danefan

I was intrigued by this post. I cannot find anyone on the Nike list of executives that graduated from UA. John Notar was born in Schenectady, but he is the VP of European Team Sports. Any further info that may not be on the site? This is something that should be looked into if true. That is how you get endowments...go right to the prestigous alumni. Thats how Albany Law is doing it now after many years of being in debt. It doesn't hurt that the Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel of Home Depot and the CEO of Time Warner are both Albany Law Grads either.

I am kicking myself for not asking the question I wanted to ask at the Q&A session at the reunion! I was going to ask McElroy if UA was going to extend the NEC contract and he stopped taking questions right before that. He had to have known it was in the works, but he sure didn't give that one away. I think we need to get some REAL answers from somone who knows whats going on and what the plan is. Why is it so secret anyway? I definitly think that they need to relax with the scheduling if they are not trying to move to that level until 2010. That is five more years of being 8-2 at best. Not good enough to get fan support, which should now be the main concern. I also agree that they should scrap the stadium idea. Build up University Field. The space is available for a stadium like Hofstra has and that would be more than sufficient.

True, Stellato did redshirt and was academically a senior last year, even though he only played three seasons. Shouldn't it be a priority to get those 5th year seniors back. They have all of the experience and should be the team leaders. Plus you can help a kid get started on a post-graduate education, which we all know is needed these days.

Stellato decided not to return this year. He graduated in May and is going to Grad school at UA, but could not afford to go to grad school and play football. Too bad they couldn't give him some of the "grant" money floating around because he really contributed at the end of last year.

I was listening to Howard Stern on my way to work this morning and heard a commercial for a contest that the radio station (103.5) was putting on. It is for the upcoming NFL season and they are giving away a grand prize of tickets Hall of Fame in Canton. The most interesting part was the announcement of the preliminary prizes for those that qualify daily for the grand prize. It is tickets to a UAlbany Football game. Pretty good marketing idea to get the locals interested. Kind of caught me off guard. Nice to hear though. check out the radio's website: http://www.wqbk.com/

Who wrote the Street and Smith NEC preview this year?

i am a football alum

Ford has been "cutting" people for a few springs now. The cutting is sort of a misnomer as he usually tells people they can come back if they want to be on the "look team". This leads to kids cutting themselves by not returning.

Hey guys I got an email from Ryan Roeder yesterday informing me that there will be a dinner and golf outing for football alumni this summer. From what I know the details are as follow: Cut from the email: "we are having a social friday night the 15th , and playing golf sat. morning the 16th at Stadium club in schenectady..........Cost is 10 dollars for friday night, and the golf would be $80 w/breakfast,lunch,etc ......make the check out to Bob Ford.......please pass along the info to anybody who u think might be interested..........deadline is july 1st..." The Football Alumni thing is new this year from what i know. So all you former UA football players should get involved.

oh yeah. I forgot about the Key Atrium. Maybe its a coincidence but I think the RACC atrium and the Science Library are two of the nicest locations on campus.

Dane96: You have raised a very very very very valid and troubling point. Where are all the corporate sponsors? What at UA has been built on corporate sponsorship? The only thing I can think of is the Science Library that was built on Barnes and Nobles contributions. I know there exists much beurocratic bull because UA is a state school, but does it completely rule out corporate sponsorship? Why doesn't UA focus on the local powerhouse companies like First Albany, Inc. "First Albany Stadium" sounds pretty nice to me. What about "Tokyo Electron Fieldhouse"? As much as it may appear to be, I'm not being sarcastic, I'm serious. Second, not being state government politically savy, how does an institution go about naming something after a political figure. Joe Bruno has a stadium built in his name, why can't UA have the "George Pataki Stadium"? Sounds like that would be great incentive for some state funds. Perhaps you are right Dane 96...We as UA supporters have been conditioned not to be forward looking. We have seen slow progess with everything to this point and we are all skeptical about change.

Ruler: Just an aside that is not a big deal and a little late in the game...but I just have to defend my alma mater (UA School of Criminal Justice). It is a common misconception that it is a "police academy" as you stated. In actuality it is a school of Criminology (criminal, correction, and prevention theory). I know this has nothing to do with President Hall being good for athletics, but I've heard too many people refer to the Criminal Justice school as a police academy and I thought I should clarify that it is not. On President Hall: I think its too early to tell if he will be good for UA Athletics. But I do know one thing...if Hall and McElroy can't get on the same page about the future plans we are in big trouble. Another issue for consideration is how much the student body opinion regarding athletics will be taken into consideration. Everyone who plays sports at UA and a handful of other students want the facilities and ahtletics to improve...but from my experience the majority of the student body doesn't seem to care about sports. It looks like Hall is really interested in what students think and if he gets the idea that students are more concerned with other things why wouldn't he address those concerns first. After all, his job is to spark more interest in the school as a whole. May personal opinion (being an alumni and former UA athlete) is that increasing athletic funding for the school is great, but on the other hand, I wouldn't mind having a diploma on my office wall that gets a little more respect than it does now. (I don't think many UA grads would argue with me on that point.)

it can't get anymore complicated than the 80 different formations Frank Derrico had installed. If anything I'd expect it to get simpler all together. Find the plays that work and stick to them, escpecially with a young team.

Geir reportedly signed with the Bills. Good day for UA football. http://www.i-aa.org/article.asp?articleid=69434

According to the IAA.org website Geir signed a free-agent contract with the Buffalo Bills. See the link: http://www.i-aa.org/article.asp?articleid=69434 Good day for UA Football

I think Fantell failed out - that was a rumor that floated around last winter. Another rumor that I heard this week was that Chris Stellato (OLB) is foregoing his fifth-year.

UALBANY ANNOUNCES FOOTBALL COACHING STAFF REORGANIZATION AND HIRINGS Albany, N.Y. -- University at Albany head coach Bob Ford announced on Thursday, March 31 the hiring of Art Tolliver and Will Luca as assistant football coaches. Tolliver, a full-time staff member, will work with the defensive line, while Luca will coach the tight ends. In addition, UAlbany has promoted Peter Rossomando to offensive coordinator after four seasons as offensive line coach. Ryan Roeder and David Parks have been added to the staff as graduate assistants. Ford, who begins his 33rd varsity season in the fall after starting the program at the club level in 1970, will still have Mike Simpson on his staff as defensive coordinator. Jeff Hafley (defensive backs), Don Mion (inside linebackers), Tolliver and Parks (outside linebackers) will work on that side of the ball. UAlbany's offensive staff will include Ryan McCarthy (quarterbacks), Nick LaFontaine (offensive line), Luca and Roeder (running backs). Tolliver, 45, has been the defensive coordinator since 2001 at Erie Community College in Buffalo, N.Y., where he also handled special teams and linebackers. The Kats participated in the Red River Bowl during that period. He also was the head coach at Salt Fleet High School in Stoney Creek, Ontario for two years and offensive line coach at Barton High School in Hamilton, Ontario from 1998-2000. A native of New Orleans, La., Tolliver played nose guard and was captain at Nicholls State University, where he has been enshrined into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. He went on to play for the New Orleans Saints from 1981-83, and had a long career with Edmonton, Hamilton and Montreal in the Canadian Football League. Tolliver has a bachelor's degree in religious education and counseling from California State Christian University. He received an associate's degree in criminal justice from Nicholls State. Tolliver was a member of the U.S. National Judo Team from 1978-95, and earned a spot on the 1984 and 1992 U.S. Olympic Teams. Luca, 25, was previously the offensive line coach at Moravian College for two years. The Greyhounds finished with a 7-4 record in 2004 and played in the ECAC Southeast Championship. Luca got his start in coaching as a volunteer assistant in the spring of 2003 at his alma mater Kutztown University. He was voted first-team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and second-team All-Northeast Region in 2001. Luca, who hails from Saddle River, N.J., has a B.A. in liberal arts and sciences in history with a minor in psychology. Roeder and Parks, a pair of former UAlbany football captains, each moved into the college coaching ranks last year. Roeder, an All-Northeast Conference quarterback, led UAlbany to the 2002 NEC and ECAC Division I-AA championships by passing for 1,366 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior. He worked on the Holy Cross staff in the fall of 2004. Parks, who coached at St. John Fisher last fall, was a first-team All-NEC defensive tackle as a senior, when the Great Danes shared their second consecutive conference title. He was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America national first team

Pete Rossamondo has taken over the role as the Offensive coordinator. He is no longer coaching the Offensive line, but his former O-line assistant, Nike LaFontane, took over that job. Don Mion was brought back to coach the linebackers. The new Graduate Asssistants, are recent grads David Parks and Ryan Roeder. I still think more full-time assistants are going to be hired, but how long are they going to wait?

Bad news I just heard last week about this kid. He had a pre-existing shoulder injury which forced him to have his should surgically repaired and stablized a couple of years ago. During the final winter conditioning session last week, the team played a little basketball "tournament" and the kid apparently fell and reinjured his shoulder. I heard from another quarterback on the team that he needs to have another surgery to restabilize his shoulder and will most likely be out about 6 months because it is his throwing shoulder. This is information coming from another quarterback on the team so you judge for yourself on the validity of the information. I am just passing it on. If true it stinks for us. Apparently this kid was the real deal and definitly would have started. Hopefully he rehab quick and get back out there.

forget it, I figured it out.

The link is bringing up an error. Anyone else have problems?

The kid from Temple only has one year of eligibility left. He is a journeyman. This is his third school I believe.

Rumor is that Uli is no longer on the team. Coach Ford gave him the option to switch positions and he apparently didn't want to do that. Should be a good battle with the transfer from Temple. Apparently he's pretty good. We'll have to wait and see.

No respondiant superior here. Wolfie was clearing acting outside the scope of his employment....

Here is a litte post on Geir from the IAA.org site. Not many profiles on people on that site. I was surprised to see this one: IAA.org Message Board on Geir