Yesterday Williams College of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) announced the appointment of Mark Raymond as the new Head Coach of the Ephs Football Program. This comes as bit of a surprise given Raymond's successful 2015 Co-Liberty League Championship season, LL Coaching Staff of the Year award and NCAA playoff appearance by Saint Lawrence University.
Raymond had been HC for the Saints since 2010 and over those six seasons Raymond compiled a 31-30 record, including a 23-8 run over the last three seasons. Although Raymond was 1-5 against Hobart during his tenure, but the last two seasons the Saints vs. Statesmen matchups were classics. Hobart has won the last two games by a combined four points, both games coming down to the final seconds.
This is the third coaching change in the LL since the announcements of Union HC John Audino's resignation and Springfield HC Mike DeLong's retirement. Who will take over the SLU program remains to be seen but the timing is tough for the Saints given Early Decision letters have already gone out and Regular Decision admissions letter don't go out for another month or two. My early guess is that Assistant HC and OC Dan Puckhaber is the likely successor to Raymond given his tenure (joined Raymond's staff as an OL coach before getting promoted to OC in 2012) and familiarity with the institution and it's players.
A link to both the Berkshire Eagle and the Williams Athletics Press Release have more on this developing story.
I'll be back next week with some recruiting news.
In the meantime, thanks for reading and go 'Bart!
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Offseason Update and Looking Ahead In 2016
I hope 2016 is off to a great start for everyone and apologize that it's been a little while since I've had made the time to cover off on all things Statesmen Football.
I had the chance to catch up with Head Coach Mike Cragg and other HWS staff at the Buccaneers-Falcons game back on December 6th. Ali Marpet '15 had a great game and helped lead the Bucs to a hard fought, 23-19 victory.
A number of articles on Ali's first season were published by the Buccaneers this week and I've posted them on @ITHuddLLe (on Twitter) if you haven't seen them already. A couple of my favorites included this one, which featured Coach Cragg and this film session review by former Jets and Bucs TE Anthony Becht.
While the graduations of SR LBs Trayvon Toney and SR LB Jacob Stanley will be big shoes to fill, Coach was optimistic in the coaching staff's offseason recruiting efforts. As of last Monday, the final Early Decision letters should have gone on and the Class of 2020 will start to come together. Updates on team captains and other newsworthy items will be coming out in the next month or so.
One big news item in the offseason was Ithaca College becoming a full member of the Liberty League. The Statesmen and Bombers will renew their rivalry in what appears to be under the lights of Boswell Field, Saturday, September 17th at 7pm! This is big news for the stability of the LL as a viable football conference but so far the announcement on the seventh LL team did not materialize in January as expected. While rumored this new member would come from PA, it has yet to be confirmed, and given the delay, could have fallen through. While not an issue for the Statesmen's playoff chances in 2016, a lack of a seventh team come 2017 would be a problem for all six LL teams going forward.
This fall Hobart will open the season with back to back road trips to play SUNY Brockport and Endicott College. These OOC games will be followed by a three game home stand against Ithaca, Union and the United States Merchant Marine Academy (who along with WPI and Springfield will depart for the NEWMAC in 2017). After a road trip to LL rival RPI, the Statesmen host Springfield off their bye week. Back to back road trips to WPI and SLU follow leading up to the regular season finale against Rochester for the Centennial Cup.
Also of note was the "resignation" of Union College HC John Audino who has been replaced by former Stony Brook OC/QB coach Jeff Behrman. A link to that story can be found here. Springfield College conducted a national search but ultimately decided to promote OC Mike Cerasuolo to the HC job. A link to that announcement can be found here. Hobart lines up against the Dutchmen and the Pride at the "Boz" on September 24th and October 22nd, respectively.
A couple of weekends ago, Marpet and his former team and classmate Mike Berkowitz '15 returned to campus to meet with incoming recruits and discuss their respective college and professional careers. While most folks know about Ali ending up in Tampa Bay, Mike landed an excellent job with a Goldman Sachs subsidiary in the Albany area and is doing great. You definitely do not need a "business" major to land a great job in Finance, Banking or Marketing if you get a BA from HWS.
Check out this cool highlight video produced by Connor Cough '17 which the recruits got to see during their visit to campus.
I'll be on the look out for more Hobart Statesmen news and thanks for reading!
Go 'Bart!
I had the chance to catch up with Head Coach Mike Cragg and other HWS staff at the Buccaneers-Falcons game back on December 6th. Ali Marpet '15 had a great game and helped lead the Bucs to a hard fought, 23-19 victory.
A number of articles on Ali's first season were published by the Buccaneers this week and I've posted them on @ITHuddLLe (on Twitter) if you haven't seen them already. A couple of my favorites included this one, which featured Coach Cragg and this film session review by former Jets and Bucs TE Anthony Becht.
While the graduations of SR LBs Trayvon Toney and SR LB Jacob Stanley will be big shoes to fill, Coach was optimistic in the coaching staff's offseason recruiting efforts. As of last Monday, the final Early Decision letters should have gone on and the Class of 2020 will start to come together. Updates on team captains and other newsworthy items will be coming out in the next month or so.
One big news item in the offseason was Ithaca College becoming a full member of the Liberty League. The Statesmen and Bombers will renew their rivalry in what appears to be under the lights of Boswell Field, Saturday, September 17th at 7pm! This is big news for the stability of the LL as a viable football conference but so far the announcement on the seventh LL team did not materialize in January as expected. While rumored this new member would come from PA, it has yet to be confirmed, and given the delay, could have fallen through. While not an issue for the Statesmen's playoff chances in 2016, a lack of a seventh team come 2017 would be a problem for all six LL teams going forward.
This fall Hobart will open the season with back to back road trips to play SUNY Brockport and Endicott College. These OOC games will be followed by a three game home stand against Ithaca, Union and the United States Merchant Marine Academy (who along with WPI and Springfield will depart for the NEWMAC in 2017). After a road trip to LL rival RPI, the Statesmen host Springfield off their bye week. Back to back road trips to WPI and SLU follow leading up to the regular season finale against Rochester for the Centennial Cup.
Also of note was the "resignation" of Union College HC John Audino who has been replaced by former Stony Brook OC/QB coach Jeff Behrman. A link to that story can be found here. Springfield College conducted a national search but ultimately decided to promote OC Mike Cerasuolo to the HC job. A link to that announcement can be found here. Hobart lines up against the Dutchmen and the Pride at the "Boz" on September 24th and October 22nd, respectively.
A couple of weekends ago, Marpet and his former team and classmate Mike Berkowitz '15 returned to campus to meet with incoming recruits and discuss their respective college and professional careers. While most folks know about Ali ending up in Tampa Bay, Mike landed an excellent job with a Goldman Sachs subsidiary in the Albany area and is doing great. You definitely do not need a "business" major to land a great job in Finance, Banking or Marketing if you get a BA from HWS.
Check out this cool highlight video produced by Connor Cough '17 which the recruits got to see during their visit to campus.
I'll be on the look out for more Hobart Statesmen news and thanks for reading!
Go 'Bart!
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