FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

I don't know if my kid and his teammates feel slighted or not...being excluded from post-season play.  They can and do  look at defensive & offensive stats to compare themselves nationally ...

These are pretty meaningless because the entire league plays only within itself and no outside competition.

[met_fan]

Interested to see who Hamilton gets to replace Stetson.  Hopefully it is someone who build on the slowly improving program.  I believe they actually will field a full roster next year for the first time in quite a while.

[lumbercat]

Was he asked to step aside and consoled with the Golf job?
The new coach has a very good QB who will be a fifth year senior.

[met_fan]

Was he asked to step aside and consoled with the Golf job?
The new coach has a very good QB who will be a fifth year senior.

I don't think so...he stepped in to fill in a pinch with golf this year and he's a pretty avid golfer.  I'm guessing he was ready to be done with the longer hours of football at age 61.  Can't get much better than coaching D3 golf for a job.

[lumbercat]

Sure- but it seems that the guy finally got the adminstration to allow him to recruit more athletes. The problem that all have cited at Hamilton is the lack of depth.  Stetson was always outspoken on that problem with his program. He recently stated that they finally have been able to increase the Hamilton roster from 45-50 to 75-80 bodies which is consistent with most of the rest of the NESCAC. He was optimistic about the future of the program and seemingly worked hard to finally bring about needed changes for the Buff and Blue--why would he step down now?

Doesn't seem to make sense that anyone would leave when the program was moving forward but who knows......at the end of the day his record was 12-36......would the Hamilton administration accept that kind of performance in the classroom?   

No one gets "fired" in NESCAC athletics, they "step aside", "retire", "move on" or "move in another direction"..........at the end of the day, winning, and striving for excellence is no different in the NESCAC than the Ivy League or the Patriot League-- they just portray it differently. There is no viable institution, Division 1,2 or 3,  which prides itself on a platform of academic excellence that can condone athletic failure.  You cannot select the venues in which you commit to do well, the commitment to excellence must be pervasive throughout the institiution encompassing athletics along with academics and all other diciplines.  Any approach to the contrary compromises the stature of instititions, NESCAC or others, that profess to aspire to a priority of academic, spirtual, athletic and intellectual opportunities in a stimulating environment that challenges the student body in each area consistently.
 

[frank uible]

There is an old, old saying among coaches: coaching is like a bath, it ain't so hot after you've been in it for a while.

[moskowe]

Congrats to Tufts on their great Navy seal Graduation speaker. As a father of a soon to be Tufts football player i am proud that they were able to have a young man of great stature address there graduates. I hope these values reinforce the hard work necessary to perform on and off the field. As we go to his high school graduation we look forward to the year to come and the great standards that the nescac sets.

[PistachioX]

I don't know if my kid and his teammates feel slighted or not...being excluded from post-season play.  They can and do  look at defensive & offensive stats to compare themselves nationally ...

These are pretty meaningless because the entire league plays only within itself and no outside competition.

http://www.nescac.com/championships/national_champions_team
NESCAC's men's teams have won National Championships in Tennis (2x), Squash (4x), LAX, Soccer & Baseball since 2007.  They haven't won championships in basketball or ice hockey since 2006, and prior.
The women's teams have been more successful on the bigger stage during that same time, winning LAX, Tennis (5x), XC (4x), Field Hockey (3x), Basketball, Rowing (4x) & Ice Hockey (2x) in the last five seasons.
I'm not sure how their combined championship titles compare to other leagues or conferences... but I'd say the NESCAC represents pretty well, as far as competitive athletic programs are concerned.  We may never know how the level of play for football compares, but based on the league's recent achievements in other sports, I would tend to lend credibility to reported defensive and offensive stats for football.

[frank uible]

Once upon a time not long ago there was an annual football game in December called the Aztec Bowl in which a team of Mexican all-stars would play a team of DIII all-stars comprised of outgoing seniors. NESCAC not infrequently would send one or more of its players to that game - who were competitive among their DIII all-star teammates and could be counted on to perform well in that game.

[lumbercat]

Good point Frank- not sure what happened to that game--seems like it was 5 years ago or less that I last  remember a period of a time when a Colby or Bates kid was selected for that game over the years  but it has evidently been discontinued.  I have not heard anything in recent years about that game.

[82slice]

Good point Frank- not sure what happened to that game--seems like it was 5 years ago or less that I last  remember a period of a time when a Colby or Bates kid was selected for that game over the years  but it has evidently been discontinued.  I have not heard anything in recent years about that game.

That all star game is still active. Amherst sent two of its stars, Bunker and Rawson,  to that game this past December.   The game was played December 17th.

[Pat Coleman]

It's a little different now. It's not as much an all-star team because the kids have to pay to participate and there are often multiple players from the same school. The AFCA is no longer involved in the bowl formerly known as Aztec.

[frank uible]

Paying one's way into the game should make one feel a little less an all-star and a little more a one percenter.

[02 Warhawk]

I don't know if my kid and his teammates feel slighted or not...being excluded from post-season play.  They can and do  look at defensive & offensive stats to compare themselves nationally ...

These are pretty meaningless because the entire league plays only within itself and no outside competition.

http://www.nescac.com/championships/national_champions_team
NESCAC's men's teams have won National Championships in Tennis (2x), Squash (4x), LAX, Soccer & Baseball since 2007.  They haven't won championships in basketball or ice hockey since 2006, and prior.
The women's teams have been more successful on the bigger stage during that same time, winning LAX, Tennis (5x), XC (4x), Field Hockey (3x), Basketball, Rowing (4x) & Ice Hockey (2x) in the last five seasons.
I'm not sure how their combined championship titles compare to other leagues or conferences... but I'd say the NESCAC represents pretty well, as far as competitive athletic programs are concerned.  We may never know how the level of play for football compares, but based on the league's recent achievements in other sports, I would tend to lend credibility to reported defensive and offensive stats for football.

Interesting argument. Why does the conference handcuff its football programs, when allowing other programs to compete at a national level?

(sorry if this question has been asked a thousand times over)

[amh63]

Yes,,,,,the question has been asked thousands if not more times.  The conference is composed of private academic first schools.   It is the home of a number of prominent football programs...at least two of the oldest football fields in history, the third oldest football contest in history, players that have gone on to the present NFL, players that have gone on to own NFL teams.  It has dominated D3 NCAA sports overall as seen in the number of National team championships in all the sports...see Sears Cup.  It is a conference that strongly believes in allowing talented players to play in multi-sports during their college years and celebrate the graduation rates of all its students.  Given that, the academic and therefore the sport schedules are "controlled" by the college presidents.  Read the conference history on the NESCAC website.  Football has never been considered a NCAA post season team candidate....and it never will be.  Like Harvard and Yale that in its history once played in the Rose Bowl, it does not seek to compete at higher divisions of Football for "glory".  Students who play football who want post-season team football glory will seek other schools.  Those that play in the conference, understand the conditions and limited season.  That is a long but simple answer.