FB: Liberty League

[Oline89]

Thank you pat and ITH Radio. I did listen, it was an enjoyable interview. Good news for the Golden eagles for sure.
PS, excuse my ignorance, (I don't usually listen to pod casts), who was that interviewing Coach Mangone (if he  introduced himself earlier, sorry I skipped ahead.)

That's me. Glad you enjoyed it!

I enjoyed the podcast as well, Hot Stove for football.  A question I had, does Brock State offer graduate programs, or is O'Connell just deferring his graduation date.  Offering grad programs is a huge bonus for recruiting purposes in D3, it allows for a kid to medically redshirt, but not fall behind in his graduation date.  I know a couple of teams in the NESCAC offer this option.

[Pat Coleman]

Brockport does have graduate programs, yes.

[D3viewer]

Wilkes (D-III – PA): Hobart (D-III – NY) offensive coordinator Jon Drach has accepted the head coaching job at Wilkes. Drach spent the past 11-seasons at Hobart, including the past four seasons as offensive coordinator.

[ITH radio]

Footballscoop with the story. Happy for Coach Drach.

http://gohobart.blogspot.com has some more info if anyone's curious.

[Oline89]

Footballscoop with the story. Happy for Coach Drach.

http://gohobart.blogspot.com has some more info if anyone's curious.

Coach Drach is a great offensive mind, and well liked by the players.  I am sure his recruiting prowess willl be missed.  I hope he is successful and helps to get Wilkes on the winning path.  As for Hobart Football, I am Ok with the move. His offense seemed very complex, and it took a long time for the OLINE to figure out their blocking schemes this year.  Perhaps a less complicated offensive approach may benefit the Statesmen on the field.

[ITH radio]

I think there are some alumni that will be happy to go back to a more basic offense. IMO the OL was pretty good considering injuries (e.g., Deveney) and inexperience this past season. Steven VH played 3 different positions over 10 games which is telling.

What really hurt the Statesmen was not having SR WRs like Pfohl and Cunningham to help give Sweeney more options in the passing game. While some guys like Conley and DelliSanti emerged later in the season, I think Sweeney's dependency on Shed got exposed a little this year. Plus the defensive line and secondary dropped off from prior seasons (the former came around after a slow start / losing McFarlane to injury), meaning the Statesmen were typically playing catch up or from behind in key games. OLB had two new starters and Conde, while a great on and off the field leader, was often a step slow in coverage.

Regardless of what they thought of his play-calling, you can't deny that Coach Drach did an absolutely superb job developing QBs. His track record with Doyle, Strang, Conlan and Sweeney speaks for itself.

[Bartman]

Good luck to Coach Drach at Wilkes. I wonder if he will be tapping into any of the young Hobart alum coaches in his new gig? I think his best year was 2016 as the talent matched his philosophy. Last year there were times when the play calling seemed to be out of synch with what was needed , especially against Union. No doubt he developed QB's really well and contributed to all aspects of the coaching skill set and he will improve the Colonels program instantly. It is interesting to note that Coach Cragg has been a significant contributor to the HC ranks recently(DeWall, Yoder and now Drach). Could DeWall possibly return?

[Bombers798891]

So, per Twitter, Ithaca has dropped Utica and added St. Vincent.

From a purely football perspective, this weakens IC's schedule. But, alums and old conference affiliation aside, there really was not much to the IC/UC games, and I'm guessing this was done to get the Bombers into more preferable recruiting territory.

Also, per Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BarstoolIthaca/status/959209696178724864

It's really an entertaining time to be an Ithaca fan. I loved Mike Welch and he ran a great program for more than 20 years—and was more successful than often given credit for. But Swanstrom and his staff have completely modernized, I guess is the word, the program.

[Bartman]

So, per Twitter, Ithaca has dropped Utica and added St. Vincent.

From a purely football perspective, this weakens IC's schedule. But, alums and old conference affiliation aside, there really was not much to the IC/UC games, and I'm guessing this was done to get the Bombers into more preferable recruiting territory.

Also, per Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BarstoolIthaca/status/959209696178724864

It's really an entertaining time to be an Ithaca fan. I loved Mike Welch and he ran a great program for more than 20 years—and was more successful than often given credit for. But Swanstrom and his staff have completely modernized, I guess is the word, the program.

Bombers,
    Happy for your program's trajectory , and glad IC is in the Liberty League....

[Jonny Utah]

So, per Twitter, Ithaca has dropped Utica and added St. Vincent.

From a purely football perspective, this weakens IC's schedule. But, alums and old conference affiliation aside, there really was not much to the IC/UC games, and I'm guessing this was done to get the Bombers into more preferable recruiting territory.

Also, per Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BarstoolIthaca/status/959209696178724864

It's really an entertaining time to be an Ithaca fan. I loved Mike Welch and he ran a great program for more than 20 years—and was more successful than often given credit for. But Swanstrom and his staff have completely modernized, I guess is the word, the program.

Ewww on the grey uniforms, especially the ones paired up wtih blue/white pants/jerseys.  All grey isn't too bad I guess but man, some of those combos are horrible.

Not sure about St. Vincent's either, unless they were scrambling for a game.  The Pittsburgh area is overnight territory so the game will cost more, but it looks like it should be an automatic W at least.  Ithaca has also never really gotten many recruits from Western PA either so maybe that is their angle like you said?

[Bartman]

Hey, I just clicked on the twitter account to see the new uniforms....the gray looks like it got a bad washing although it probably matches the Lake Cayuga weather...haha, so much for me being nice ...I kinda liked your old uniforms, but what the hell, I had to live with purple and orange all these years....great for those Halloween massacres....it is clear to me that Offensive Lineman never get consulted....Gray is ugly on the Big man bodies but not as bad as all Orange....just makes em mad, I guess that is the point

[Jonny Utah]

I think the grey can look good if kept as one uniform here.  Otherwise I don't like it.

[NED3Guy]

www.footballscoop.com has a report that St. Lawrence DC, Scott Vallone is leaving SLU for a job at Fordham.

Interesting turn for the Saints. 

[Bombers798891]

Not sure about St. Vincent's either, unless they were scrambling for a game.  The Pittsburgh area is overnight territory so the game will cost more, but it looks like it should be an automatic W at least.  Ithaca has also never really gotten many recruits from Western PA either so maybe that is their angle like you said?

I mean, I'd have to think it was recruiting. My gut tells me that the UC/IC matchup means more to Utica than Ithaca, especially considering Faggiano's ties to the program, so I'm not sure why the Pioneers would want to drop it. But St. Vincent just makes no sense unless you're trying to recruit Pa. They had a brief stint where they played a bunch of Pa schools (Lycoming, Kings, Moravian, Widener) so this isn't too unusual

[Oline89]

Not sure about St. Vincent's either, unless they were scrambling for a game.  The Pittsburgh area is overnight territory so the game will cost more, but it looks like it should be an automatic W at least.  Ithaca has also never really gotten many recruits from Western PA either so maybe that is their angle like you said?

I mean, I'd have to think it was recruiting. My gut tells me that the UC/IC matchup means more to Utica than Ithaca, especially considering Faggiano's ties to the program, so I'm not sure why the Pioneers would want to drop it. But St. Vincent just makes no sense unless you're trying to recruit Pa. They had a brief stint where they played a bunch of Pa schools (Lycoming, Kings, Moravian, Widener) so this isn't too unusual

IC has been recruiting the Lehigh Valley (exceptionally strong football presence) area in PA very hard recently.  Very easy trip up I81 to get to Ithaca.  St Vincent's on the other hand is Western PA (5 hour drive to Ithaca)