FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[amh63]

To each his or her own wrt Nescac football facilitities.  One must consider that "new" facilities in today's climate of funding have many "masters".  History/ tradition, site, new sport needs and multi- sport use are key ones.
I am familiar with the "homes" of the NFL Patriots.  Remember  them at Harvard stadium until Harvard kicked them out...did not need the money.  Remember the move to BU stadium...then BU dropped football.   Do not recall much on the use of Fenway stadium?

[jumpshot]

amh63, you certainly have a high tolerance for being trumped by Williams after so many years years of academic, cultural, financial, leadership, athletic, and other third party comparative evaluations. Oh well, keep hanging in there ....

[PolarCat]

Wow.  That's a curious post.  Are you going to follow that by saying his mother wears Army boots?

[lumbercat]

Trin 8-0

You are right about the fan environment at The Coop- I overlooked Trinity in my assessment, you are correct but I'll put Bates solidly in the #2 slot.
Amherst is a great setting but the fans stay in the tailgate and the stands are half full throughout the game- only Trinity surpasses the passionate environment at Bates. Wesleyan is third.

Amh 63-

I overlook the fact that you are not a native New Englander.......for clarification, the Boston Patriots franchise began in 1960 with Nickerson field at BU as their home venue while you were a carefree sophomore roving the Amherst campus.
From there they moved to Fenway Park for 5 or 6 years, then over to Harvard with a final stop at BC before they moved to newly constructed Shaefer stadium in Foxboro and finally to Gillette where they reside today.

BU dropped football in the late 90s after dropping baseball several years earlier in an unprecedented move at the time.

With a huge endowment enhanced by substantial real estate holdings in the Boston area BU still faces heavy criticism from friends and foes alike to this day after phasing out Baseball and then Football. Their athletic program is an enigma---they moved their Basketball program to the Patriot league in the past couple of years where they dwarf other league members in terms of enrollment.

I think the BU administration really ticked off their proud football Alums who have been actively lobbying for a rebirth of Terrier Football when they introduced Lacrosse as a new varsity spor last year, at the D1 level! .....go figure.

With BBall in the Patriot league, why not bring back football at that level.......they can easily afford it. Still wondering who pulled off the big time Lacrosse commitment after dropping Football and Baseball.
Go Terriers!

Sorry to go off topic a bit but Amh 63 innocently struck a nerve with the BU football reference.

[amh63]

Lumbercat......thanks for the history lesson .  Plus K
Considering the time I spent in N.E....visiting, living, etc.....I sometimes feel I should buy a piece of turf in N.E.  My brother-in-law is a Northeastern grad and an UMass-Amherst grad; my older brother has a BA & BS from Harvard. My oldest son was born at Mt Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.  My three kids are Amherst grads... I spent about a decade visiting them and hosting meals, etc.
While at MIT, wife and I rented a Cambridge house...just at the bend of the Charles  across from the BU bridge.  Oh yes, my brother's first wife is a BU grad.  I digress...again.

[Eagle322]

Looks like the Bates pre-season roster has been posted. I counted 23 incoming freshmen -- a pretty solid number for a Bates class. The Bates coaching staff is definitely branching out with their recruiting efforts with a handful of kids from as far away as Texas and California coming in. I would look for both the LB and QB from CA to compete this year, seeing as the Bobcats are super thin at both positions.  There are some pretty beefy players coming in on both sides of the line. O and D lines are going to be a strong point for the 'Cats this year for sure.

Another interesting thing to note: The Bates coaching staff is packed with alumni from the past 4 years, which have been Bates' most successful in program history. Good to see the return of Mike Tomaino '15 and Shawn Doherty '14 to the program. Both were team captains as players and will surely bring some great energy to the program. They join Brett McAllister '12 who was an outstanding OLB for the Bobcats.

[middhoops]

Amh, some typos are slightly worse than others, but, "My three kids all are Amherst grads and I spent about a decade visiting them and feeling them and their roommates."?
We know you better.  Hope you fed them well.

Later........after seeing correction.

No need for correction amh63.  Sorry for picking on you.

[Trin9-0]

Amh, some typos are slightly worse than others, but, "My three kids all are Amherst grads and I spent about a decade visiting them and feeling them and their roommates."?
We know you better.  Hope you fed them well.

+K for you middhoops!

[amh63]

Middhoops....it was not a good time when I posted....family members notifying me where they were heading, etc. I have made the necessary corrections/clarifications....more in tenses, etc....hopefully. 
Actually, Lumbercat's post pointed out that I was confused between BC and BU.
Trinity8-0....your post reminded me to incorporate a GIF into future posts. .   Not as clever as you and have not  found an appropriate one that is also free of any legal links.  A win over Trinity is a rare bird.

[Jonny Utah]

Trin 8-0

You are right about the fan environment at The Coop- I overlooked Trinity in my assessment, you are correct but I'll put Bates solidly in the #2 slot.
Amherst is a great setting but the fans stay in the tailgate and the stands are half full throughout the game- only Trinity surpasses the passionate environment at Bates. Wesleyan is third.

Amh 63-

I overlook the fact that you are not a native New Englander.......for clarification, the Boston Patriots franchise began in 1960 with Nickerson field at BU as their home venue while you were a carefree sophomore roving the Amherst campus.
From there they moved to Fenway Park for 5 or 6 years, then over to Harvard with a final stop at BC before they moved to newly constructed Shaefer stadium in Foxboro and finally to Gillette where they reside today.

BU dropped football in the late 90s after dropping baseball several years earlier in an unprecedented move at the time.

With a huge endowment enhanced by substantial real estate holdings in the Boston area BU still faces heavy criticism from friends and foes alike to this day after phasing out Baseball and then Football. Their athletic program is an enigma---they moved their Basketball program to the Patriot league in the past couple of years where they dwarf other league members in terms of enrollment.

I think the BU administration really ticked off their proud football Alums who have been actively lobbying for a rebirth of Terrier Football when they introduced Lacrosse as a new varsity spor last year, at the D1 level! .....go figure.

With BBall in the Patriot league, why not bring back football at that level.......they can easily afford it. Still wondering who pulled off the big time Lacrosse commitment after dropping Football and Baseball.
Go Terriers!

Sorry to go off topic a bit but Amh 63 innocently struck a nerve with the BU football reference.

I think most of those moves were done by John Silber, who like the Northeastern AD (and president) now, simply don't like football.  The sports also cost about 800k at each of those schools (not including scholarships) and neither school got any fan support.

I grew up about 2 miles from the BU campus (and about 50 yards from where Northeastern played football).  For whatever reason, the fan support at both schools were at about the d3 level, and BU actually had a top 10 team in the early 1990s. 

[lumbercat]

Thanks Johnny- very true- but I beg to differ on the support of the good BU teams in the 80s and 90s- when they completed a least 4 times in the 1AA playoffs. The local support was good.

I remember some fine teams at BU and also remember the many Terriers that went on to have very good pro careers......Bruce Taylor, Pat Hughes, Butch Byrd, Reggie Rucker, Jim Jensen and Dick Farley of Williams fame. All had fine pro careers and I could go on.

Silber was a bitter, vindictive individual- beleive he also canned the baseball program. If highly endowed institutions like BU make decisions on the status of major intercollegiate sports based on the P&L of that individual sport they are doing a diservice to their students and alums. I understand title 9 and all the extenuating factors but find it dispicable to cut baseball and football at a school like BU.
Wonder how profitable their new lacrosse program will be-

Appreciate your insights Jonny as a local guy - you grew up in a great area. In the old days on any given Saturday you were a stones throw from college Football venues at BC, Harvard, Northeastern, BU and Tufts.

[NewtoNescac]

I agree with you Lumbercat, too much emphasis is placed on P & L. But, the bias against sports, football in particular, runs very deep. And many times with an unspoken bias. Our beloved liberal arts colleges, and other institutions of higher learning, say they are committed to diversity in their student bodies. Yet some fail to recognize how important athletes are to that diversity, particularly football players. And to suggest that football players are "dumb jocks", exposes both ignorance and bias. That said, I can't wait for the great game of football to begin in the NESCAC.

[polbear73]

Well said, NewtoNESCAC.  About 6 or 7 years ago, I had a very interesting conversation with President Barry Mills of Bowdoin who strongly felt that football (I only wish he had added the adjective "winning") was very important to small liberal arts colleges.  He cited as major factors diversity, alumni interest and support, cohesion within the college community, and recruitment of the overall student body, particularly those schools desiring to maintain a 50/50 gender balance. 

[PolarCat]

Hopefully, Clayton Rose shares those sentiments.  (My daughter tells me he's already generated a lot of resentment on campus, and she is not sure why.  Her guess is that the PC Black Lives Matter crowd are still upset that another straight, white, affluent male with a Wall Street background has succeeded Barry Mills).

Up in Lewiston, Clayton Spencer is a HUGE fan (we sit next to her at most home games).  And not just a politically-correct "I'm-only-here-because-it's-in-my-job-description" fan, either, as she's on her feet vocally challenging the refs' calls with the rest of us.  Thank God, because her predecessor seems to have been a Silber Mini Me.

I think the right College President can have as big of an impact on a program as the right quarterback.

[polbear73]

Agreed PolarCat on all points.  I also think that Barry was very well liked by a large constituency so the new guy may face a few cold shoulders.