FB: Liberty League

[unionpalooza]

Quite a dumpster fire over at Northwestern this week.  With kids coming back in a month, a good reminder to D3 coaches to dig into their culture and make sure they don't have any guys mainlining Barstool garbage and doing dumb sh*t. 

[Bartman]

Quite a dumpster fire over at Northwestern this week.  With kids coming back in a month, a good reminder to D3 coaches to dig into their culture and make sure they don't have any guys mainlining Barstool garbage and doing dumb sh*t.

I have no idea about the actual facts leading to Fitzgerald's firing, but I do know that the NU leadership sure is going to pay Fitzgerald a lot of $$$. As I understand it, hey gave him a 2 week suspension to investigate , and told him verbally that that would be the extent of the reprimand , after which he would return as coach. Verbal contracts in Illinois are enforceable. He has 40MM left on his contract. Pat Ryan(alum and Wildcat super booster) already flew into NJ to interview the Giants OC for the job . Northwestern is screwed and handled this badly. Another1-10 season is likely. I have not heard of problems in any of the LL programs, but coaches need to stay in touch with their leaders on the team.

[unionpalooza]

Quite a dumpster fire over at Northwestern this week.  With kids coming back in a month, a good reminder to D3 coaches to dig into their culture and make sure they don't have any guys mainlining Barstool garbage and doing dumb sh*t.

I have no idea about the actual facts leading to Fitzgerald's firing, but I do know that the NU leadership sure is going to pay Fitzgerald a lot of $$$. As I understand it, hey gave him a 2 week suspension to investigate , and told him verbally that that would be the extent of the reprimand , after which he would return as coach. Verbal contracts in Illinois are enforceable. He has 40MM left on his contract. Pat Ryan(alum and Wildcat super booster) already flew into NJ to interview the Giants OC for the job . Northwestern is screwed and handled this badly. Another1-10 season is likely. I have not heard of problems in any of the LL programs, but coaches need to stay in touch with their leaders on the team.

Yeah, NW looks pretty awful in all this.  Legally it's a muddle and they'll probably settle in the $20M range, but it doesn't look like the school leadership stands for anything other than self-preservation.  It's a reasonable thing to say that you don't hold the coach responsible if he didn't know, and a reasonable thing to say you'll hold him ultimately responsible for a crap culture even if he didn't, but you can't say the first and then change your mind a few days later after the press is bad.  Whatever he did or didn't know, it does seem pretty clear the players were systematically mistreating one another, which sucks to see.

[jmcozenlaw]

Quite a dumpster fire over at Northwestern this week.  With kids coming back in a month, a good reminder to D3 coaches to dig into their culture and make sure they don't have any guys mainlining Barstool garbage and doing dumb sh*t.

Add in the way this country is moving and if you sneeze in the wrong direction the snowflakes might sue!!

[unionpalooza]

Well folks, what do we think of the preseason poll?  Ithaca sits at #9, RPI gets 3 votes.  To me, the poll doesn't look like much more than last year's final poll, plus/minus some reversion to conventional wisdom.  But folks are ranking teams with no real clue what their rosters will look like; it's hard to get a real sense until we see how many super-seniors are back with various programs as the last class of COVID kids plays out their days.

Only 2023 roster I could find was Utica, and even that one doesn't look right.  (Has Nate Palmer coming back, which I can't square with the four seasons of 8+ games he already has in the books.)  Anyone have a sense as to how many of last year's 45 Bomber seniors return?  (I continue to find that a totally ridiculous number, but power to them.)

I believe that Union will have a small number of fifth year guys, though they'll be impact players. (Much harder for Union guys to hold over, as there's no graduate programs; they have to actually delay graduating.). How about elsewhere?

[Pat Coleman]

But folks are ranking teams with no real clue what their rosters will look like; it's hard to get a real sense until we see how many super-seniors are back with various programs as the last class of COVID kids plays out their days.

This isn't true, for what it's worth -- our voters have this information. We solicited it from about 50 schools.

[ICAlum16]

Well folks, what do we think of the preseason poll?  Ithaca sits at #9, RPI gets 3 votes.  To me, the poll doesn't look like much more than last year's final poll, plus/minus some reversion to conventional wisdom.  But folks are ranking teams with no real clue what their rosters will look like; it's hard to get a real sense until we see how many super-seniors are back with various programs as the last class of COVID kids plays out their days.

Only 2023 roster I could find was Utica, and even that one doesn't look right.  (Has Nate Palmer coming back, which I can't square with the four seasons of 8+ games he already has in the books.)  Anyone have a sense as to how many of last year's 45 Bomber seniors return?  (I continue to find that a totally ridiculous number, but power to them.)

I believe that Union will have a small number of fifth year guys, though they'll be impact players. (Much harder for Union guys to hold over, as there's no graduate programs; they have to actually delay graduating.). How about elsewhere?

From what I know, I do not believe IC will have the volume of seniors they had in 2022 but have key 4th and 5th year starters returning at key positions. They are going to need that level of experience when they hit the road week 1 at Hopkins. Overall, should still be a very experienced Bomber team this year.

[unionpalooza]

But folks are ranking teams with no real clue what their rosters will look like; it's hard to get a real sense until we see how many super-seniors are back with various programs as the last class of COVID kids plays out their days.

This isn't true, for what it's worth -- our voters have this information. We solicited it from about 50 schools.

Excellent - than you can answer my question about which 5th years in the LL are coming back!

[Pat Coleman]

But folks are ranking teams with no real clue what their rosters will look like; it's hard to get a real sense until we see how many super-seniors are back with various programs as the last class of COVID kids plays out their days.

This isn't true, for what it's worth -- our voters have this information. We solicited it from about 50 schools.

Excellent - than you can answer my question about which 5th years in the LL are coming back!

*then

Instead, why don't you give me a list of players from Hobart, Ithaca, RPI and Union that you want to know about and I'll let you know if they were on the preseason info each of those schools sent us.

[Bartman]

Congrats to Ithaca for the Top 10 preseason ranking, which seems about right with an experienced squad returning. Great incentive to prepare for the season by putting JH as the opener followed by a not too shabby Endicott team. I'm expecting RPI to do their thing by having a strong defense and "a score as needed" offense , no matter who is returning as Coach Isernia always seems to put together a very competitive team. Hobart will have inexperience at QB, but I'm hoping we utilize the wildcat more frequently with two great returning SR running backs in Rayshawn Boswell and Tim Denham behind an OL that has some big holes to fill. Union has lost some talent, but I'm sure they'll give the Dutchmen faithful hope in the big games. Could Rochester or St.Lawrence show meaningful improvement and perhaps Buff State has some good recruits? I have not done a thorough roster analysis, but it seems Ithaca will be a unanimous preseason choice as LL Champ. That said, I'm hoping a few of us scare the **** out of them if not upset the Bombers. I can't wait for Football since my Mets officially suck, and the Yankees aren't far behind.

[UfanBill]

UNION COLLEGE GARNET CHARGERS!!!      

[Bartman]

UNION COLLEGE GARNET CHARGERS!!!      

Wow, I knew it was changing, but Garnet Chargers...really? There are lots of schools(mostly High Schools) that are Garnets or Chargers, but combining them is interesting. Well the new branding really has some electricity behind it. All those old Dutchmen are weeping tonight as another legacy/tradition in the Hudson Valley/Albany region bites the dust. Are the bellicose Bombers next/or maybe the Saints to eliminate any religious reference , or the Engineers which only represents a portion of the RPI graduates( why not Poets for the next 100 years?).... HWS has a mascot for both schools(Statesmen and Herons), but the nonbinary students will certainly be protesting in Geneva . 

[unionpalooza]

UNION COLLEGE GARNET CHARGERS!!!      

Wow, I knew it was changing, but Garnet Chargers...really? There are lots of schools(mostly High Schools) that are Garnets or Chargers, but combining them is interesting. Well the new branding really has some electricity behind it. All those old Dutchmen are weeping tonight as another legacy/tradition in the Hudson Valley/Albany region bites the dust. Are the bellicose Bombers next/or maybe the Saints to eliminate any religious reference , or the Engineers which only represents a portion of the RPI graduates( why not Poets for the next 100 years?).... HWS has a mascot for both schools(Statesmen and Herons), but the nonbinary students will certainly be protesting in Geneva . 

As an alum who was open to a name change, though skeptical it was needed, I'm simply disappointed that they chose such a dumb name and cheesy logo.  I think they got way over their skis with the initial announcement and felt they had no choice to follow through, even though they had no good ideas.  In any event, hopefully they will never use again whatever horrific marketing firm they surely paid an appalling sum to come with these lameness. 

[Bartman]

+k to both UFAN and Palooza for supporting the Garnet Chargers through this charge....oops change. Is the Cannon becoming electrified with a simple charge from the scorers box? Or maybe it will finally be eliminated (as Bartman has always advocated for!!)and replaced by electrified bolts of energy over the field representing the new "energy" of Union Athletics. 

[Ice Bear]

UNION COLLEGE GARNET CHARGERS!!!      

Ice Bear says this is absolutely un-****ing-real. Ice is beyond disgusted by this ****ing horrible name change. Ice says garnet chargers (from this day on Ice refuses to capitalize the G and C) rings like the name of a ****ing intramural youth soccer team...to Ice, and he'll say it. This is lower than the ****ing 0-10 season.

Ice is pretending he is a PA announcer here: Good evening folk and tonight we have the Cornell Big Red vs. the Union College garnet chargers! ****ing embarrassing

Ice Bear pleads to Pat with all his mighty power and influence...Please ****ing do something about this!