FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[mariner75]

Good job, Trin!  Just wondering how many of those players listed were starters/major contributors for their teams?  I know for Tufts that both Magoon and McCann were defensive starters all year & were the 3rd & 4th leading tacklers respectively.

Regardless, all listed should be proud of their achievement, given the enormous amount of time they need to devote to the sport while balancing that with the books.

[Trin9-0]

Requirements to be an All-Academic Selection. (Taken from the NESCAC website)

To be honored, a student-athlete must have reached junior academic standing and be a varsity letter winner with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.35. A transfer student must have completed one year of study at the institution.


Two of Trinity's All-Academic selections, Kevin Swiniarski and Tim Coughlin, were not only starters, but also were named to the NESCAC All-Conference teams.

[Jonny Utah]

Trinity — Coach Paul Assaiante's men's squash team, which owns a record of 125-0 since the 1998-99 season, with seven national intercollegiate titles, is ranked No. 1 in the initial College Squash Association poll.


This is from todays Boston Herald.

[formerbant10]

Utah, this might be the year the Squash teams sees a defeat, but I'd still count on them to win the whole thing. 

The big question is whether or not Priore is staying for next year.  What else does he have to prove?  What would happen if they did lose a game next year?  Is trying to win every game realistic for the 4th year? 

Like MJ the first and second time, he retired on top of the game.  Might be time for Priore to make a move....but I'd love to see him stay for as long as possible.

[Trin9-0]

I've talked to a few people close to the Trinity football program regarding Priore and the possibility of him leaving for another job. So far there has been no indication that he is pursuing other places. However, some feel that he is ready to move on. If this does happen I wonder if Trinity would replace him with someone from the current staff or look elsewhere. The most likely candidate from among the assistant coaches would be defensive coordinator Jeff Devanney, a '93 Trinty grad.

I was also talking to a friend who coaches at Wesleyan who said he has been losing recruits left and right to Trinity. The most frustrating part is that they're even losing their most talented wide recievers. If anything, WR are the one position Wes Tech should be able to recruit with their pass-happy offense. I guess the prospect of being named NESCAC offensive player of the week while winning 0-2 games a year isn't as appealing as winning a championship despite only catching 1-4 passes a game.

[Reno Hightower]

Priore going to Stony Brook.....

[Trin9-0]

Congrats to the NESCACers who made the D3football.com All-East Region teams:

1st Team:

Michael Blair- DT, Trinity

2nd Team:

Roddy Ames- TE, Colby

3rd Team:

Brian Dubiel- G, Trinity
Ryan Smith- C, Amherst
L.J. Spinnato- DT, Amherst

[frank uible]

Reno: Stony Brook would be a curious destination for Priore. But maybe you're putting us on. My crude guess is that Trinity would have beaten Stony Brook in 2005.

[bant551]

"Reno: Stony Brook would be a curious destination for Priore. But maybe you're putting us on. My crude guess is that Trinity would have beaten Stony Brook in 2005."

Based upon the players from my high school team that the Stonybrook assistant coach requested one-on-one interviews with, I don't think that statement is THAT ridiculous.  Two of us ended up at Trinity and a few of the kids he talked to were not anything special and didn't end up playing football.  I know he was just an assistant, but he seemed to be recruiting guys that were not much more than NESCAC players pretty hard for a I-AA school (or whatever higher division they are in).  Kind of telling us that we could play there (yes, I realize that alot of coaches just say that bs to get decent players to come to their school and round out the practice squad, especially when there isn't such a small player limit like in the NESCAC).  I guess its also possible that they sucked back then but the present coach turned things around or something.

Aren't they in a higher division too?  I thought Hofstra played against them... and the final score was like 55-0.  Obviously Trinity would not do any better against Hofstra but I'm not sure how much better Stony Brook is.  Does anybody know what level they play at?  I just checked and it says they won their league this year and that their coach was named coach of the year.  I recognized some of the names of the kids that played there over the past few years (meaning the rosters from about 2004 back to 1999) that I played against in high school and they were decent players, but not necessarily good enough to guarantee that they'd be great NESCAC players (again, I'm only referring to the kids I know anything about at all).

I guess the guy Kornhauser is old or something... is there word he is retiring?  One thing I've heard is that Joe Gardi might be leaving Hofstra (I don't know, he may have already).  I'll try and find out.  I should know!

[frank uible]

bant: Stony Brook plays in the Northeast Conference (DIAA) with Albany, Monmouth, etc. It appears to be a non-scholarship conference. My statement about Trinity beating Stony Brook was not intended to be outrageous.

[bant551]

Yeah I wasn't sure.  I don't know enough about it.  All I know is that I was recruited by Stony Brook and I didn't play at Trinity until my senior year.  Except for a little bit until I kept screwing up my junior year.

Thats why I didn't think you were being outrageous.  I wonder what would happen in that type of game though.  I would be imagine it would be embarassing for a I-AA school, with or without scholarships to lose to a D-3 school.  I think Trinty JV beat or tied a JV team from Conn that tied for the division this year with Stony Brook.  That is my only basis of comparison.   Apparently they (Cent Conn or something) had an actual JV team (the Trin JV squad, in an average year, as you might imagine, was an embarassment).

Its just weird when you think that Stony Brook played Hofstra... and the different levels that Hofstra and Trinty are on... though I guess Trinity might be able to find the way to lose to a school like that by about only 60 points if Hofstra has the ability to stay in a game with a school like Marshall for most of a game (2 years ago).

But daisy chains have proven breakable.  I remember one year reading in Sports Illustrated, if you went by this "this team beat this team, and this team actually beat this team" formula, some I-AA team that upset a I-A team, which upset a better I-A team, etc., would apparently have "been able to have beaten the #1 team".  Obviously, the article was written in jest (and this required a one-loss #1 team).

It would be interesting.

[mariner75]

I do know that Monmouth, also in the NEC, will start giving football scholarships next year.  I would assume that would be league-wide?  Don't know that for a fact.

[frank uible]

bant and mariner: When you check the records, you will find occasions (possibly as frequently as every year) where strong DIII teams have beaten weak DIA non- scholarship teams. A few years ago (possibly in 2001) I watched Iona play Siena (before Siena dropped football) - both then DIA non-scholarship - and thought that neither of those two teams were as good as the top of NESCAC.

[frank uible]

Rudi Smith, 81, past President of Williams Sideline Quarterback Club and a current Director, slipped away peacefully Monday evening or Tuesday after a day of skiing and very possibly while watching Monday Night Football. What a way to go! A service will occur this morning at 11:00 in Bennington. If you are interested in more, see the Thursday obits for the Bennington Banner.

[formerbant10]

Condolences to Smith's family.

Frank, not a terrible way to go is right.

Priore is officially gone.  New head coach at Stony Brook.  Jeff Devanney named new head coach for the Bants.