Holiday time, the office party, the gift exchanges amongst friends, family and colleagues, this week’s column will be a grab bag. Since there are 8 days until Christmas here are my eight items in my grab bag.
1. Coaching moves. Congratulations to Travis Johnson on being named the first Head Coach at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Johnson a 2000 graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology has previously coached at Mount St. Mary’s, Stony Brook, Penn State and Stevens Institute of Technology. This is Travis’s first head coaching job and the Highlanders are slated to begin play in the spring. NJIT will be the NCAA’s 69th school to sponsor the sport. It is good sign to see more athletic programs add the sport.
2. Fundamentals. I had the opportunity to attend this weekends, IMLCA clinic on Saturday in Baltimore. My favorite presentation of the day, was Nassau Community College’s Head Coach George Powers. Over a good hour of drills that win games: groundballs, passing and catching, stick protection, individual and team defense and shooting. His football style approach and an emphasis on doing the little things is what makes Nassau successful.
3. Riding. I’m really looking forward to the 2014 season and the scoring opportunities team will result in riding. With all of the changes to pace of play from a year ago, the part of the game that suffered the most in my opinion was riding. Look for more teams to implement the Bucknell style ten man ride for 2014.
4. Tempo. Fast or last, some teams are going to try run each other out of the stadium, while you will see more teams play a deliberate style to slow down the pace of play and make it a possession battle. Love it or hate it, the old school game of keep away, might rear its ugly head again in 2014. Whatever style your team will play you better have item #5.
5. Faceoff. Teams that have a strong faceoff team in the games current structure have a competitive advantage. I don’t expect this to change in 2014, but coaches are on the lookout for who will be the next Brendan Fowler.
6. Sophomores. The biggest jump in improvement players make are from their freshmen to sophomore year. Some names I’m going to be watching in their second seasons are Attackman James Pannell of Virginia, Midfielder Challen Rogers of Stony Brook and Goalie Jack Kelly of Brown. The improvement of all three of these players are important towards their teams making a run to conference titles.
7. Patriot League. Okay before everyone blows up Twitter, on why I didn’t say the ACC which I’m giddy for, but that’s another column. I’m really excited about the Patriot League. With Loyola now in this conference, the conference title is up for grabs, with Army, Bucknell, Colgate, Lehigh and Navy all competing for a coveted playoff spot with the Greyhounds in the Patriot League Tournament.
8. February Games. Put down that egg nog! The 2014 season begins on February 1st when Furman hosts Lehigh. Gone are February being a month for scrimmages and March and April for games. The season has to be reworked. It might be time to move Championship weekend to June. Traditionalists will say bah humbug, I say let’s embrace change.
CHAMBO’S PRESEASON TOP 10 NJCAA TEAMS
Onondaga
Essex
Nassau
Genesee
Harford
ASA
Anne Arundel
Suffolk
Delhi
Brookdale
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