ThumannsOwn -

It is burdensome to respond to super long strings so let me offer a few thoughts on Amherst hoops.

Yes, it is difficult watching Sears take an elite program down the tubes.  While I am sure he is a fine man, his hire never made sense ... one of those "hey look he coached at the D1 level so he will be great in D3" hires.  To this day he hasn't figured out that D3 basketball is a guard's game and not a big man's game, so his recruits continue to be mediocre (generously) big men who weren't getting recruited by the Ivies.  It is a formula for failure.

He was also part of a crew that included the since-terminated men's lacrosse coach, the squash coach, and the women's volleyball coach, all hired under the DEI umbrella that Amherst more than maybe every other school in the NESCAC lived under with the prior regime. None of these hires have worked, to say the least.   The current president is trying to reverse the remnants of the latter years of the prior administration's heavy-handed rule, but it takes time especially when the faculty is as deeply entrenched in the DEI culture as the president was.

Bottom line is that the basketball natives, the ones that matter, are VERY restless, as were the football natives. So Sears is probably safe for now but not for long.

As an Amherst fan, I am reasonably pleased with this past season.  Winning record, beating the Ephs in a close game, and the losses were not - unlike prior years - blowouts.   Four losses of inside ten points is progress considering the performance over the past 5-6 years. Quarterback should mature, offensive line played its best in a long time, always good EJ defenses.  Optimism reigns.

Does anyone know if there is a link to the Ephs game?  I would just like to see the returned two-point conversion play.   Thanks to anyone who has a link.

Yeah ... not really.  These schools have been trying to limit roster sizes forever.  Not a new phenomena based on a more challenging competitive environment, although certainly it is more challenging then before.

Having nothing to do with what happened yesterday, I applaud Williams for wanting a cap on the roster size.  I believe that Amherst has supported this as well.  It is bordering on insane for the smaller schools - all of them - to have to take up a higher percentage of their student body with football players. Even it out for everyone and go from there.  This coming from an insane sports fan, by the way.

Hard to type this but for a few minutes I actually felt bad for Williams at the end of the game yesterday.  I am no Wes fan but that comeback was special.   

Will be curious to see what the D3boards line will be for the Amherst-Williams game next week!   Both are good, not close to great teams.   Should be fun.

Having been around the block a few times (= I am older), my reasonably subjective view is that they didn't get any better than Farley.  That man was just dominant when he was at Williams.  They won in all types of different ways.   He also had one of the greatest lines ever ... when the kids were screwing around at practice, Farley said to them "you boys better pick it up cause there aint no Division 4!"  Perfect.

Thanks, Lumbercat!  I knew the Darp as I went to school during his tenure.   Hard to believe but EJ has a higher overall winning percentage than the Darp did even with the problems of the past 4-5 years.

Darp winning percentage - 66%
EJ winning percentage - 69%

Both terrific!

As a grad ... I can state fairly clearly that in the later years of the runaway last administration the football team did not get the same level of admissions support it had previously.  The former president took the school over the edge ideologically, something that the new president - an Amherst graduate - is slowly moving the school away from.  And with that, word has it, better, more consistent, more historically supportive admissions for the largest sport in the school.  As several posters on here have stated, EJ Mills is no stranger to winning via effective recruiting, preparation and game-day decision making. The best coach in Amherst history and one of the best in NESCAC history ... when people let him do his job!

Pretty happy to see my Lord Jeffs continuing to play well.  The Bowdoin game was, as noted above, still very close going into the fourth quarter by the Jeffs pulled away nicely.   After years in the wilderness, having a very good quarterback and what seems to be a decent offensive line is a good thing.

Who knows how it will play out, but it is good to season (a) a good Amherst quarterback and (b) a good Amherst offensive line.   This program couldn't block to save its life for the past 5-6 years, but this group is giving the QB some time.  Fun to see my Lord Jeff program alive again.

Wow ... Amherst might actually have a football team again!  Let's see how the rest of the year plays out, of course, but it certainly is encouraging.

"On another note, Amherst offense does seem to have a bit more juice this year.  Granted, not against the strongest competition, but 23 ppg and 318 ypg are dramatically improved from last year's 12 and 215.  Marek Hill seems to be the difference as he's been a strong dual-threat QB, a dangerous runner and very efficient in the short passing game, and he's cut down on the TO issue which plagued him as a FY.  Amherst seems much more able to sustain drives, although still not a team with many game-breaking play-makers.  The question is will that offensive improvement show up against Tufts, which so far has had a very strong defensive performance."

Yes, a glimpse of improvement.   The last time the offense was serviceable they had a really good quarterback so maybe Hill is the answer.   Not clear why anyone in the NESCAC would not go with a good dual-threat quarterback, but obviously Trinity and others have been great with guys who were solely passers.   I think dual threat works best for Amherst given the extremely weak run Amherst has had with offensive linemen over the past 5-6 years.  Just brutal blocking which makes it hard to assess running backs.

So maybe some progress ...

Quote from: nescac1 on July 07, 2025, 02:36:02 PMFormer CAC Coach, yes, that is my bad! 

There is no reason that Williams and Amherst can't return to the era of more consistent games like that -- both have great football traditions, prominent football alumni, tremendous football facilities, ample institutional resources, tons of recruiting pull, and established coaches each of whom has shown he can win a league title.  All it really takes is a few winks here and there from the admissions Dep't ...

As a Lord Jeff fan, I remain baffled by this drastic drop-off.   The drop-off in basketball was disappointing but reasonable with a new coach coming on board.   New hires don't always work out, which appears to be the case with Amherst hoops.   But Mills has been in the saddle for so long that the drop off had to be related to changes in admissions philosophy. One can only hope that the new president will provide a better climate for Mills than the disastrous former president did in her latter years.

Congrats to Trinity for the hoops title!   Great for the NESCAC to continue to perform at the highest level.

Four post-Hixon seasons at Amherst has yielded the following results:

Overall record   53-46
NESCAC record    18-22

The definition of mediocrity and irrelevance.  Wonder how long the Sears tenure lasts?

Additional kudos to Middlebury's Perry from todays article in The Athletic about players who impressed at the Shrine Bowl:

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Division III Middlebury center Thomas Perry — or "Thomas the Tank," as offensive line trainer Duke Manyweather calls him. Simply put, he is one of the strongest players in this draft class. His college tape is dominant (as it should be against that level of competition), which made Shrine practices paramount for NFL teams taking him seriously as a potential draft pick.

Perry didn't disappoint, more than holding his own against SEC and ACC defensive linemen. His game resembles a more athletic version of A.Q. Shipley, and he can make it in the NFL with his talent and work ethic.

From another writer:

Perry is another guy I wanted to watch again but found it difficult — not because he struggled or anything, but because most of what you see is him just completely overpowering DIII competition to the point where it sometimes looks like high school tape. Perry also has a length problem and might be a center-only on some boards. But if this guy gets a combine invite, he'll challenge the bench-press record.