Ruden Sports News

FCIAC

An Open Letter To FCIAC Officials And Football Coaches: Forget The Past. Lock The Door. Make A Deal

Dave Ruden

05.04.2015

To The FCIAC Board Of Directors And Football Coaches,

 

I ask you to take a moment and close your eyes. It is Nov. 26, Thanksgiving morning. There is a crisp late fall chill in the air as fans crowd into Boyle Stadium for the 50th FCIAC football championship.

Your golden anniversary.

Prior to kickoff, you call out all of the people who have helped make your league special.

The players. Bobby Valentine. Rick Robustelli. Steve Young.

The coaches. Mike Ornato. The families of the late Jerry McDougall and Bob Lynch.

At halftime you hold a ceremony honoring John Kuczo, who will be spending his last year with the league breaking in his replacement as executive secretary, for he has been with the FCIAC from the beginning and certainly deserves it.

If the football gods are smiling, you get one more great Thanksgiving final that people recall for years.

Then you pack up the tents, admit you have had a run most conferences can only dream of and you move on.

It is time.

The Ruden View LARGE 350-05

This is just my modest proposal for breaking the gridlock that has now turned formulating an equitable league football schedule into an issue as contentious and acrimonious as the income gap.

It is a fair tradeoff. For the FCIAC, you get one last celebration, the chance for your title game to hit 50. Deep down you know with the constraints of a capped 10-game regular-season schedule and mandatory byes, you’ve run out of wiggle room. You’ve tried admirably to save the tradition, but if the choice is a nine-game schedule for 15 of 17 teams and a league final, or 10 games for everyone, there really is no choice. You’ve always put the kids first. Do it again. I love the FCIAC title game as much as anyone, but you can no longer clutch onto it like a preserver at the expense of the integrity of the schedule.

To the football coaches who want 10 games, rivalries played on Thanksgiving and no more title game, suck it up for one year. In the long run, you make out the best. So do the players, their towns and communities.

To this year’s senior class, I apologize. You are the ones who lose out. There is no perfect solution.

Actually, I don’t care whether you adopt this idea, though it is the fairest one I can think of. But you’ve lost your way and need to get back on track. Kuczo said this fighting is the worst thing he can remember in league history. AJ Albano, one of your respected coaches, said the FCIAC is currently a laughingstock in the state.

Many people agree with both men. Both sides are steadfast about errors in the process that got you to this point. In the past six days I have spoken to board members, athletic directors and coaches. Many have differing opinions. I have no reason to think anyone is lying. I wish I could find the smoking gun. There is none.

But you know what? This is no longer about right or wrong. At this point, you are both losing. Your reputation has been tarnished. Many of your administrators and coaches, whether on one side of the issue or the other, privately are fed up. I know. They have confided that sentiment. There have been enough gasps of breath the last week collectively to set off a tornado.

But if you are listening, I said you are both losing. You have not yet lost. So here is advice I hope you do follow. To both sides: take a deep breath and get yourselves in a room together. Lock the door. Try and set aside the emotions that have carried you here. Agree on one thing: you will not leave the room until you come to an agreement that ends with both sides shaking hands amicably.

Then unlock the door.

This can be done at your meeting tomorrow night. If needed, take a week to cool off. But no more.

The FCIAC proved today it is willing to compromise with the option of foregoing the chance to play in the championship game. It is a bad plan, because better to have kept a nine-game schedule and a title game with all 17 teams in contention than a final where only a portion of your membership opts to compete. It could be four teams, eight, 14. It doesn’t matter. Not if it isn’t all 17.

I’m not mocking you for the plan. I actually admire the attempt. You did the wrong thing but for the right reason. That’s a good start.

Coaches, you have to admit, and have been stubborn to do so, that the football landscape has changed and you can’t have everything. With the concerns about concussions and their long-term ramifications, there has to be a little more sensitivity involved. The days of 15-game seasons are in the rear-view mirror.

In short, both sides need to take one step to the middle.

Everyone associated with it always says the FCIAC is the greatest league in the state. I have — by choice — spent my professional life covering you, and call me biased but I agree. I like getting up to work every morning because each day you provide me with another great story to tell. That has made this all the harder to watch.

And you know what? If you both agree to erring in getting to this point, whether you believe it or not, and put together a schedule everyone can live with at least for the next two years, you will be even greater. You will also have set an example for not just your athletes but your students to follow as well.

So please, whatever it is going to take, sit down together, compromise and work out a deal. Let the last five months be a blip that will dissipate into the air once you begin playing games next September. There is a lot of ill will — like I have never seen before — that does no one any good if it is allowed to linger.

Despite what has happened, especially the last week, call me a rosy optimist. I really believe it can be done because, deep, deep down, I truly believe you all want to get this done.

You just have to take that difficult first step together.

 

Good luck,

 

Dave

Image

subscribe to the ruden report for your FCIAC sports news! starting at just $25/year

Subscribe
Image

support the Ruden Report

Purchasing a subscription or upgrading your current one will help us to continue providing premium coverage.
Upgrade Now
Image
If you are encountering issues logging into the site, accessing articles, or managing your subscription, please select "Technical Support" from the "Reason for Email" dropdown in the contact form.

contact us