Western Connecticut Football Looks To End Downward Spiral

DANBURY ??

Ed Farrington is in his 25th year as athletic director at Western Connecticut State University, a quarter-century spent experiencing the highs and lows of a once-proud football program that has bottomed out.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it," Farrington said. "It's been agonizing."

Farrington sits behind the desk in his office, printing out documents that represent a successful past and flipping through others that, he hopes, represent a bright future. He reminisces about his four years as an assistant coach in the early 1980s under Paul Pasqualoni, Western's first full-time coach, and soon opens a binder that contains information on Western's 2013 move from the New Jersey Athletic Conference, where the team has been steamrollered, to the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, where the Colonials will start anew.

"It's a very intricate process to figure out how to be successful and how to find solutions and how quickly you can fall into the abyss," Farrington said.

This is what the abyss looks like: Western hasn't won a game since Nov. 7, 2009. The Colonials, who open the season Saturday at Widener University in Chester, Pa., have lost 21 in a row, tied for the fourth-longest active streak in Division III. They were 0-10 last season while outscored 502-145, and 0-10 in 2010 while outscored 420-112.

Western is not on the brink of any records. In Division III, the longest losing streak among New England teams is 37 by Bates in 1991-95, and the national record is 50 by Macalester in 1974-79. Still, there have been some embarrassing afternoons ? an 82-17 loss to Buffalo State last season, a 71-3 loss to the same team the year before. There was a 48-0 loss to Maritime to open last season, and a 57-0 loss to Rowan in Week 2 of 2010.

That is the downpour resulting from the perfect storm, the decline of Connecticut's only Division III program that a little more than 10 years ago enjoyed national rankings, NCAA Tournament appearances, ECAC championships and had several of its former coaches move on to more high profile positions. Pasqualoni, for instance, coached Syracuse for 14 years and is in his second season at UConn.

New coach Joe Loth, a Western assistant in 1993-97 who went on to be head coach at Kean and Otterbein, and about 85 players boarded buses Friday for the trip to Widener, whose team is ranked in the Top 25 in a few preseason national polls. Western, of course, is a heavy underdog. It wouldn't have always been this way.

The Colonials were the Freedom Conference champion in 2001, finished 7-3 the next season and 6-4 in 2003. They played Norwich, Plymouth State, Springfield, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and WPI. The conference, a mix of private and public schools, disbanded in 2003. Western spent a year as an independent before joining the NJAC, where competing has been difficult on and off the field. New Jersey is a hot-bed for recruiting at all college levels, and there are no scholarships awarded in Division III. Why, for instance, would a New Jersey high school player choose out-of-state Western for $31,000 tuition when he can attend, say, William Paterson, for half the price? The pool of Connecticut players is much smaller.

The bottom line is that Western, ultimately, could not recruit at the NJAC level, and a spiral began. The Colonials' perennial decline left them at 2-8 (0-9 in the conference) in both 2008 and 2009. Recruiting regressed. Retaining players became more difficult. Blowout losses became the norm. Two winless seasons followed. Players heard snickering on campus. Coach John Burrell's contract was not renewed following last season. And a move was made to the MASCAC, which will feature all Massachusetts schools plus Plymouth State and Western. The MASCAC will feature an automatic NCAA Tournament qualification beginning in 2015.

"Persevering through two seasons like that tests your character and tests your motivation," said Mike Lacaria, a junior linebacker from Watertown. "The games have been like a nightmare for two years. We've been in the hole for a while."

Loth was hired to take on the third rebuilding project of his career. Kean had lost 14 in a row when he took over in 2000. Otterbein had lost eight in a row when he took over in 2003. He turned both into successful programs. Loth wasn't desperately flipping through the wanted ads this summer ? he was 49-42 in nine seasons at Otterbein, his alma mater ? but his wife, Keri, is from Bethel, and there was an interest in returning to Connecticut.

"I've done this before," Loth said. "You need to convince your kids that they've won here in the past. The next step is recruiting, retaining and developing players, in that order. ? I give our guys tremendous credit for sticking with this program."

The saying around campus these days is apples-to-apples, representing the level playing field that likely awaits in the new conference. In the NJAC, it's been apples-to-sledgehammers. So it's understandable, at the outset of this project, for there to be an eye toward 2013. Still, players and coaches are optimistic about this season, and Farrington hopes to see signs of the coming turnaround. Loth must nurture a program, develop a culture and get the most out of a group of players who can't help but be frustrated.

"We can't wait for Saturday," said Connor Capasso, a senior offensive lineman. "I never hung my head, but ? there were some times when I was embarrassed. But our coaches won't let us retreat. We're here to win."

Win or lose, important strides can be made.

"There's a lot of time being put in to just being a functional football team," Loth said. "We have huge gaps to close in a short amount of time. We're trying to build a long-term, successful football program. We're not going to flinch on how we do things. I told our team, in no way do we want to reflect back on what we did or didn't do. We're starting at ground zero and just doing what I believe is necessary to win."

The Colonials do have talent, but depth is a significant problem. They are inexperienced on the line and one injury away from being in serious trouble at skill positions. But for the first time in a long time, people around the program say there's a light at the end of a tunnel that collapsed around the Colonials the past two years.

"Losing develops a losing attitude, a lack of self-esteem and pride in the program," Farrington said. "The future, we feel like we've got a chance. I don't want to negate whatever we may be able to accomplish this year because it wouldn't be fair, but I actually think that going into the [MASCAC] gives us a chance to reinvent ourselves."

Source: http://hartfordcourant.feedsportal.com/c/34278/f/623727/s/22f36b3d/l/0L0Scourant0N0Csports0Chc0Ewestern0Econnecticut0Efootball0E0A90A10E20A120A8310H0A0H1680A9220Bstory0Dtrack0Frss/story01.htm

bowl projections bedlam bedlam cotto vs margarito 2 cotto vs margarito cotto vs margarito miguel cotto