Hamilton is a bit depressing.  I cannot say that I didn't enjoy and of my trips to those schools because it is kind of interesting, but in terms of social life and things to do in the surrounding area, Hamilton does not have much to offer.  Plus, you must factor in with Weseleyan and Hamilton that the teams are terrible, and there might not be better days on the horizon.  Big difference between going to a team that had a down year and going to a team that didn't win a game the year before.

As for Hamilton, I had a friend who went there the year before me, probably would have been a decent player on most other teams, but ended up being their top receiver, returning punts, playing a little d-back.... he ended up going abroad his junior year and didn't play ball his senior year after winning like one game through 3 years.  I always wondered what that was like.  I remember they had a really good defensive lineman there when we played them, and beat them 39-0.  I was just thinking how much it would suck to be a very, very solid player but to have everyone around you make it virtually impossible for your team to win one game all year.  I'd reccomend factoring that in unless academics really sets Hamilton apart from the other schools you mentioned.

Weseleyan does have a great campus, but it is very liberal like you've mentioned.  Also, the same football quality thing you'd have to deal with.  Also, it drives me crazy watching them try to run an offense.  Its kind of cool to have an interesting offense and all, but I'm not sure that they even know you are ALLOWED to run the football.  Mindboggling.  Probably would drive me even crazier if I played there.

Finally, the football problems and campus problems are not present at the other schools you mentioned.  At least I can't think of similar complaints.  Had a friend play laccrosse at Bowdoin and I think he liked his school fine.  Middlebury puts alot of $$ into its athletic facilities.  Williams and Amherst are the best of the best academically, Colby I don't know anything about, which is probably a good thing, and they are good at football... don't know anything about Bates either.  And of course, I was very happy with Trinity!

Can't go wrong with any of these schools.  Good luck.

[mariner75]

buzztd....

Another NESCAC school to consider is Tufts......doesn't fall into the small liberal arts classification as it's considered a national university (US News) but it's not too big (about 4800 students).   Obviously top notch academically, as are all the NESCACs, and it's location near Boston (15 minute subway ride from downtown) is great, if you're looking for a suburban campus not far from a big city.  Good luck in your search.

[bomber27]

Buzz, I went to Immaculate High in Danbury,CT and Gunnery Prep School in Washington, CT.  Go academics, you'll have fun no matter where you go, its college

[buzztd]

very cool at least we are shoping in the right store, intelligent answers from smart people beats the advice at my school thanks.

[speedy]

Buzz -- Are you a high school junior or a senior? Unless your academic record is absolutely steller, you may want to call upon the football coach for help in the admissions process. That's most readily gained in the "early decision" phase of the process.

All NESCAC schools give weight to athletic talent in the admissions process but it is a somewhat regulated process (with numerical limits on the numbers of "tips" a coach has per year with the admissions department). Because of the way the process works, coaches perfer to use their tips on ahletes who have made their school their number one choice.

The NESCAC schools you are focusing on all have somewhat lower admissions standards than most of the ones you have excluded (Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin and Middlebury all rank above the schools on your list).  Even so, all NESCAC schools have relatively exacting admission standards so make sure that you do not inadvertently deny yourself assistance in the admissions process by applying to a laundry list of NESCAC schools. Of the four schools on your list, Wesleyan probbaly has the most demanding admissions standards.

Several NESCAC schools have a second early decision phase so if you are a senior it's not too late to go the ED route . ..

[Trincoll]

My recommendation is to use football to get you into a NESCAC school. Then choose Trinity b/c you're guaranteed to have a Wining %. Then after your freshman year pledge Crow (AXP) they are building a house.

[Trin9-0]

Now that Priore is moving on here's a list of just a few of his classic "Priore-isms"


"You know gentlemen... hindsight is 50/50."

"If you're too high in the chutes you're going to castrate yourself!"

"That's what's going to happen 99 times out of 10."

"Are you trying to ruin everyone of my wet dreams!?!"

"Why don't you go lock yourself in a closet with a loaded .45 and if the funeral is on a Saturday, I'm not going because I've got a game to coach."



Best of luck to Jeff Devanney

[chessdoc]

well cross stonybrook off the list////?? good luck to the new coach sound like they are loaded anyway

[dewcrew88]

"If you're too high in the chutes you're going to castrate yourself!"

As a lineman, I laughed when I read that. Those chutes could reach out and grab you when you weren't paying attention. It could ring your bell!

['gro]

Buzz, not to sound like a hater, but why are you dead set on a NESCAC school? There are other schools in NE, NY, PA that are just as good in academics, and we all know the football is better. eh, who cares, just go to Tufts.

[dirtybirds8-0]

I contacted Priore last week via e-mail to congratulate him on his achievements @ Trinity, and to wish him well with his move to Stony Brook.  He is aware of the challenges that face him, but it was refreshing to have him say that he was going to put those boys through the ringer...just like he did to us.  He will have a lot of success in his new endeavours and I can not wait to see Stony Brook in a championship game in 4-5 years.  With that said, I am to rushed to figure out who Buzz is and all this talk about where to go to school in the NESCAC, but if you are looking to compete in a tremendous academic and athletic school I suggest you look no further than Trinity...you will not be dissapointed in any way.  Good luck with your career, I can assure you that the support you recieve from the Bantam family after graduation, across the country, is truly amazing...I have experienced this several times in my 2 years after graduation.  30 in a row is not to bad itself...