FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[amh63]

Have been scanning the Nescac schools' sites for info, etc.  Like the up grades of the sites, many with "slick" promo presentations and less transparency in key areas...lmho.  WRT athletic funding, in particular essential equipment, a number of schools including Amherst, have turned to a "Friends of ...... Athletics" funding means.  The relative new Amherst Football facilities were funded by such a path....major funds by the parent of a football player from the D.C. area. Schools like Bates, Williams and Wes are finishing Capital Campaigns while others like Amherst are just starting them...again. 😎  Tough to compete for athletic equipment specifics, etc. .....important as it is to the players as Frank U and PolarCat point out. 
Amherst has just announced a new Dean of Admission and Finances.  He is from MIT which is now becoming a major D3 athletic power in NE and elsewhere.

[Jonny Utah]

So it appears the slow-motion Garnet train wreck continues.  The most visible manifestation is the head coach vacancy, but there are others.  Much more meaningful to the players is the woeful condition of the equipment.  The boys were promised new Under Armour uniforms for the 2016 season (there are even Under Armour signs at Garcellon Field celebrating the partnership) but those never materialized because the Administration never came up with the funds.  The game jerseys have been ripped and patched so many times they look like they came from Goodwill.  Fans have nicknamed them the Garnet Ragamuffins. 

Uniforms aren't a big deal, but helmets are.  The ones that Bates has recycled for at least 8 years are terrible.  Way too little protection, resulting in career-ending concussions, and more than one un-reported concussion.  I think there were four helmets that just shattered / split open in the Hamilton game last year.  It's scandalous, particularly at a school that polishes its academically-elite status.  Give a boy a world class education, but do the bare minimum to protect him from CTE.  Makes no sense.

The uniform, pads and helmet my son wore in high school were all markedly better than the hand-me-down junk Bates gave him.  I was really hoping that the new AD would signal a renewed commitment from the Administration to the sport, but it appears my hopes were unfounded. 

I think in a year or two, folks will realize that Mark Harriman was the real "magician" of the NESCAC.  With zero support from the Administration (the budget for assistants was so low in 2016 that he had an AC who was a QB in high school, but never played the game in college!), he had the 'Cats punching far above their weight with their four straight CBB's.

Why did Harriman leave so late?  I figured they had someone they wanted to just name as interim or something but that doesn't appear to be the case.

[lumbercat]

New Bates HC
Malik Hall- Def Line coach at UPenn- Umass alum

[lumbercat]

Despite the train wreck rumors the process is complete right on the timeframe the AD had targeted. So the naysayers can come in off the ledge and see what this guy can do.

He's an experienced guy and said to be a fantastic recruiter. Interested to see how he rounds out the staff.

[polbear73]

Also saw a quote from Bates' AD indicating that they will be receiving new football uniforms and that this is a new era for Bates football. Best of luck to Coach Hall for 8 football Saturdays each year!

[PBPOP20]

Also saw a quote from Bates' AD indicating that they will be receiving new football uniforms and that this is a new era for Bates football. Best of luck to Coach Hall for 8 football Saturdays each year!

9 football Saturdays!!!   Glad Bates seems to have gotten a good one.

[polbear73]

No, I wish them luck only on 8, being a Bowdoin alum.

[PBPOP20]

Ah, of course.  My mistake!

[amh63]

Interesting bit of news on the Amherst football twitter site.  Notification of a new running back coach hire.  Straight out of ND...three year starting QB there.  Attending the Dartmouth camp today with the Amherst senior offensive coach.  Interesting in that the Amherst football site has not yet been updated.   Amherst first summer camp this weekend.  It will be the start of football practice soon enough.  Have not been to the beach house yet 

[lumbercat]

Other top contenders for Bates job were Bobby Acosta from Bucknell and Mike Horan- Bates grad who is DL coach at Harvard.
Coach Hall is in Lewiston beginning to build his program and prepare for preseason.

[PBPOP20]

Interesting bit of news on the Amherst football twitter site.  Notification of a new running back coach hire.  Straight out of ND...three year starting QB there.  Attending the Dartmouth camp today with the Amherst senior offensive coach.  Interesting in that the Amherst football site has not yet been updated.   Amherst first summer camp this weekend.  It will be the start of football practice soon enough.  Have not been to the beach house yet 

amh63,  that's Notre Dame College in OH, not the golden domers...

[polbear73]

It's a division 2 school in Cleveland. 

[fulbakdad]

Amh63, is that a slave (Graduate Assist) or an Indentured Servant (restricted earnings position with no benefits)?


God I'm glad my son left that track!

LOL

[amh63]

Thanks all for the particulars wrt to the new running back coach.
fulbakdad.....Amherst positions tend to be competitive with any academic institutions in the land.  From the Prez, deans, profs to the athletic department positions.  The police dept to the grounds and facilities people tend to remain with the college for decades.  The food service personnel remembered my daughter when she returned for my reunion...by name, etc.  Compensation in years past for athletic dept coaches can include housing, tuition assistance for college age kids, etc.  Money is not a problem at Amherst...nor is it at most Nescac schools.

[polbear73]

Bowdoin has posted its 2018 football schedule and it seems that rumors of a night football game are unfounded, at least for now.