FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[amh63]

Watched a lot of football games yesterday....more like bits and pieces.  Old, long time rivalries for buckets and pieces of hardware....Iron bowl.  Some of the games were surprises for awhile like the Clemson vs USCarolina...two teams from different conferences...fighting for state bragging rights.  The Game Cocks gave the No.2 ranked Tigers a battle into the 2nd half.  Know a bunch of Purdue friends happy over their in state win over Indiana...including a retired Professor of ME at UMass that my wife and I stay with at Homecoming.  His home backs up on the Conn. River in Sunderland...the hometown of DARP and I believe the HC of the WBB team.  Yes it is fun to watch games that have meaning to the players and the fans....like Trin vs Wes and Amh vs Williams...regardless of the records. 

[quicksilver]

Article in the Bowdoin student newspaper on the departure of JB Wells. A few highlights: Bowdoin is swallowing the last year and a half of his contract (he had a 5-year contract); 5 of the 7 assistant coaches are being retained but the identity of those 5 has not been disclosed; and the players were surprised at the news . .

[unionpalooza]

Article in the Bowdoin student newspaper on the departure of JB Wells. A few highlights: Bowdoin is swallowing the last year and a half of his contract (he had a 5-year contract); 5 of the 7 assistant coaches are being retained but the identity of those 5 has not been disclosed; and the players were surprised at the news . .

What an appealing job - "well, you're welcome to pick nearly a third of your own coaching staff, all by yourself!"  Geesh.

[Hawk196]

Thank you!

One of the things I look at is "acceptance rate". I have an older boy playing at an Ivy and I think they range from 5% - 11%, NESCACs range in the teens, Bentley is 42% and Stonehill (another D2 that has been calling) is 72%

I think he is going to commit to a NESCAC school**, but the Bentley situation has me curious (scholarship/good business school)

**I will reveal the NESCAC school after he commits and look forward to 4+ years on the board

Update: He committed to Tufts.

They got a good one, the high school he played for was Don Bosco Prep. If you know the Big North United in Northern NJ (Bergen Catholic, St. Joes (Montvale), St. Peters Prep & Paramus Catholic, he's played in a very completive League(every game has a playoff feel and you won't see the 70-3 games like in Texas), that is not afraid to take on the top programs in any state across the country. Hell my older Son who plays at Yale played against some names people will know....Nick Bosa, Rashan Gary, Jabrill Peppers, etc.....

Thanks for all the insight provided!!

[lumbercat]

Some notable candidates rumored for the Bowdoin job:

Chris Rorke- Trinity/Dartmouth--Deja Vu--turned down the Bears last time around due to money issues which led to Wells getting the job. Said to be back in the hunt.

Shem Bloom- Bowdoin assistant- well respected but a long shot due to his association with the current regime.

Bobby Acosta- Was top candidate for the Bates job but Bobcat administration wouldn't pony up the cash.

Dave Dunn- Colby, a head coach who has adopted a temporary disguise as an assistant coach after leaving D1 Marshall with the realization that an assistants job at the D1 level was not for him. He will be a head coach someplace soon and it won't be in a Sprint program.

Scott Larkee- Harvard assistant- ready to run a program.

Art Asseletta- Yale assistant- great recruiter in a high level academic environment.


At the end of the day the Polar Bears will likely be making a big splash to appease their understandably irate alums. Colby upstaged the Bowdoin rebuilding project big time with the timely hiring of Cosgrove. He then proceeds to take Wells and the Bowdoin staff to school in one 3 hour tutorial in Waterville with arguably inferior talent. Ryan pulled the plug with no hesitation. I expect Bowdoin to be looking to make a hire that will be perceived as comparable to the the coup that Colby pulled off with Cosgrove.

Ryan said to have some significant autonomy in Brunswick despite the AFCU culture. Wonder what the AFCU reaction will be to paying JB for another year and a half while they bring in a new guy. They won't let that that expenditure slide in Brunswick but good for Ryan, he's making a commitment to win despite incurring the wrath of many on campus.....primarily the faculty.

[polbear73]

What an appealing job - "well, you're welcome to pick nearly a third of your own coaching staff, all by yourself!"  Geesh.
[/quote]
Look, I'm the last guy to support the Bowdoin Administration in their handling of the football program but please stop singling Bowdoin out for doing what is the norm in NESCAC. In (almost) every NESCAC football coaching change, new coaches inherit a portion of the previous staff. Ratios may vary, no no coach gets carte blanche.

This is akin to NESCACMAN busting Bowdoin for not spending endowment dollars on the Whittier Field renovation-no college in their right mind would.

Bowdoin deserves a lot of criticism for the way they've run their program. There is no need to pile on with invalid pot shots, there's plenty of valid reasons to criticize. 

[polbear73]

Some notable candidates rumored for the Bowdoin job:

Chris Rorke- Trinity/Dartmouth--Deja Vu--turned down the Bears last time around due to money issues which led to Wells getting the job. Said to be back in the hunt.

Shem Bloom- Bowdoin assistant- well respected but a long shot due to his association with the current regime.

Bobby Acosta- Was top candidate for the Bates job but Bobcat administration wouldn't pony up the cash.

Dave Dunn- Colby, a head coach who has adopted a temporary disguise as an assistant coach after leaving D1 Marshall with the realization that an assistants job at the D1 level was not for him. He will be a head coach someplace soon and it won't be in a Sprint program.

Scott Larkee- Harvard assistant- ready to run a program.

Art Asseletta- Yale assistant- great recruiter in a high level academic environment.


At the end of the day the Polar Bears will likely be making a big splash to appease their understandably irate alums. Colby upstaged the Bowdoin rebuilding project big time with the timely hiring of Cosgrove. He then proceeds to take Wells and the Bowdoin staff to school in one 3 hour tutorial in Waterville with arguably inferior talent. Ryan pulled the plug with no hesitation. I expect Bowdoin to be looking to make a hire that will be perceived as comparable to the the coup that Colby pulled off with Cosgrove.

Ryan said to have some significant autonomy in Brunswick despite the AFCU culture. Wonder what the AFCU reaction will be to paying JB for another year and a half while they bring in a new guy. They won't let that that expenditure slide in Brunswick but good for Ryan, he's making a commitment to win despite enduring the wrath of many on campus.....primarily the faculty.

Excellent update.  Coach Rorke was the first choice 4 years ago and money was, in fact the major reason for not accepting the job. In truth, he also was not convinced of Bowdoin's commitment to the program.

Also of note is that the Dean to whom Ryan reports, Tim Foster, who is known to keep athletes and athletics on a short lease, will be leaving the College at the end of the academic year. May be a reason for Ryan's autonomy.

[lumbercat]

After a bit of a sub par year in the passing game (at least by Middlebury standards) Coach Houdini recruiting hard for the next leader of the vaunted Snow Panther aerial circus. He's got the full court press on a Liebowitz clone to venture northward and compete with one Joe Willie Jernigan:

Zach Lemanski- North Caldwell, NJ 6'3" 220

Lets see if the magician can land this kid who has some strong Ivy interest from multiple programs.

[JoeBag]

My wife and I attended the Trinity College Football Banquet Sunday night. It is a very special event that is supported by alumni and administration. President Joan Berger Sweeny actually went from table to table to speak with everyone, exchanging small talk.

Several things to note:
-Coach Devanney complimented the team on their resiliency when facing injury and embracing the "Next man Up" philosophy."  Sorry NESCACMAN, there are no excuses in life, ie, "But only if Piccirillo had played."
-The coaching staff is not satisfied, nor resting. Both the OC and DC came up to me and said that they can not wait until next year and are working on securing next years recruiting class and working on how they can best utilize their talent in 2019!
-Three quarters of the team has had a GPA of over 3.0 in the last year.
-10 of the seniors have jobs lined up for them upon graduation. Devanney challenged the rest of the seniors and alumni to make sure everyone is employed or in Grad school upon graduation. He also challenged the senior class to get a combined GPA of 3.5 this spring as the 2018 class had done.
-Bill DeLongis, Strength and Conditioning Coach received a special award and was called out as being a key to Trin's Football success. As others have stated, there is a definable difference in the size, speed, and general athleticism of a couple of the NESCAC football teams. Contrary to the 'haters', this is not a function of accepting stupid kids, it is a function of how hard they work when given the opportunity. The boys in Hartford are already doing 3 day per week grueling workouts. As a matter of fact, there are kids throwing up at every workout!

On to next year..........

[Jonny Utah]

My wife and I attended the Trinity College Football Banquet Sunday night. It is a very special event that is supported by alumni and administration. President Joan Berger Sweeny actually went from table to table to speak with everyone, exchanging small talk.

Several things to note:
-Coach Devanney complimented the team on their resiliency when facing injury and embracing the "Next man Up" philosophy."  Sorry NESCACMAN, there are no excuses in life, ie, "But only if Piccirillo had played."
-The coaching staff is not satisfied, nor resting. Both the OC and DC came up to me and said that they can not wait until next year and are working on securing next years recruiting class and working on how they can best utilize their talent in 2019!
-Three quarters of the team has had a GPA of over 3.0 in the last year.
-10 of the seniors have jobs lined up for them upon graduation. Devanney challenged the rest of the seniors and alumni to make sure everyone is employed or in Grad school upon graduation. He also challenged the senior class to get a combined GPA of 3.5 this spring as the 2018 class had done.
-Bill DeLongis, Strength and Conditioning Coach received a special award and was called out as being a key to Trin's Football success. As others have stated, there is a definable difference in the size, speed, and general athleticism of a couple of the NESCAC football teams. Contrary to the 'haters', this is not a function of accepting stupid kids, it is a function of how hard they work when given the opportunity. The boys in Hartford are already doing 3 day per week grueling workouts. As a matter of fact, there are kids throwing up at every workout!

On to next year..........

And of course dumb kids aren't getting into Trinity, but I'm looking at the ED1/ED2 process as reasons that Bowdoin might be struggling.  A friend of mine has a kid who wanted to play football at Bowdoin and/or Trinity (I think Bowdoin may have been his first choice but it was close).  Bowdoin assistant coaches who are still on staff (after the fact he has already committed to Trinity ED1) call him up after and tell him that he can get in ED2 at Bowdoin.  Obviously it is too late and he is going to Trinity.

Can a school like Bowdoin simply move up their ED dates?  Or does athletics simply not factor into schools decisions for these dates?  They don't seem to be consistent among even NESCAC schools which should be a HUGE factor no?

[quicksilver]

And of course dumb kids aren't getting into Trinity, but I'm looking at the ED1/ED2 process as reasons that Bowdoin might be struggling.  A friend of mine has a kid who wanted to play football at Bowdoin and/or Trinity (I think Bowdoin may have been his first choice but it was close).  Bowdoin assistant coaches who are still on staff (after the fact he has already committed to Trinity ED1) call him up after and tell him that he can get in ED2 at Bowdoin.  Obviously it is too late and he is going to Trinity.

Can a school like Bowdoin simply move up their ED dates?  Or does athletics simply not factor into schools decisions for these dates?  They don't seem to be consistent among even NESCAC schools which should be a HUGE factor no?

ED1 and ED2 dates are the same for Bowdoin and Trinity (Nov. 15 and Jan. 1).

Middlebury and Tufts have slightly earlier ED1 deadlines (Nov. 1) but otherwise all NESCACs use the Nov. 15 deadline for ED1 applications. Amherst and Williams do not have ED2 but all other NESCAs use Jan 1 as the deadline for ED2 applications.

In the case you describe it is not a deadline issue but rather slowness on the part of the Bowdoin staff in making an offer to the player in question . .

[Jonny Utah]

And of course dumb kids aren't getting into Trinity, but I'm looking at the ED1/ED2 process as reasons that Bowdoin might be struggling.  A friend of mine has a kid who wanted to play football at Bowdoin and/or Trinity (I think Bowdoin may have been his first choice but it was close).  Bowdoin assistant coaches who are still on staff (after the fact he has already committed to Trinity ED1) call him up after and tell him that he can get in ED2 at Bowdoin.  Obviously it is too late and he is going to Trinity.

Can a school like Bowdoin simply move up their ED dates?  Or does athletics simply not factor into schools decisions for these dates?  They don't seem to be consistent among even NESCAC schools which should be a HUGE factor no?

ED1 and ED2 dates are the same for Bowdoin and Trinity (Nov. 15 and Jan. 1).

Middlebury and Tufts have slightly earlier ED1 deadlines (Nov. 1) but otherwise all NESCACs use the Nov. 15 deadline for ED1 applications. Amherst and Williams do not have ED2 but all other NESCAs use Jan 1 as the deadline for ED2 applications.

In the case you describe it is not a deadline issue but rather slowness on the part of the Bowdoin staff in making an offer to the player in question . .

Oh 100% agree.  But he was asked to take the SAT again by Bowdoin (meaning he wasn't getting in ED1 with those scores I'm guessing), but even if they moved up the date it might help them.

But I did think that the dates varied more for schools (I only knew that Williams doesn't have ED2, and that Tufts had a different date).  I'm also guessing that the league would involved if these dates moved around too much.

[Jonny Utah]

And just so I'm not making this a Trinity thing.  The same thing happened with a player I coached who ended up going to Bowdoin a few years back (lacrosse and football I believe although he only ended up playing one).  The Williams coach who I was friends with and pointed the kid out to told the kid to take the SAT again.  The kid said he didn't want to and let the Williams coaches know that.  Two days later Williams tells him to apply ED1 and he is in without taking the SAT again.  The kid ended up going to Bowdoin anyway (I believe it was his first choice regardless).

[Hawk196]

And of course dumb kids aren't getting into Trinity, but I'm looking at the ED1/ED2 process as reasons that Bowdoin might be struggling.  A friend of mine has a kid who wanted to play football at Bowdoin and/or Trinity (I think Bowdoin may have been his first choice but it was close).  Bowdoin assistant coaches who are still on staff (after the fact he has already committed to Trinity ED1) call him up after and tell him that he can get in ED2 at Bowdoin.  Obviously it is too late and he is going to Trinity.

Can a school like Bowdoin simply move up their ED dates?  Or does athletics simply not factor into schools decisions for these dates?  They don't seem to be consistent among even NESCAC schools which should be a HUGE factor no?

The ED1 at Tufts is Nov. 1st, but I was told the football team had 2-3 weeks extra for ED1

ED1 and ED2 dates are the same for Bowdoin and Trinity (Nov. 15 and Jan. 1).

Middlebury and Tufts have slightly earlier ED1 deadlines (Nov. 1) but otherwise all NESCACs use the Nov. 15 deadline for ED1 applications. Amherst and Williams do not have ED2 but all other NESCAs use Jan 1 as the deadline for ED2 applications.

In the case you describe it is not a deadline issue but rather slowness on the part of the Bowdoin staff in making an offer to the player in question . .

Oh 100% agree.  But he was asked to take the SAT again by Bowdoin (meaning he wasn't getting in ED1 with those scores I'm guessing), but even if they moved up the date it might help them.

But I did think that the dates varied more for schools (I only knew that Williams doesn't have ED2, and that Tufts had a different date).  I'm also guessing that the league would involved if these dates moved around too much.

[amh63]

JoeBag and all.....thanks for the info.   
Will add some tidbits wrt Amherst.  Yes, Amherst has not had an ED2 for quite awhile.  The long time Admission Head/friend has recently retired...after three decades.  New Head is on board now and was the Dean of Admission at MIT.  He is Dean of adminission and financial aid at Amherst.  MIT's rise in D3 sports is to be noted.  High rank in MBB and football program can go post season, etc.
At Homecoming....bumped into the HC of WBB at breakfast.  He mentioned that beside his recruiting efforts and coaching tasks, he was in charge of the football game field support crew too.  At halftime he and the Prez were handing out national championship rings to his WBB team.  Busy person.
I also met the special team football coach...a friend.  See him online during basketball games..."working".  Saw him at NCAA lacrosse games in Messiah...was Amherst's rep with duties there.
At Amherst, the coaches have other duties beyond their sports.  Believe it is the same with many of the Nescac schools.