FB: Liberty League

[ICGrad]

Is this what happens when your school hires a young and possibly overly ambitious head coach?

Brandon Maguire is 34 and in in his first season as a head coach
Michael Toerper was 34 when he was in his first season as a head coach, at Ithaca
Dan Swanstrom was 35 when he was in his first season as a head coach, at Ithaca

You don't have to like the playcall, but I'm sure what Maguire's age has to do with anything.

Is there a reason they haven't hired anyone over 50?

Jim Butterfield wasn't yet 40 when he was named head football coach @ Ithaca.

That hiring was so historically bad, I think Ithaca is just doomed to repeat it ever since.

[Machiavelli]

Third Division dude is all-knowing. Lolol. Based on what I know and have heard, Ithaca hired one heck of a coach.

[Bartman]

Very scary injury to a Hilbert player as the game was halted for over 30 minutes as his neck area was stabilized and he was transported by helicopter to either Rochester or Buffalo. I pray he is recovering, but I have not heard anything. While Hobart took a 58-0 lead in the first half, after the injury only one TD was scored in the second half as the final was 65-0.
The Hilbert team travelled with only 25 players and it is just not fair to schedule a team that has such a gap in skills. I hope their upgraded facilities allows them to recruit better players, although they played their butts off all game and managed to sack the Hobart QB twice on the last possession of the game. God Bless  them for playing so hard after the 30 minute injury delay.

[Bartman]

New Poll has RPI with one vote. Looks like Ithaca was jinxed by having article highlighting the team before the RPI game. Shoes game should be a good one. I'm rooting for an Ithaca upset in Cortaca to really confuse everyone . Hobart will hopefully be performing well against Buffalo State and getting a good Bowl game to spice up the end of the season. .

[Machiavelli]

Pretty horrible hearing about the Hilbert situation. They just shouldn't be in this league at this point. The LL is too tough and physical for a program that can't get started. Similar thing happened against RPI. Hopefully the kid is ok.

Shoes game should be fun. I hope the weather cooperates so I can go. I feel like the downside of Ithaca beating Cortland is RPI might travel to Cortland, though it'd be an interesting matchup. I'd just love to get a Springfield or something like that. I'd really love a game at Endicott, but I'd assume they get round 1 off. RPI could go out to Utica again as well. Will be interesting to see.

[Machiavelli]

Is there a bracket prediction out yet? The hamburger menu on mobile no longer works from the front page, so navigating the site is a little challenging.

[IC798891]

Is there a reason they haven't hired anyone over 50?

Is there a reason that they should?

[Machiavelli]

This is literally the dumbest discussion that's ever happened on this board. Dude is a troll. Not worth an ounce of thought.

But against my better judgement, some food for thought:

Mike Vrabel - just turned 51
Ryan Day - 47
Matt Patricia - 51
Paul LaPolice - Currently 56, but go check out what he did in his 30s and 40s
Sean McVay - 40
Kyle Shanahan - 46
Kevin O'Connell - 41

I can do this all night. Beat it troll. You bring ZERO to this board and any conversation. Clueless clown.

[IC798891]

Very scary injury to a Hilbert player as the game was halted for over 30 minutes as his neck area was stabilized and he was transported by helicopter to either Rochester or Buffalo. I pray he is recovering, but I have not heard anything.

The Hilbert team travelled with only 25 players

For comparison's sake, they played 41 players the opening week of the season, and 26 yesterday.

Absolutely unconscionable that the game wasn't called at halftime for the safety of the players. Frankly, the E8 or the LL should cancel the Hartwick game. If you're coming to a game with that few players, and someone suffers an injury that severe, and you continue to play, you have completely lost the plot.

They went to 10 minute quarters in the second half, which tells you that they continuing this game as it was going was a bad idea from a safety perspective.

(I could give two ****s about the score, just to be clear. Endicott dropped a 90 spot this week, and it's irrelevant.)

[Machiavelli]

Is there a bracket prediction out yet? The hamburger menu on mobile no longer works from the front page, so navigating the site is a little challenging.

It's fixed!!!

[ICGrad]

For comparison's sake, they played 41 players the opening week of the season, and 26 yesterday.

I would hope that the LL would step and do something here. Meet with Hilbert, develop a long-range plan, and hold them to it. If Hilbert isn't willing to do that, give them the boot.

25 players is absolutely crazy, and almost guarantees that some players ore going on both offense and defense (and certainly that there's a large overlap with special teams), which definitely increases the chances of (serious) injury.

I know I've been down on Hilbert for the (lack of) level of competition they bring to the LL. Ultimately, I'd love for them to grow the program and be a viable league member. Unfortunately, it feels like it's heading the other direction at this point...

[IC798891]

I listened to the Hobart broadcast last night, and during the injury Bartman mentioned, the announcer said "I don't know if I've ever asked this in 50 years, but should this game continue after the half, or for everybody's safety, should we send them home?"

While it's possible he would have said that following a scary neck injury in the blowout game vs St. Lawrence, I cannot imagine that the overall state of Hilbert's roster didn't play a role in that statement.

Based on what I counted on the sidelines, Hilbert had 24 players remaining when the first play of the second half happened. And they didn't just go to 10-minute quarters, they went to 10-minute, running time quarters. That's not about keeping the score down. That's about doing everything possible to minimize the number of plays, and chances for injury.

As I said last night, if the conferences don't step in next week, I think we've completely lost the plot. And I realize that sucks for the Hilbert players and the Hartwick players, especially the seniors. But given that this the state of Hilbert's roster at this point, it feels like we're in the legitimate danger zone for player safety.

Honestly, I find myself wondering what someone like Frank Rossi -- who as a lawyer, is obviously keenly aware of risk management scenarios -- thinks about this.

[ICGrad]

Honestly, Hilbert needs to drop down club program status for 5 years or so and rebuild from the ground up. They seem to have a decent coach who has some things headed in the right direction; take a few years to build the program, go through some recruiting cycles while playing against a level of competition more in-line with where they are, and if they really want to be a decent D3 varsity program, when the time is right, make the jump.

My two nephews played club football at Clarkson (both just recently graduated); I'm pretty sure that their teams had more than 40 players.

Football isn't a sport where you can cut corners and take shortcuts in building a program.

[Patrick Coleman]

Is there a bracket prediction out yet? The hamburger menu on mobile no longer works from the front page, so navigating the site is a little challenging.

It's fixed!!!

Good news. I filed a ticket with the support folks over the weekend so I'm glad it was handled promptly. Or maybe it was a temporary issue. But you were not alone -- other people reported the same issue.

[Bartman]

I listened to the Hobart broadcast last night, and during the injury Bartman mentioned, the announcer said "I don't know if I've ever asked this in 50 years, but should this game continue after the half, or for everybody's safety, should we send them home?"

While it's possible he would have said that following a scary neck injury in the blowout game vs St. Lawrence, I cannot imagine that the overall state of Hilbert's roster didn't play a role in that statement.

Based on what I counted on the sidelines, Hilbert had 24 players remaining when the first play of the second half happened. And they didn't just go to 10-minute quarters, they went to 10-minute, running time quarters. That's not about keeping the score down. That's about doing everything possible to minimize the number of plays, and chances for injury.

As I said last night, if the conferences don't step in next week, I think we've completely lost the plot. And I realize that sucks for the Hilbert players and the Hartwick players, especially the seniors. But given that this the state of Hilbert's roster at this point, it feels like we're in the legitimate danger zone for player safety.

Honestly, I find myself wondering what someone like Frank Rossi -- who as a lawyer, is obviously keenly aware of risk management scenarios -- thinks about this.

This injury is why football has lost participation by about 10% over the last 10 years. It is a nightmare scenario to be a parent and get a call from a coach and say your son has had a very significant injury. The young man's mother was in the stands and was called to come out on field , it was gut wrenching to see her hurry out to the scene , your heart just sunk watching. I watched until the ambulance left the field and I'm sure the coaching staffs discussed the continuance options. Hobart left it with Hilbert's coaching staff that seemed to involve their College President. The running clock was decided on, but I know the Hobart players were concerned about further injuries, but if they played they couldn't risk injury to themselves by ratcheting down. I left the game and walked over to catch the basketball game(Hobart beat Gettysburg) and saw the end of the football game on my phone and caught the Hilbert Dline sack Hobart's QB twice and they were certainly excited for the accomplishment.
  I'm not sure what should be done for next week or next year for the Hilbert program, but I can't stop thinking about that mother running out on to the field last Saturday.