FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[nescac1]

In my years following NESCAC sports I've heard of hundreds of kids -- yes, from every NESCAC school -- saying they've "committed" to a school prior to being formally admitted.  While a very small handful have ultimately ended up elsewhere, I've yet to hear of one who wasn't admitted.  Coaches don't tell kids they are in unless admissions has already essentially pre-cleared them.  And every NESCAC school uses this approach.

[NESCAC.Football.Observer]

Now, if (Coach Raymond) has been dealt a different hand from the AD, Admissions or the administration than what he was expecting, that could be a different story but that seems extremely far-fetched-again, after only 1 year.

My view is "far-fetched" may have occurred given (my Eph buddy shared with me an alumni chain email in which it was revealed) that Admissions and Fin Aid Offices are being reorganized/combined and will now report to one person, a newly created VP. 

That new VP is the current #2 in Admissions, Eph grad, longtime Admissions person, AND the wife of the former Recruiting Coordinator (responsible for every current player) & Asst Head Coach & DC who quit football after Raymond demoted him to Secondary Coach only.  (He had one year left on his contract, so Raymond had to keep him.)

That guy, because his wife is deemed "a staff keeper", was reassigned within the Eph Athletic Department and now runs the weight room.

Bottom line is the Eph Football program doesn't have a Tom Parker advocating for it and, in fact, could have an adversary or at least someone not willing to do more than the bare minimum.

[NESCAC.Football.Observer]

Top 25, for sure. Top 10? Hmm, not quite.

Corrected.  Thank you.

[nescac1]

It's beyond speculative to suggest that a new high-level administrator, who works on broad issues of institutional policy and is in no way involved in individual admissions decisions, will focus her time on using her new powers to punish a particular coach against whom she may (or may not) have a personal vendetta grounded in the completely normal decision to bring on his own staff.  Certainly, if that became her focus, she would not last long in the position.  I guess we will wait and see how Raymond's first two recruiting classes turn out, and then we can judge the level of institutional support.  As others have reported here, the previous regime had a VERY different approach to recruiting, so I don't see how that is any guide for how the new coaching staff is likely to fare.  Certainly things have changed since the Farley era, but Coach Whalen had a good amount of success (albeit not Farley-level dominance, which is unlikely to be seen again barring massive shifts in institutional priorities) despite those changes. 

[NESCAC.Football.Observer]

It's beyond speculative to suggest that a new high-level administrator, who works on broad issues of institutional policy and is in no way involved in individual admissions decisions, will focus her time on using her new powers to punish a particular coach against whom she may (or may not) have a personal vendetta grounded in the completely normal decision to bring on his own staff.  Certainly, if that became her focus, she would not last long in the position.  I guess we will wait and see how Raymond's first two recruiting classes turn out, and then we can judge the level of institutional support.  As others have reported here, the previous regime had a VERY different approach to recruiting, so I don't see how that is any guide for how the new coaching staff is likely to fare.  Certainly things have changed since the Farley era, but Coach Whalen had a good amount of success (albeit not Farley-level dominance, which is unlikely to be seen again barring massive shifts in institutional priorities) despite those changes.

Speculative?  OF COURSE IT IS ALL SPECULATIVE.

This whole board is speculative.

But my comments were based on some new FACTS of which most folks here are unaware and that those same facts MIGHT support a POSSIBLE Eph change.

Hell.... if I'm a HC and the new Eph version of Tom Parker had a husband I'd just fired.... well, my assumption to start would be I'm not getting any EXTRA help or breaks from Admissions......

No one said anything about a vendetta.......

But just the fact of the new role being filled by a fired coach's wife has the Eph football alumni talking and concerned........

That's my point.

[amh63]

One bit of info was surprising to me in the above discussion wrt Williams' admission changes and football impact.   When Tom Parker came to Amherst, the position he took dealt both with The Admission and Financial Aid aspects.  There was a position of Dean of admission under him, etc.  Also, his wife was involved with the admission office at nearby Hampshire College...dean of admission?  Am surprised that Williams did not have a combined position of financial aid and admission earlier. Yes Tom Parker still had his finger in the admission pot, especially with sports and his HS NY private school admits. He even wrote about his visit to Nescac schools wrt his daughter search in the Amherst Admission Rpt to High Schools, etc.  Remember reading how the Prez of a Maine school spent time with him and his daughter.  Description of place appeared to be Bowdoin to me.
NFO's info does introduce a new dynamic factor to the football admission factor.

[JustAFan]

The Williams student newspaper questioned the need for the new admissions/financial aid dean position in an editorial this fall:

http://williamsrecord.com/2016/09/28/threes-a-crowd-why-communicating-between-departments-should-not-require-a-new-dean/

Of more interest is a provocative op-ed piece written last winter by former Eph guard Hayden Rooke-Ley, which argued as follows: 

"President Adam Falk has admirably challenged colleges to strive for a socioeconomically diverse student body with a proactive approach beyond "need-blind" admissions.

But there is a simpler way to increase such diversity. Among the group of applicants who have the lowest acceptable academic credentials under current admissions standards, colleges ought to reduce the number of admission offers to (predominantly white and well-off) athletes and increase the number offered to minority and low-income candidates. Indeed, we ought to consider the entire constellation of college admissions and thus reorder priorities in existing applicant pools."

http://williamsrecord.com/2016/02/17/rethinking-recruitment-increasing-student-diversity-through-existing-applicant-pools/

[JustAFan]

A couple of final observations on the Williams speculation.  First, if indeed Liz Creighton is the new dean of admissions, that is probably very good news for Williams athletics in general since she is a former 2-sport Williams athlete (basketball and volleyball) and a first team all-NESCAC selection in women's basketball.

Second, I assume Dick Nesbitt will remain in his role as Director of Admissions at least for the short-term until he's ready to retire, and his continued presence in this role is another favorable factor for Williams athletics.

Finally, the primary responsibility of the new dean of admissions position is to develop and implement a coordinated strategic plan for both offices, admissions and financial aid, which were previously run as their own silos. Admissions decisions will remain the responsibility of the admission director and his/her office.  Could the strategic plan developed by the new dean ultimately lead to a re-thinking of some of the preferences given to athletics in the admissions process? Sure, this certainly could occur, consistent with a broader discussion of the role of athletics at the college as a whole, but (as nescac1 notes) to conclude that the new dean will make sure that the director of admissions tightens the screws on the football coach and his admission candidates, but otherwise supports all of the other Williams athletic teams, is a huge reach and (to me) unfounded speculation. 

Call me naïve, but Williams athletes are extremely loyal to the college, and take pride in the success of all of the college's athletic teams.  I believe that Marshall Creighton will want to see the football program that he was a part of as a student (2 undefeated teams during his 4 year playing career) succeed even if he no longer is part of the team's coaching staff, and to suggest that his wife will spend her early years in such an important new dean position looking for ways to screw the football team I believe is far-fetched.

 

[PolarCat]

Wow.  There was a regular reality TV show playing out here while I was gone.

The following may be of interest to no one other than Eph fans (and maybe not even them).  Recruit Bobby Maimaron plays for his dad Dave at Duxbury (MA) HS.  Like HS programs everywhere, Duxbury has a traditional Turkey Day battle with neighboring Marshfield.  The two teams are in different conferences, so the game only counts for bragging rights, but it's traditionally a fierce battle between the boys from "DeLuxebury" and their more blue collar neighbors.

So I was shocked to see that Marshfield opened an industrial size can of whoop-azz on the previously undefeated Duxbury Dragons this week, to the tune of 53-0 (not a typo).  And then I found out that Coach Maimaron sat 25 of his starters to rest them up for their Massachusetts Super Bowl game next weekend.  How did hte Marshfield coach react?  Not very well: http://marshfield.wickedlocal.com/sports/20161124/hs-football-marshfield-rolls-against-duxbury-backups

What does this have to do with NESCAC?  Nothing.  Just a little tidbit to keep us thinking about football, instead of Black Friday, who Trump may be appointing to his cabinet, and why our pants feel two sizes too small today.  Let the -K's begin.

[frank uible]

A sad byproduct of playoffs and fodder for those who oppose NESCAC participation in them.

[fulbakdad]

Cat, if you watched the HS rollup on Channel 5 you saw Mike Lynch dig at the Duxbury coach on tv.  Bad decision if you ask me.

I was lucky enough to watch my youngest son play on a team this year with only 20 total players.  They couldn't take a series off! Never mind a game.  They played all year and ended up losing in overtime in the Semi Finals of the State tournament. 

If they had an extra game the week before, all 20 of them would have suited up and gave it their best.  Good character builder....

[Jonny Utah]

Wow.  There was a regular reality TV show playing out here while I was gone.

The following may be of interest to no one other than Eph fans (and maybe not even them).  Recruit Bobby Maimaron plays for his dad Dave at Duxbury (MA) HS.  Like HS programs everywhere, Duxbury has a traditional Turkey Day battle with neighboring Marshfield.  The two teams are in different conferences, so the game only counts for bragging rights, but it's traditionally a fierce battle between the boys from "DeLuxebury" and their more blue collar neighbors.

So I was shocked to see that Marshfield opened an industrial size can of whoop-azz on the previously undefeated Duxbury Dragons this week, to the tune of 53-0 (not a typo).  And then I found out that Coach Maimaron sat 25 of his starters to rest them up for their Massachusetts Super Bowl game next weekend.  How did hte Marshfield coach react?  Not very well: http://marshfield.wickedlocal.com/sports/20161124/hs-football-marshfield-rolls-against-duxbury-backups

What does this have to do with NESCAC?  Nothing.  Just a little tidbit to keep us thinking about football, instead of Black Friday, who Trump may be appointing to his cabinet, and why our pants feel two sizes too small today.  Let the -K's begin.

Massachusetts has a playoff system that is very strange.  The playoffs start in week 7 in an 11 week season, but everyone plays on week 11 on Thanksgiving, and if you don't make the playoffs or if you lose, you still play games in "loser brackets".  And of course if you make the state championships you have a thanksgiving game that doesn't "count" towards any playoff system.  The funny thing is that the system really always worked this way, with Thanksgiving games not always "counting" for playoff games after the fact. 

On a separate issue, I don't know how good Marimon is going to be.  His father his the coach and the kid has been playing as a freshman.  Three Massachusetts QB records have been broken in the past 5 years and each record was broken by kids who had fathers on the staff (Flutie, DeBasio and now Marimon).  Debasio didn't really pan out at the d3 level, and Flutie had a shot at Division 1 Boston College but he isn't a D1 QB.  I do not really know about Marimon.

[amh63]

Never watch reality shows or play "fantasy" sports games.  Guess I'm old school, live in my own little world, too dumb, etc., etc., but it appears to me that any coach that games the playoff system at the cost of a "thanksgiving day HS football game" has lost touch with the teaching part of his profession. Then again the state of MA does have strange ways of looking at things...elected political leaders, building projects disasters, witch hunts, taxes, etc.
Otherwise, hope everyone has had/ have a happy Thanksgiving and holiday season. 
Untill next August....good recruiting all.

[PolarCat]

Oh come on.  Our adopted home states have more in common than you admit.  You had Pocahontas.  We have Elizabeth Warren.

(Another post that has nothing to do with football, but it does have something to do with Thanksgiving.  As in, I am thankful that Princess Moonbat Feathers isn't getting a cabinet appointment).

http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=0wxpbMXV7Z8&u=/watch%3Fv%3DSmktzjDrm3Q%26feature%3Dshare

http://i569.photobucket.com/albums/ss136/petefrt/7308dbb4.jpg

[lumbercat]

Couldn't disagree more with Maimaron's decision to bench his starters. His team was 10-0 playing their rivals who are a very good Football team.
Play to win every time you have the opportunity- don't try to turn it on or off. They should have played for the undefeated season and go into the Super Bowl on a high note. If they are that good Maimaron could have taken the starters out early after building a healthy lead but it didn't shape up that way. While Duxbury was the favorite this was a matchup with a team very capable of beating Duxbury. It was a game that shaped up as dogfight with a well  coached, physical Marshfield team........and Maimaron turtled. Awful.

I don't blame Lou Silva for being ticked off.

Marshfield had a legit chance to beat Duxbury but the Dragons chose to sit this one out.

Jonny Utes-
Great point about the "coaches' kids" QBs in Ma. But don't forget the Columbo kids at Brockton which go back a little further. Peter in the 70's went on to a good career at Holy Cross where he was the QB in the last HC win over BC. Younger brother Tommy, who held the Ma HS QB record for a number of years went on to have a good career in the 80's at Villanova.

I think Maimaron will have a fine career at Williams.