FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[frank uible]

Priore must be a confident risk taker. He could have served out his days at Trinity - not bad duty. But he chose to go to Stony Brook - as far as I can see, an institution with no winning tradition. I believe Stony Brook has now committed to a scholarship  program - which, if true, probably means more benefit to Priore than his staying at Trinity would, provided that he wins at Stony Brook; if he loses, then after a relatively short while he will probably be fired at Stony Brook - in which case it will be difficult for him to find something as good as HFC at Trinity.

[union89]

Priore is a class act and, in my opinion will resurrect the Stony Brook program.....he grew up on L.I. which I'm sure was a huge draw for him.

[bant551]

I think he will be fine there.  I also think his coaching abilities and work ethic were probably better suited for a higher level.  Thats why I think he was so wildly successful at Trinity, as opposed to what some people say about him.  Having played for him on the offensive line (a coaching gig he will never give up no matter where he is or whether he is head coach or not), I know how great a football mind he has.  He is THAT GOOD when it comes to coaching the o-line and I actually think that is the biggest key to the offensive success of his teams (eventually getting kids to learn the zone blocking scheme which, in time, can adapt to almost anything a defense throws at you, while they are doing it).  For this to be successful, the running backs have to learn it as well... and he has been able to get them to do that too.

[Jonny Utah]

He probably wont win at stonybrook, but that is a kind of job that is hard to turn down.  From there, he has head coaching expereince at a higher level, which is a stepping stone to other jobs in the future..i.e, d/o coordinator at a good 1-aa school or a posisition coach at a d1 school.

I dont think there is anyway he can compete at a national level at stonybrook, but he must be looking for something higher up. 

[frank uible]

I'm sure that he deeply believes that he will succeed and rather quickly so that he can move on to greater things. However, if he fails, he probably will have stalled his career or worse.

[Jonny Utah]

I'm sure that he deeply believes that he will succeed and rather quickly so that he can move on to greater things. However, if he fails, he probably will have stalled his career or worse.

Dont know Frank, to me its kind of like Temple Football.  Does anyone take that jbb thinking they are going to win?  I guess theres only one place to go there though and thats up, but I dont think they can ever win.

[frank uible]

jonny: My quess is (but I don't know) that upon taking the Temple job many of those coaches suffer under the grossly overconfident and much mistaken belief that they will be so good and/or lucky as to be the exception to the rule. Such is the nature of type A individuals who have a recent history of success.

[formerbant10]

I wouldn't say that not winning their will stall his career....but there is a chance.  Dead end jobs can do that to people.  But I don't think they'll be looking for someone new if Stonybrook doesn't go undefeated next year.  He'll definitely have a few years to get in his recruits and teach his way of playing.  Good chance of some growing pains next season, but by season #3...I'd be surprised if there wasn't some drastic improvement.

[Jonny Utah]

I wouldn't say that not winning their will stall his career....but there is a chance.  Dead end jobs can do that to people.  But I don't think they'll be looking for someone new if Stonybrook doesn't go undefeated next year.  He'll definitely have a few years to get in his recruits and teach his way of playing.  Good chance of some growing pains next season, but by season #3...I'd be surprised if there wasn't some drastic improvement.

Yea, I agree.  Very tough school to get players to go to though.  That school is in kind of a 1-aa no-where land.  No hope for the playoffs, no tradition, no big rivalries.  I hear they do have good facilities though and a new stadium thats pretty big.  The old head coach was a big special teams guy, and did a decent job getting the program some good facilities.

A job like this though will give Priore experience doing things he couldnt do at trinity.  Recruit scholarship athletes, run larger facilities, handle more travel and scheduling responsibiliies, coach more players etc. 

Its the experience more than the wins and losses that might help Priore.  Of course, a great stonybrook team next year might put Priore into the big picture more.  I highly doubt stonybrook can win or produce nationally though in the next 10 years with any coach.

[bant551]

30 scholarships coming (they were non-scholarship which is why many of us accurately stated it would not be absurd to imagine a D-3 team beating them), taking over a team that won its conference (no matter how crappy the conference is), etc....

Not the WORST situation in the world.  Plus, people with football brains will understand if he loses to full I-AA scholarship schools like Hostra anyway.

[union89]

I think he will be fine there. I also think his coaching abilities and work ethic were probably better suited for a higher level. Thats why I think he was so wildly successful at Trinity, as opposed to what some people say about him. Having played for him on the offensive line (a coaching gig he will never give up no matter where he is or whether he is head coach or not), I know how great a football mind he has. He is THAT GOOD when it comes to coaching the o-line and I actually think that is the biggest key to the offensive success of his teams (eventually getting kids to learn the zone blocking scheme which, in time, can adapt to almost anything a defense throws at you, while they are doing it). For this to be successful, the running backs have to learn it as well... and he has been able to get them to do that too.

Couldn't agree more....

At Union, the o-line struggled a bit and Priore moved in and turned us into a Stagg Bowl team.  If anyone can turn that program around, it's Priore.  Keep in mind, he's a Long Island guy and this is where he wants to be now.......I'll put my $$$ on Priore turning this program into a playoff team in the next 5 years.  He's a fantastic coach and one of the most charasmatic guys I've ever met which will translate well to recruiting.....I'll be following Stony Brook and rooting for thier success!!

[frank uible]

bant: Where did you get the 30 scholarship figure? The NCAA limit for DIAA is, I believe, 63. Will Stony Brook ramp up to 63 over time?? If so, how much time?

[bant551]

Well, I heard they were phasing it in.  I grew up on Long Island and used to watch Hofstra games.  I believe Hofstra started out D-3 and gradually added in more and more scholarships.  I do know, almost with 100% certainty, that Hofstra moved from non-scholarship to scholarship I-AA not much more than a decade or so ago (if I'm not COMPLETELY crazy... thats what I remember from when I was younger).

I think they add them over the course of a few years.

[Jonny Utah]

hofstra is also in maybe the best 1-aa conference in the nation, where every team competes for a national championship.

[bant551]

Right.  By the time I was done with college, Hofstra starting being good enough to be one of those I-A practices games for schools like Marshall... quite a buildup considering where they started from.  I think they've had two down years most recently, but were playing tough games against some of the best teams in the conference and were a young team or something.

I hope they play Stony Brook, that would be fun to watch.