The Athlete's Advisor-Hamilton Football Blog

Hello from Hamilton !!

I have been the head football coach at Hamilton for about a year and a half now. That time has brought many highs and only a few lows. My reasons for writing to all of you now are quite simple. I fully intend to be here for a long time, and I fully expect to be highly successful. Furthermore, I would like to reach out to any of you who have played at Hamilton, coached at Hamilton, parented a Hamilton football player, or are a “friend” of one of us. We want and need your support in many ways.

My plan is to build a winning program as quickly as we can. The enthusiasm of the players, the faculty, the administration, and the alumni has probably been the biggest thrill for most of us on the staff. We sense your desire for Hamilton Football to excel and we feel the same way. We are close to our competition, but none of us wants “close.” Our first season was one of great defensive success and very little offensive output. Our offense should improve dramatically in a short time. We emphasized offensive players in our recruiting efforts, and it paid off. Our incoming class has some BIG, STRONG, OFFENSIVE LINEMEN PLUS some skill position players who can score TOUCHDOWNS.

That was our pressing need and we think we have taken a major step toward improving our team and our hope for the immediate future. IF these first years do what is expected of them over the summer, they will provide us with more strength and athletic ability which makes us a deeper team. The first years will number somewhere between 20-23.

We will run a one-day camp again this year on Friday, August 3 on our game field. This camp costs $50. If you know of any high school prospects, please email me at sstetson@hamilton.edu and we will send information to them.

In regards to this newsletter, my goal is to keep you informed. In the future, I will be updating you after every game with a full recap. We will also keep you abreast of any happenings relative to our current players or other news any of you want to share with the entire Hamilton Football Family.

We are holding our annual golf outing on June 8 at Seven Oaks Golf Club in Hamilton , NY . This IS OUR BIG FUNDRAISER for the year! We would love to have you here to join in the fun and we also need your financial support. This year we want to upgrade our computer system and our offices. If you have not been back to Hamilton in awhile, you will easily remember our offices because they are the same as 20 years ago! We need to raise $50,000 to help us. Please follow the link to view/print the golf outing brochure http://www.hamilton.edu/alumni/Documents/Carter_Cup_golf_brochure.pdf.

We hope you are able to help us. (whether or not you attend)

We believe we can achieve great things here at Hamilton . We intend to bring the program to new heights. If you know of or hear of others who should receive these newsletters, just let me know. Please fill out and return the appropriate section of the brochure. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Come to the outing!

Sincerely,

Steve Stetson
315-859-4757

5/10/06 - on 5/3 I emailed the Sports Info Department at Hamilton to ask why the football page had not been updated (see 5/3). Hamilton does a good job with in season sports reporting and updates with a very small staff of one full time person in that department so the oversight was a typical case of too many in season projects. But they did respond to my prompt and have updated the main football page to reflect the coaching change.

I'd be interested in hearing from recent Hamilton players and parents about their experience and ideas they have on the program. Confidentiality assured.

5/3 - The football program ran an alumni summit in April, apparently it was pretty well attended. FAN lost some steam with the disappointing progress of the program, but the hiring of Steve Stetson has given new faith to alumni that the admin is serious this time around. Apparently Stetson left quite an impression during this first run on the Hill. Time will tell.

On the other hand, when I go to the main football page and read references to the coming 2005 season and the old coach still mentioned, I am not convinced of anything.

12/30 - Alumni Football Network makes announcement regarding the hiring of Steve Stetson.

Dear Alumni and Friends:

As you all have heard, Hamilton football has a new head football coach, Steve Stetson. Greg and I wanted to you to share with you our feelings on how the College and the Athletic Department handled the coaching transition. First, the College reached out to us after the decision was made to move the program into a different direction. This was very important as it demonstrated the College's concern for the football alums reaction to the news. Dave Thompson then asked that I come to Hamilton to speak with the players as they were obviously upset and had many questions and concerns about the future of the program.

Jerry Pitarresi '71 and Jim Rishel '74 joined me in addressing the team and our comments were well received. Dave Thompson also worked with the few coaches that agreed to stay on and help with the recruiting process and the off-season weight training program to ensure that our program remained intact during the transition period. Greg and I were then asked to be on the Search Committee along with several members of the College community. Our input was sought and considered throughout the process. Dave Thompson also invited several alums to have dinner with the candidates selected for interviews and asked players to have lunch with the interviewees. Throughout this process, we felt strongly that President Stewart and Dave Thompson were absolutely committed to finding the best head coach available for this position. They also were very attentive to the many ideas the interviewees had for turning the program around. We were very impressed with the urgency, priority and significance this search was given by all involved. The process was open and fair with the best interests of the players, parents, alums and College being of paramount importance. In hiring Steve Stetson, we are confident that our search yielded the best candidate for the job and that our program is in very good hands.

We also think it is very important for all of you to know how proud we are of the manner in which the College included the football alums in the process and how clear it is to us that the College's administration is committed to continue building this program into one which we can all be proud of. In short, all of our efforts to work with the College over the last several years were recognized and rewarded by our being included in every step of this process.

In the near future, we will be organizing a meeting of alums with the new coaching staff. We hope many of you will make it and recommit to building our alumni support for the program. Thank you and Happy New Year.

Basically, what Will is saying is that without Alumni support, the school hires whoever they hire with very little pause for concern about interested alumni. From this, one is led to believe that whatever is broken will be repaired. Not sure what that is exactly, but a new coach was one way to start the process. Let's not forget the players.

The Blue Print for turning around programs is pretty common, it is the execution of it that makes it work. Execution being institutional, not just on the coaching staff.

Check out these archived Coach's Advisor newsletters for several football Turnaround Stories http://www.compusportsmedia.com/main/articles.asp.

Dear Football Alumni and Members of the Football Alumni Network (FAN):

I am pleased to announce that Hamilton’s search for a new football coach has ended successfully with the appointment of Steve Stetson, the associate head football coach at the University of New Hampshire.

Steve is already familiar to many of you. He was Hamilton’s head coach from 1982-84, a period in which he turned a program that was winless the year before he arrived into a 6-1-1 team three years later. He had similar success after reviving a program at Hartwick and again, most recently, at the University of New Hampshire. More details about Steve’s career are on the College’s Web site.

We had an extraordinarily qualified and talented applicant pool for this position, in part because of the many suggestions we received from our alumni and friends. The Search Committee did its work quickly and thoroughly and I believe we are about to enter an exciting new period for Hamilton football. Steve recognizes the challenges he faces, but he is already making plans to recruit players and a staff to achieve the level of success we all want for the program.

Thank you, again, for your support during this period of transition and best wishes for happy holiday season.

Sincerely,

David W. Thompson
Director of Athletics

12/23 - After calling the Hamilton Athletic Department yesterday I was told that the only coach still involved was Paul Addey, the 20 year d-line vet and Strength and Conditioning Coach. Also, a new hire was pending, in fact maybe it would even be announced yesterday. I think other coaches are still on staff for their respective sports (Gene McCabe for example) but I guess they officially cleaned the football coaching roster clean.

Strictly rumor, but the word is the final two are former Hamilton College coach Steve Stetson and possibly a coordinator at Union College. Stetson is currently associate heat coach and o-line coach at UNH. An Ivy alum, Stetson has a pretty good track record as he turned Ham-tech around once already and started Hartwick's program from scratch in 1992. I would guess at his age, he is looking for a comfortable environment for his family to finish out his career. If he turns it around, that will be easy.

As for Union, it can only be one of two people, look for yourself. Rumors were also flying that a Trinity coach was on the short list and maybe a current Ivy assistant.

The fact that Alvanos had signed a three year contract six months prior to his firing and Hamilton had to but that out to fire him must mean they are concerned. For those recruits out there waiting to decide on things, the symbolism of that move is a good sign that whoever they bring in will be supported to make the program work. - In my opinion of course.

2005 Update: Either he did not send weekly updates or I am off the mailing list. Hamilton did win their first game in week two vs. Wesleyan. The rest of the reason was like in the past. Still, they remain a young team that will have a lot of experienced Jr's and Sophomores next year waiting for the new coach.

2005 post script:
The Pete Alvanos led team again finished 1-7, but this year they seemed to take a step backwards, or perhaps the moved forward but not as much as the other programs in the league. The only program in a worse place seems to be Wesleyan.

On November 15, 2006 the football alumni received an email from Athletic Director Dave Thompson announcing that Pete Alvanos and staff had been fired. For everyone who knew Alvanos the story was the same: passionate, great person, good coach, not enough players to compete. Here is the letter:

Dear Football Alumni and Members of the Football Alumni Network (FAN):

As you likely have heard, Hamilton has decided to pursue new leadership for its football program. This has been a difficult decision because Coach Alvanos brought stability and enthusiasm to the program at a time when they were needed. Indeed, the formation of FAN was his idea and is evidence of the total experience he sought to create for his players. It is because of your interest in and association with Hamilton College football that I am writing to you directly.

Even as this letter is being sent to you, advertisements are being placed and telephone calls are being made to generate the best applicant pool possible. Specifically, we are looking for someone who is a leader, role model, motivator and outstanding representative of the College. Hamilton's next football coach will be able to demonstrate creativity, success in a comparable situation and the ability to recruit effectively and within NESCAC guidelines. The successful candidate will have a proven work ethic and be able to relate well to the players and to the many constituents that comprise the College. As a person who is committed to the Hamilton football program, you may know someone who will be interested in this opportunity, so I welcome your suggestions.

It is my expectation that our next coach will be named soon after the start of the new year. In the interim, members of the athletic department staff are in place to assist with recruiting until the new coach is appointed. I encourage you to be in contact with me if you have any suggestions about potential student-athletes.

Thank you for the loyalty and support you have provided to Hamilton and its football program. That dedication will be even more important during this time of transition.

Sincerely,

David W. Thompson
Director of Athletics

For any candidate that interviews for the job, the questions they ask will be :
1) Is admissions willing to work with me to get the student athletes needed to make progress in the program.

2) Is the school willing to work with us by not placing financial aid limits on the football team recruits. In other words, do I have to stop recruiting high need kids at a certain point, or do I have open road in recruiting kids of need?

Number two is the critical question. There are plenty of good students out there who are hard working, gritty football players that would help turn a small D-III program around. But not all of them come from families that can afford $40,000 tuition. If the school places a limit on financial aid for recruits each year, no coach, not even Pete Carroll , would have an easy time of it.

Whoever it is will no doubt be a classy person who has a the foundation of alumni support. But change better happen fast as the football alumni will lose steam quickly if the same song and dance with administration happens with the new staff as happened with the old.

As for Athletic Director Thompson, he asked for alumni recommendations and I forwarded my idea to him. I did not hear back but I suspect this person will be officially on the short list due to his alumni status. I am not close enough to the program to know if the school is willing to go back the old days of the program and pull an alum. If you watch how the current regime let basketball coach (and 600 win legend) Tom Murphy go in what some call an egregious abuse of power within the administration, then the odds say an outsider such as Alvanos, would be the man for the job in the eyes of Ham-tech brass.

One constant in the last 20 years or so has been Coach Adey, the d-line coach. Loved by all who played for him, this might be the guy to ask what the real issue is. He has seen success at it's best and lived through the "lower than whale shit" times of recent memory.

The problem with letting a program go down hill like this is that you have too many proud alumni who spent hours of back breaking time during their college career, playing a game they loved. The fact that it is only an 8 game schedule at a small D-III school is not an argument against caring about a program. People want to be proud of what they took part in. While they are still proud of the time they put into the game back in the day, it hurts to be associated with a program and school that seems to have forgotten it is important. Thankfully, the efforts of Alvanos and some of his assistants did leave behind the foundation of FAN, Football Alumni Network. FAN has been able to voice a collective message to the admin and I hope it is heard. Build the program back to a competitive level - that is all anyone asks.

Would Harvard, maybe the hardest school for admission in the country, stand for about 5 wins in this decade? Things would have changed quickly - just ask Coach Murphy and his assistants as they cross the country recruiting. There are better models out there.

Good luck to the administration in finding the right person for the job. A school of Hamilton's caliber should not accept athletic failure in any sport, just like they would not accept academic incompetence in any department.

2004 Story

Hamilton College plays football in the NESCAC conference (Small private liberal arts) which is basically a "Little Ivy" environment. The football team at Hamilton (I was class of 1991) was always very good to decent until the late 1990's when the program took a major trip south, going winless or winning one or two games per season in a typical year from 1998 to present day. Three years ago the college hired Pete Alvanos to turn the program around. To his credit, Alvanos is a tireless worker and has actually rebuilt the Hamilton football alumni program to a degree that the alum have donated over $100,000 to supply the team with things like new digital video editing equipment and subscriptions to recruiting services to name a few. While nobody is happy that they struggling so far this year, nobody is unhappy with the effort of the coaches or the players.
When Alvanos took over he had 44 players on the team - that was how low the program had sunk! This guy is working so hard that I have decided to start posting his weekly emails to follow the season. I deleted week one and will try to summarize the best I can from memory. Dedicated football players and good students should contact the football program directly (requires Adobe Acrobat)

Week 1 - Amherst 44 Hamilton 6

Good Morning -
I take the product we place on the field very seriously and I take full responsibility for what took place this week. Unlike in our scrimmage against Tufts last week, we played with no emotion or urgency. We will continue to work until we find answers to our many problems. Thanks for your support and patience. Coach A.

Week 2 - Wesleyan 41 Hamilton 35 -

Week 3 - Trinity 55 Hamilton 6 NOTE: I was at this game and Trinity is far and away the best team in the league. A dominant team, that only gave up 30 points all last season, Trinity is at the opposite end of where Hamilton is today. They played hard but did not have the personnel.

Your continued support is greatly appreciated. Coach A

Week 7 - Middlebury 29 Hamilton 13

Good Afternoon,

It was another case of putting ourselves in bad situations early in the game, getting behind early in the game and never really able to catch up. However, someone did remind me that we won the second half. I really thought our kids battled from the beginning until the end. Big plays continue to hurt us.

I would like to thank Mac Bristol, Howard Schneider and Eric Westerfield for taking time out of their Friday evening and speaking with our players about the Rocking Chair Classic and how the game of football has taught all of us life lessons.

I would like to also thank the 1984 team. It was great to see you all again, and I look forward to the day that we bring this program many 6 or more win seasons.

Finally, I would like to thank Pat Burke, Will Anthony, Dominic Caruso and Ned Ginty for helping to organize and plan the Coach Adey event. Even today, Coach Adey is still overwhelmed and in shock. It was a great event and I would like to thank all of you who came to the hill from all over the country. It was truly special to him and to our football program.

We will continue to strive for excellence in every thing we do. Again, I say thank you for your continued support. Coach A

Week 8 - Bates 37 Hamilton 13

Good Morning,

Your support for me and the program has been tremendous. I continue to ask for your patience and support as we continue to work relentlessly to improve our program.

Disappointed, yes.....Discouraged absolutely not! When I signed up for this job, I knew this was going to be a marathon, not a sprint!

I look forward to a very productive off-season. Please stay tuned for more news from a FAN (football alumni network) stand point. I will be speaking with Will Anthony very soon to set a date for our Annual Saratoga Meeting to discuss the next phase of our strategic direction as it relates to our program. The golf outing is already set for June 17, 2005 at Seven Oaks Golf Course - Colgate University.

Thank again for all of your support.

Coach A

Hamilton ends the season 1-7 but had a few bright spots in QB Brandon Holtslag being named 2nd team All-Conference QB. Holtslag benefited from a wide open, spread offense which enabled him lead the conference in total offense per game.