Down East: Building a Program in Brunswick (TCY)

[Greyfriars Bobby]

I have a lot of very fond memories of The College Years.

In this case, I'm referring specifically to the game with that title, rather than the period of my life...although the statement is true in both senses. I discovered the game a couple years ago, and had fun with it.

It's been a while since I played it, so I decided to give it another go this weekend. I decided to locate the "Solecismic Eight" in Maine, a favorite spot for family vacations. I renamed the conference the Down East Eight.

I'm now the head coach at Brunswick. Our roster is thin, as you might expect, with real issues on the offensive and defensive lines. Most of the players aren't exactly All-Americans in the classroom, either. To put it simply, I have a heck of a lot of work to do.

I hope to build a program at Brunswick that excels both athletically and academically. It might take a while, and I might never get there, but it will still be a lot of fun to pursue.

I'm probably going to write one or two "chapters" per season, rather than a game-by-game chronicle. That might change, as the Brunswick roster will eventually be full of players I recruited and who have only played for me. Those guys will be the interesting ones to follow.

So, let's travel back to the fall of 2004, and let the story begin.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

2004 Season

Record: 4-7
Final Ranking: 95

The turning point of my first season in Brunswick occurred in the third quarter of our 44-19 victory over Biddeford in Week 8. Senior quarterback Ernest Goodfellow went down with an injury that kept him out for the remainder of the season. At the time, we were 3-0 in Down East Eight play, but without Goodfellow at the controls, we lost three of our four remaining conference games. A 45-10 triumph on Senior Day sent the Class of 2005 out on a high note and gave us a winning record in the conference.

Senior safety Grant Thornton was named the Down East Eight Top Defensive Player. He racked up 122 tackles, including 15 for losses, and picked off four passes. Grant was joined on the Down East first team by junior WR Dominic Rausche (28 receptions, 492 yards, 6 TD), senior ILB J.R. Newnam (105 tackles, 3.5 sacks) and sophomore CB Horace Seelig (65 tackles, 1 INT).

Junior FB Travis Bush, sophomore G Travis DeConcini, senior T Dennis Fehr, sophomore OLB Dwayne Strikwerda, and junior CB Phil Ellard earned Down East second team honors. Fehr's recognition was even more significant, since he tore up his knee in Week 9 and missed the last two games of the season.

Junior RB Billy Cole was among the league's leading rushers, amassing 970 yards on 163 carries, scoring eight times. He also caught three TD passes. Junior Brant Cortez (102 carries, 496 yards, 3 TD) gave us another viable option in the running game.


In the Classroom

We finished the season with a Good rating for our Overall Academic Reputation. Our score of 48 was ranked 67th in the nation, which puts us almost squarely in the middle of the rankings.

Our players achieved an aggregate GPA of 2.96. That's not bad, but it could be a lot better. One of the teams from our conference, Waterville, led the nation with a 3.26 GPA.

Our strongest departments are Electrical Engineering (4.00 GPA, 19th nationally), Metallurgy (4.00, 26th), Nuclear Engineering (4.00, 34th) and German (3.94, 29th). Our weakest, by far, is Journalism (1.88, 112th.)

Graduating senior FB Mitchell Herndon finished the year with a perfect 4.00 GPA in Medicine. Freshman T Johnnie Loper (Computer Science) and junior RB Emmitt Thrasher (Random Number Theory) also pulled 4.00s. Travis DeConcini (Marketing) earned a 3.94.

Loper and sophomore WR Randall Emerson (3.54 in Computer Science) were named to the conference Academic Team. I'm surprised that DeConcini didn't make it; his GPA was better than either of the guards who did. Perhaps their majors (Medicine and Electrical Engineering) were considered more prestigious.

On the other end of the academic spectrum were blockheads such as senior T Bernard Conrath (1.14, Business) freshman CB Sammie Woznicka (1.40, Astronomy) and senior TE Zack Deforne (1.60, Trigonometry). Senior QB Sean Harper, who became the starter after Goodfellow got hurt, had a 1.66 GPA and failed Sociology, which happens to be his major. Sean's B+ in Smile Therapy kept his GPA off rock bottom. Harper was the only one of the crappy students who saw considerable playing time this year.


Recruiting
I entered the recruiting season with two goals: upgrading the program's talent level across the board, and bringing in excellent students. I'm fairly happy with how things turned out. TCY Today ranked our class #107 in the nation. Bangor (#89) was the only Down East school with a higher-rated class than ours, and they were clearly the best team in the league this season.

I landed two very promising players from the state of New York. The prize member of the class is QB Preston Kramm (Randolph, NY/Randolph). He's the #9 quarterback in the class, and the top player in the state. Preston completed 62.6% of his passes and rushed for over 500 yards. He's also an aspiring Mechanical Engineering major with a 3.75 GPA and a 1310 SAT score. If he's anywhere as good as he's supposed to be, Kramm should be our starter from Day One.

WR Rico Gabay (Rochester, NY/Brighton) was also the best in the state at his position. He caught 57 passes for 1353 yards as a senior, and earned a 3.55 GPA and a 1280 on the SAT. Rico should also step into the starting lineup immediately. Both he and Kramm were ranked among the top 100 players in the nation; Preston was #54, and Rico #85.

CB Barry Weimer (Stoughton, MA/Stoughton) and TE Lance Willis (Gardiner, ME/Gardiner Area) were the other members of the recruiting class who were ranked in the Top 1000 nationally. Barry came in at #753 and Lance at #999.

All of these players were named All-State. Joining them were DE Al Mineo (Waterboro, ME/Massabesic), S Malcolm Duncan (Bucksport, ME/Bucksport), OLB Teddy Cook (Middleborough, MA/Middleborough), DT Marty Fuller (Standish, ME/Bonny Eagle) and FB Jumbo Treftz (Rumford, ME/Mountain Valley). Cook and Treftz were considered the top player at their position in their respective states, and so was DT Jamal Andersen (South Paris, ME/Oxford Comprehensive).

All 16 of our recruits except one had GPAs of 3.00 or better in high school, and the one who didn't had a 2.95. Half the class had SAT scores of 1300 or better, and all but two broke 1100. Mineo's SAT was 1560.

I ended up with four outside linebackers, and in retrospect, I should have pulled my offers from a couple of those guys. I only landed one offensive lineman, so I'll have to recruit the O-line hard next season.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Here's our final report card from Professor Laertes. We did fine in most categories, with the exception of Attendance/Stadium.

Look at that great recruiting score!

[bbgunn]

Whoa, TCY? A blast from the past! Good luck with Brunswick!