FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[frank uible]

As in many subjects, them who knows ain't speakin' and them who's speakin' don't know.

[gridiron]

Apparently, I've been on the board long enough that certain subtleties have now come into focus for me.  Thanks, Frank.

[Trin9-0]

The announcers on NCAA.com ended their broadcast by congratulating Trinity on repeating as National Champions.  The only problem was that, while the Trinity 1 boat won its race, their 2 boat finished third in the other race, and Bates 2-1 finish nipped Trinity's 1-3 on points.  Another facepalm moment brought to you by the NCAA.

To be fair, the Trinity women's Varsity Eight did win a second consecutive national championship. The Bantams just also happened to finish second in the team standings. Here's the article from the Trin Athletics website:
http://athletics.trincoll.edu/sports/wrowing/2014-15/releases/Women-s_Rowing_G_111415

[PolarCat]

Well that's confusing.  I didn't realize rowing named a boat National Champion, and a team National Champion.  I'd assumed it was like sailing, where the A and B divion results were combined.

Does that mean Bates won two National Championships in that event?  One for the team, and another for the #2 boat?

In any event, it would have been nice for the NCAA announcers to congratulate Bates for the TEAM championship before going off the air.

[amh63]

Seems that Bowdoin has two new assistant coaches....an OFC and a DC.  Both were assistants for Wells before.  PartIculars are on the Polarbear website. 
The DC is a Wesleyan graduate who has been an assistant coach at Wes and Middlebury.
Hope this is fresh news....did go back 2-4 pages of posts.

[AUPepBand]

Couple comments of little football value really!
First....Trinity8-0...what year was your little video..2002?..What is a GIF?
AU Pep...nice to hear from you.....how's the rebuid of the Saxon's football program going?  Seems your former coach is adjusting ok at Hamilton.
PolarCat is worried that his tailgate that includes a festival of food and music will just have too much leftovers...me thinks.
Surprised that Trinity has such an early commencement date.

As with the AU football program, Pep is in a similar process of "rebuilding" the band. Taking a slightly different approach this season as the official director of bands at AU will offer Pep Band as a two-credit class. Hoping more musicians will commit to the band. It will be nice to have a real band director for a change, although Pep was always pleased with the student musicians' ability to lead. (Pep has always said that Pep couldn't direct himself out of a paper bag!)

Word has it that the AU football program has had a comparable recruiting year, although Pep hasn't seen any of the recruits' credentials. Pep has heard there will be, as in the past, between 90 and 100 freshman football recruits coming in....and hopes that some of them can play football!

On Saxon Warriors!

[polbear73]

Seems that Bowdoin has two new assistant coaches....an OFC and a DC.  Both were assistants for Wells before.  PartIculars are on the Polarbear website. 
The DC is a Wesleyan graduate who has been an assistant coach at Wes and Middlebury.
Hope this is fresh news....did go back 2-4 pages of posts.

We discussed this when announced in early spring.  Since then, many weeks of off season conditioning and team bonding have created new optimism in Brunswick. We'll see in late September.

[amh63]

polbear73.....thanks...I needed that! .  Hope the uptick in the team and atmosphere is expressed on the field in the season opener.
AUPepband....congrats to your "upgrade".  Would like to see more pepbands of all flavors in the CAC stands.  Seems the Williams band is unique in the CAC....much like the Cornell Marching Band in the Ivies.  Cornell has built a nice new facility for their band recently...adjacent to the stadium.  Amherst does recruit  musical students with instrumental talents...just not enough for the brass section.
Small world comment...seems that my grand daughter has a playmate across the street that has an Alfred U. Connection.  The mother of the young girl has parents that both teach at AU.
Just over two months to go before football practice starts.

[amh63]

Something is UP comment......noticed that Amherst's 2015 schedule has an oddity of sorts.  Bowdoin's website shows the same thing.  The Oct. 3 game at Amherst has a "TBA" start.  All other games both away and at home have a time.  It is Summer now so there is time to figure this out .  My first thought was maybe there will be another game under the lights!.  The first game under the lights was last season at Homecoming an it was in November and it was COLD.

[amh63]

Update to my last post here.   Seems Amherst has TWO other games with TBA start times!  I know, loosing focus.  Anyway, the first game up at Bates also has a TBA listed.  The Game with Wesleyan also has a TBA...that is Homecoming at Amherst....interesting.  My guess is that will be a game under the lights....hoping that the Cardinals will not be able to see the Amherst players with its new All-Black uniforms.....just kidding here.  Do not want to infer that the LJs will impose on the Polar Bears preferred uniform color.  Still cannot understand an all black uniform for Bowdoin whose school color is "White".

[polbear73]

Update to my last post here.   Seems Amherst has TWO other games with TBA start times!  I know, loosing focus.  Anyway, the first game up at Bates also has a TBA listed.  The Game with Wesleyan also has a TBA...that is Homecoming at Amherst....interesting.  My guess is that will be a game under the lights....hoping that the Cardinals will not be able to see the Amherst players with its new All-Black uniforms.....just kidding here.  Do not want to infer that the LJs will impose on the Polar Bears preferred uniform color.  Still cannot understand an all black uniform for Bowdoin whose school color is "White".

I've heard rumors, am63, that the Bowdoin uniforms will change this season; hopefully along with the won-loss record!

[gridiron]

I know some like to keep track of how many players report to camp as a possible indicator of team depth.  Colby expects 83 to compete for the 75 spots allowed by NESCAC rules.

[NewtoNescac]

83 players for Colby sounds pretty good. The real question is how Michaels is going to reverse last year's downward spiral apparently brought about by the numerous coaching changes. He was a good OC, but the jury is still out on him as a HC. Just one of the many sub-plots to watch this coming season. I can't wait for NESCAC football.

[lumbercat]

Gridiron- thanks for the news on Colby.

Newtonescac- things fell apart for Michaels on Mayflower Hill last year but in his defense he lost maybe the top QB in NESCAC to transfer. He also lost his OC Opegnorth to St Norbert's (were he mysteriously left after one year as HFC with a 6-4 record)
Michaels hastily brought in a new OC last year who evidently did not work well with the program and left after one year.

Colby struggled all year in trying to incorporate one of the finest athletes in the NESCAC into their offense. Luke Duncklee is/was one of the finest offensive weapons in the league. Colby struggled offensively all year and Luke has a very disappointing year.

Duncklee has another year of eligibility, will he return this year?

It's a clean slate for the Mules this year- looks like a good recruiting year but the crowd remains at QB so look for some changes.....it will come down to Harrington and Ecke at QB with some others making transitions to other positions as did the aforementioned Duncklee, a fine QB at Cony HS who was transitioned to a WR/ slot guy by a fine coach named Ed Mestieri.

Not a bad philosophy to over recruit at the QB position as they tend to be great athletes as long as the kids coming in are open to playing another position.

Elsewhere in the NESCAC you don't hear much from Williams. They badly need a good recruiting year and my guess is they pulled out some of the stops after the tough times in the past few years but do not know for a fact. Recruiting info very closely guarded at Williams and Amherst for some reason.

No secrets with Tufts recruiting- a fantastic recruiting class with an emphasis on big, talented lineman. They will throw less and run more this year. On paper it looks likes one of the best groups of recruits in recent years in the NESCAC.

[amh63]

Lumbercat.....me too!