FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[PolarCat]

I didn't have em all but JBW was very close to the vest this year-- the delays and lack of disclosure were due a pretty private tug of war in Bowdoin Admissions. It was said there was a lot of conflict and tension among the Bowdoin academics who fought the new leniency for Football players tooth and nail so JBW appropriately delayed his victory lap until now.

Inside word is JB and his supporting cast, including Alumni Football influence, prevailed in a very contentious admissions process where the Football influence prevailed and they landed a robust class of 26.  The result is a lot of ticked off Admissions folks and athletic detractors who are irate with the whole thing. Bowdoin Admissions getting a double barreled attack from Football and Hockey, both programs pleading for leniency.

Polar Bear Football got their way this time around but not without a lot of scar tissue....many characterize it as a Pyrrhic victory if admissions livid.

I bet there will be more hard feelings in the Bowdoin Bubble, from a source which may surprise you: Other Bowdoin Coaches.  All the sports fight the same battle with Admissions.  All the coaches have players they really want, and go to the mat trying to get accepted.  More often than not those players don't get in; a surprisingly large percentage wind up at another NESCAC school, usually Trinity.

Bowdoin has Coaches who build a winning program, and make a run deep into the NCAA tournament (field hockey, women's basketball, men's tennis, women's lacrosse, sailing, etc.) and it frosts their nuts when a losing program gets special accommodations from Admissions.   Worse, they are probably worried that Admissions will now apply their anti-athlete bias to their own program, to keep the overall ratio of athletes to NARP's constant.

I expect Tim Ryan will be having some tough conversations in the weeks ahead.

[ColbyFootball]

Someone with nothing better to do with his time, and with zero knowledge of at least one of the people referred to, posted:

"Makes you wonder what Cosgrove's reaction to those "scorned football helicopter parents" would be.  Somehow, I think he will be less tolerant than Michaeles was..."

Colby was and still is a no-fly zone, so helicopter parents were not, and are not, an issue. Such talk is simply the expected cheap shot from these uninformed posters, and a distraction from Michaeles' failures at every level as a coach. And, his failures continued after he was fired.

Cosgrove appears to have quickly earned the respect of his players, something Michaeles DID NOT have. Do ya think Cosgrove would rob his kicker of the chance to set the all time Colby field goal record in his last play of the Bowdoin game? Somehow I don't think so. I can go on and on, but Michaeles is old news. I prefer to turn my energy and attention to the new exciting era of Colby Football.

[harlequinfarm]

Amh63 my son will be coming in with class of '23 as he just committed....  Alas, coach offered and son accepted before that could be done

Congratulations to your son for getting to this point in the process.  But as others have noted, there is no "commitment" till the ED Acceptance letter arrives, and no NESCAC coach can extend an "offer"; that is the sole purview of Admissions.  And some Admissions Departments really get their knickers in a knot if an applicant or the applicant's parents are crowing publicly about being "committed". 

We've all seen situations where, for one reason or another, a kid who had expressed interest in a program and got a tip from a coach didn't get accepted.  We've all been in your shoes and understand the excitement, but I think our collective advice would be to keep a low profile, enjoy your boy's final high school season, and hope that "the letter" does, in fact, arrive in December.

Excellent advise.  Thank you. 

[PBPOP20]

I didn't have em all but JBW was very close to the vest this year-- the delays and lack of disclosure were due a pretty private tug of war in Bowdoin Admissions. It was said there was a lot of conflict and tension among the Bowdoin academics who fought the new leniency for Football players tooth and nail so JBW appropriately delayed his victory lap until now.

Inside word is JB and his supporting cast, including Alumni Football influence, prevailed in a very contentious admissions process where the Football influence prevailed and they landed a robust class of 26.  The result is a lot of ticked off Admissions folks and athletic detractors who are irate with the whole thing. Bowdoin Admissions getting a double barreled attack from Football and Hockey, both programs pleading for leniency.

Polar Bear Football got their way this time around but not without a lot of scar tissue....many characterize it as a Pyrrhic victory if admissions livid.

I bet there will be more hard feelings in the Bowdoin Bubble, from a source which may surprise you: Other Bowdoin Coaches.  All the sports fight the same battle with Admissions.  All the coaches have players they really want, and go to the mat trying to get accepted.  More often than not those players don't get in; a surprisingly large percentage wind up at another NESCAC school, usually Trinity.

Bowdoin has Coaches who build a winning program, and make a run deep into the NCAA tournament (field hockey, women's basketball, men's tennis, women's lacrosse, sailing, etc.) and it frosts their nuts when a losing program gets special accommodations from Admissions.   Worse, they are probably worried that Admissions will now apply their anti-athlete bias to their own program, to keep the overall ratio of athletes to NARP's constant.

I expect Tim Ryan will be having some tough conversations in the weeks ahead.

I suspect you're correct PC... but, as you know... the only thing more important (or at least equally) to administrators than academic prestige is $$$$....  and the Bowdoin football alums have stepped up big time in this regard....  so, at the end of the day the old saying holds true... Money talks, bull**** walks.   So, the HC's of baseball, womens lacrosse, Field Hockey etc. can (and will)  complain all they want...but if there's alumni $$ and support even the most athletically indifferent administrators will pay attention.

[frank uible]

And so goes the cynicism of the human race.

[amh63]

Interesting discussion going on here....as the overall daily posters increase as the new school year approaches.  PDPOP20....have to agreed that money speaks loudly in many ways, especially in sports.
New facilities are planned and being built around the conferences...especially athletic ones....many due to big gifts/donors.
Amherst launched its latest Capital Campaign recently as it's biggest building program comes to a close...the new $240 plus million Science Building.  What am I going to watch now??  Thank goodness
for Fall sports on the new Amherst "sports channel" . Men's soccer and the women's Basketball teams were featured at the Campaign Dinner festivies.  It is to be noted that an 100 million dollar gift was made to jump start the campaign with over half the campaign goal reached...bet that strong athletic teams "greased the wheels" to date.   I mentioned that a new admission chief is arriving .  He is coming from MIT where the athletic programs have grown and improved greatly.
For me, as Nescac becomes more competitive in all sports, Amherst is working hard to attract the best students and producing the best teams.

[amh63]

Back again.  Seems that at tonight's NFL preseason game between the Patriot's and Eagles, the Amherst's WBB team.....the 2018 D3 National Champions and holding a 66 game win streak...will be honored!   On NBC Sports.
Guess I will post this on another board too! 

[frank uible]

In the face of Bowdoin's #3 ranking by USNWR the quality or lack of quality of its football team should be no big deal.

[amh63]

Scanning the Nescac schools' websites,  I noticed that the Tuft's vs Wes game....2nd game of the season...in Medford will be under lights...6 pm start.  Is this Tuft's first night game?

[polbear73]

Scanning the Nescac schools' websites,  I noticed that the Tuft's vs Wes game....2nd game of the season...in Medford will be under lights...6 pm start.  Is this Tuft's first night game?

No, they've done it in both Middletown and Medford under temporary lights in past years. 

[PolarCat]

In the face of Bowdoin's #3 ranking by USNWR the quality or lack of quality of its football team should be no big deal.

In theory, yes.  Have you met any Millenials?  In the minds of these evil spawn, every dollar spent on football is one less dollar available to fund the much-needed gender studies classes, scholarships for illegal aliens, stocking the men's bathrooms with feminine hygiene products, endowing a Professorship in White Privilege / White guilt, and funding free sex change surgeries as part of the college health plan.  And every tip given to a Neanderthal football player is one less Admissions slot for a Social Justice Warrior, or progressive Democratic Socialist. 

Football players do awful things.  There was much talk at Bowdoin last year about how many go on to work on Wall Street and in other nefarious, high-paying occupations, allowing them to continue oppressing the Progressive masses long after they have left Brunswick.  They are troglodytes, throw-backs to an era when people smoked the opiods of Capitalism and American Exceptionalism.  It is whispered that some of them may even have voted for Trump, which is  the most despicable affront to the Progressives' world view.

Frank, you need to step out of the Real World and spend some time in The Bowdoin Bubble.  Then you will understand the real issues of our time.  Seriously.  I'm sending you a gift subscription to The Bowdoin Orient so you can see for yourself.

[fulbakdad]

Polorcat, you crack me up.  Wish we had a beer together!

[polbear73]

Keep 'em coming, PolarCat, this one's priceless.

[amh63]

PolarCat......"right on brother!"....from an earlier generation poster
Generous thought to give FrankU a subscription.  I sometimes read both Bowdoin papers when they are available online. General feeling I get wrt Bowdoin aside from their athletic teams is that Bowdoin's present administration is trying tooooo hard to be a smaller version of Yale. Yes, I'm not a fan of Yale

[frank uible]

If American Exceptionalism exists, then why has this country come to be in such an unremedied mess?