FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[PolarCat]

Yes.

Read the preceding page.

[lumbercat]

Opgenorth is well respected in the NESCAC based on his body of work at Colby. The Mules struggled this year offensively after losing Opgenorth  and QB Ciero.
He certainly left Colby well stocked at the QB position. The Blue and Grey dressed 6 QBs this year and all were FY's or Sophs. They will bring in another 2 QBs this year so some of those QBs will move to other positions. I agree with that recruiting approach as good QBs are often the best athletes on the field and can make a significant impact in helping a team at other positions.

Others will say the Mules over-recruited which is not the case unless they made specific promises.

Rumors were plentiful when Opgenorth resigned his head coaching position at St. Norbert's in November after just 1 year. Many felt that he may be a candidate to return to the NESCAC as Caputi's successor at Bowdoin but I have not heard further mention of Opgenorth as a Bowdoin HC candidate beyond that initial speculation.

I will defer to NESCACMAN as he is generally on the money and has a good grasp on NESCAC Football developments. Go back a few pages on this board for the input he provided on the Bowdoin HC job.

At the end of the Football season there were a few speculated coaching changes in the NESCAC which may still materialize but Kelton is safe at Wiiliams despite rumors to the contrary.

[amh63]

JSColby18.....welcome to the board!  Always good to add an astute football poster from Maine..and a Mule one.

[polbear73]

While I won't comment on individual candidates out of respect for Bowdoin's insistence on confidentiality  (after all, these coaches are still employed by and are recruiting for their respective institutions), I can say that Bowdoin is entering the final phase of a thorough, meticulous and extensive search. Well over one hundred applications were received from all over the country and were submitted by assistant and head coaches from all football divisions. The enthusiasm and passion for this job has been gratifying with the reasons most cited were Bowdoin's reputation, location, NESCAC, and, not insignificantly, the challenge of turning the program around.

I would expect an announcement by the end of the month.

[amh63]

It is very small-minded and imo "childish" to ping a new poster on this board for commenting on,I guess, the subject of possible candidates for the a vacant job.  The ones pinged...do not have the ability to respond in kind...except for me.  Grow up and be  identified if you have the nerve, which I doubt.

[PolarCat]

Pardon my naivete, but what is a "ping"?  The "-1" some senior member gave the new guy?

There's a lot about this board I don't understand; what's the criteria for being selected to vote up and vote down posts?  I think I have a better understanding of the Electoral College than the D3 boards.

[amh63]

PolarCat....yes to your question.  The ability to do so is based on the criteria of the number of post one makes/day on a given board.  The breakthrough number is 200. 
If one post more than one time on the same board in a given 24 hour period...it counts as a single post.  If you post in one day on other boards, than those posts counts.
I agreed the Electoral college can be challenging for me too...but it serves it's use as put in by wiser men than me.

[Pat Coleman]

If one post more than one time on the same board in a given 24 hour period...it counts as a single post.  If you post in one day on other boards, than those posts counts.

This is not at all true. Every post counts as one post.

[amh63]

Really?...need to adjust my thinking. 
Pat C....was this a change?

[Pat Coleman]

It's actually been like that the entire time, sorry!

[PolarCat]

Pat, is it 200 posts TOTAL?  Or 200 in one 24-hour period, as amh63 suggests?  (It would seem to me that 200 posts in one day could only be made by someone desperately in need of a life!)

[nescac1]

Well, since someone asked, next year in NESCAC looks to once again be pretty open at the top.  I was stunned, frankly, that Wesleyan didn't win the league this year, and they now graduate a ton of talent from the senior class, although getting Drew back will be big for them.  Amherst is the returning champ who everyone will be gunning for, but the Jeffs return most of their top players so they have to go into the year as the favorite.  Trinity is always in the mix and seems to return loads of talent (the biggest losses are at LB, where the amazing rising sophomore class will step right in, and OL, where Trinity is a factory) and should get much better QB play next year, and Midd's offense looks like it will be as dynamic as ever, while the D is getting better and better.  It's hard to see anyone cracking that top four.  And if I had to bet on one of them to win the league, I'd pick Midd, but you can defend picking any of the four. 

I (among many others) really thought the Ephs would be a lot better than they were this past season, and now they lose their top two running backs with little talent in the pipeline there, the best OL from what was another underperforming group, and Tom Cabarle, who had by far the best year of any defender on the team, just an awesome individual season that was overshadowed by the Eph struggles as a team.  The two returning QBs both played well at times last year and should be very solid as seniors, and the team still has a very talented group of WRs led by Sime and Hayes, but if the Oline doesn't give time for protection and if the passing game (perhaps out of necessity due to lack of protection) is totally conservative / predictable again, that won't matter much.  And without major changes in personnel or strategy, which at this point do not appear to be forthcoming, it's hard to see the Ephs returning to a winning program any time soon.  It would help if James Howe returns to the unblockable force he was a sophomore, but even if he does, that's only one guy.  The defense needs to find guys who will give a spark and make big plays on the front seven. The Ephs did play a pair of frosh quite a bit at DT this year, so perhaps they can improve and help the run defense. Hopefully the Ephs found a big-time RB in recruiting, because other than Harris, who is best as a change-of-pace scat back, it is at this point unclear WHO will get carries next season. 

Tufts and Bates both look to be on the way up, and are likely to form the middle tier of the league.  Colby, Bowdoin, Williams, and Hamilton all have a LOT of work to do in the off-season ... all of them need dramatic upgrades to compete. 

[amh63]

PolarCat...when you reach 200 recorded posts! ...you are nearing that number.  Agreed that 200 posts/ day is someone that needs help! . 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Really?...need to adjust my thinking. 
Pat C....was this a change?

You might be confusing it with the (late unlamented) politics board - those posts did NOT count toward the post total.

[amh63]

Mr. Ypsi...thanks.  I'm easily confused on many things.
Some football info.  Seems the ECAC Org has honored both Amherst and Havard in football...both teams had undefeated teams in 2014.  The particulars are on the Amherst athletic website.