FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[polbear73]

As a member of Bowdoin's increasingly vocal football alumni, it is our hope that a new commitment to the program starts with a renovation of Whittier Field (while keeping the character as described so well by Lumbercat) and continues with more enlightened policies with respect to admissions/recruiting, transfer , staffing, etc.  Bowdoin does have a long and proud football tradition, we would also like to see winning a part of that tradition. 

[frank uible]

Looking from the poor perspective of outside, it appears that Bowdoin's forcing of Caputi's resignation amounts to subordination of human and educational values to the winning of football games.

[polbear73]

My guess, and it's just that, is that the decision was more mutual than it appears.  Dave Caputi is a wonderful guy and did a lot of good things for the school, contributions that are highly valued by the community.  But 15 years is a long time for both a coach and a college to withstand a winning percentage of approximately .300 and I think both parties felt a change would be beneficial for each other..   

[jmcozenlaw]

jmcozenlaw--your description of Harvard sounds like some in the NESCAC?

Good one gridiron More like Rowan in the good old days!!

With knowledge from a current hoopster and two current football players, in addition to a few players currently being recruited out of the Philadelphia Catholic League (where tri-state recruiting games, given open enrollment, would make some college programs blush.........see St. Joe Prep and Archbishop Wood), Harvard has really bent the rules for athletes and most (not all) in administration don't mind.

The University of Pennsylvania was told to reign it in..................and one can see the drop off in the football and men's basketball programs.

Harvard has turned it up and notch, or three,..................and one can see the uptick and sustainability in the same programs.

A basketball recruit who was down to Harvard and Penn told Jerome Allen (head hoops coach at Penn) that he was getting a lot more money from Harvard. His grades were very, very borderline for both schools so it wasn't anything academically related. His parents make over$850K/year combined, so it wasn't need based. Even the Ivies (some of them at least) play the $$$$ game!

Penn will be deciding within the next month or two if they are going back to the well and retake their former place at or near the top of both sports.

Stay tuned..................

[quicksilver]

. .
Wonder if Bowdoin will go with Turf as their field has been in terrible shape in last few years after being historically noted for  great field conditions in bygone days. Not sure what happened with the Whittier playing surface.
Overall the Bowdoin facility is a great old traditional setting but based on visits there this year it's getting tired.

Lumbercat -- this is an old article on the condition of the Bowdoin field but I believe that it explains why the field is in bad shape -- the town forbid the use of chemical treatments some time ago, and it has been really tough to keep the field in decent shape ever since . .   

[PolarCat]

The problem with moving The Game to Fenway are several-fold including Fenway has fewer seats than would be needed and would be moving from the oldest concrete stadium in the country to a "newer" venue built in 1912!

Actually, there are three bigger problems:

• No place for class tents / tailgating;
• The Harvard Square Business Association would lose too much revenue, and that equates to less tax revenue for the Peoples Democratic Republic of Cambridge; and (most importantly),
• J. Pierpont "Binky" Haffenreffer III can't walk across the bridge, into the Yard, and show his kids from his third marriage where he embarked on the voyage to his billions, and where Hahvahd wants to site the new dorm Binky's paying for.

As for the turf: Don't forget that Harvard Football isn't the only user of the field.  Men's lacrosse, Women's lacrosse and the Boston Cannons (professional lacrosse) are all seasonal tenants.  And in the winter time, they put a bubble over the whole thing and use it for intramurals, and practices for football, soccer, lacrosse and softball.  Under the circumstances, turf is really the only viable alternative.

[jmcozenlaw]

The problem with moving The Game to Fenway are several-fold including Fenway has fewer seats than would be needed and would be moving from the oldest concrete stadium in the country to a "newer" venue built in 1912!

Actually, there are three bigger problems:

• No place for class tents / tailgating;
• The Harvard Square Business Association would lose too much revenue, and that equates to less tax revenue for the Peoples Democratic Republic of Cambridge; and (most importantly),
• J. Pierpont "Binky" Haffenreffer III can't walk across the bridge, into the Yard, and show his kids from his third marriage where he embarked on the voyage to his billions, and where Hahvahd wants to site the new dorm Binky's paying for.

As for the turf: Don't forget that Harvard Football isn't the only user of the field.  Men's lacrosse, Women's lacrosse and the Boston Cannons (professional lacrosse) are all seasonal tenants.  And in the winter time, they put a bubble over the whole thing and use it for intramurals, and practices for football, soccer, lacrosse and softball.  Under the circumstances, turf is really the only viable alternative.

PolarCat - I spit my Mountain Dew all over my keyboard when I read numbers 2 & 3. Let's come back in our next lives as Trust Fund Babies............but the non-pompous type

Were any of Binky's wives named Buffy by the way?

[PolarCat]

As a member of Bowdoin's increasingly vocal football alumni, it is our hope that a new commitment to the program starts with a renovation of Whittier Field (while keeping the character as described so well by Lumbercat) and continues with more enlightened policies with respect to admissions/recruiting, transfer , staffing, etc.  Bowdoin does have a long and proud football tradition, we would also like to see winning a part of that tradition.

I'm just really puzzled by the timing.  With Frank Mills retiring this year, I would think Bowdoin would wait for the new President to be named before making major changes to the program (new coach, new facilities, or at the other extreme, abolish the program altogether). 

At the very least, I'd think it would be hard to hire a new head coach.  Who would take the job, knowing that a "regime change" is right around the corner?  It would certainly seem better to keep Dave Caputi on board for another year till the new President is named, and the future direction of the program is clearer.

[PolarCat]

Were any of Binky's wives named Buffy by the way?

Yes, all three of them.

Say what you want about Binky, but he when he finds a strategy that works, he sticks to it.

PS: You've established your bona fides.  No trust fund baby (TFB) would ever be caught dead drinking Mountain Dew.  Even if he owned the company).

[jmcozenlaw]

Were any of Binky's wives named Buffy by the way?

Yes, all three of them.

Say what you want about Binky, but he when he finds a strategy that works, he sticks to it.

................and depending on the industry in which he made his billions (unless via inheritance).........he sticks to it..........and sticks it to you (see hedge funds )

[gridiron]

An interesting shift at Harvard under the current HCOF Murphy is his outspoken preference for players NOT from Massachusetts.  Back in the days Amher63 was referring to (60s and 70s) nearly 75% if the Crimson roster was typically filled with local (to Harvard) boys.  Should the NESCAC teams ever take a similar approach I'm not sure the rosters could all be filled.

As for Coach Caputi, simply stated, everyone knew it was time for a change.  The vast majority of those both inside and outside of the program appear to feel that way for all the reasons previously referenced.

[lumbercat]

Quicksilver-
Thanks for the answer on Bowdoin field conditions.
Time for field turf in Brunswick.

[maineman]

I'm just really puzzled by the timing.  With Frank Mills retiring this year, I would think Bowdoin would wait for the new President to be named before making major changes to the program (new coach, new facilities, or at the other extreme, abolish the program altogether). 

[/quote] 


I thought is was Barry Mills?

[polbear73]

It is Barry Mills

[gridiron]

I hear ya on the question of the timing of the Bowdoin coaching change.  Perhaps since most know he had one foot out the door for at least the past four seasons, the momentum was simply too great.

I find it hard to fathom there could be genuine consideration to eliminate football altogether at Bowdoin with all the associated implications (recruiting, alumni, publicity, school spirit, etc.).  However, I guess that's probably what Boston University and Northeastern University communities thought as well.