Around Patriot League Football: Six Degrees of Separation, and Juicy Rumors

Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth. - Wikipedia

So what does this mean for Patriot League football fans, aside from a gratuitous reference to the movie starring Will Smith and Stockard Channing?  In researching the latest news around the Patriot League and some of the coaching moves that have been happening this year, at times it feels like every coaching move is related, in some way, to the Patriot League.  (More)

• Start with Bucknell, who just entered the third week of their head coaching search.  Former head football coach Tim Landis must have left with Santa on his sleigh since the day before Christmas he announced that he's leaving Lewisburg to join the coaching staff of FBS San Jose State.  The past three weeks have resulted in mostly rumor about possible cadidates, with the Bucknell message board coming up with some possible names: Justin Lustig from FBS Louisiana-Lafayette (former Bucknell player), Rick Willis from D-III Wartburg (IA), and Mickey Fein from "that school in Easton".  The best name, reported on footballscoop.com, might be the best of all: reportedly, Bucknull had an interview with a "BCS defensive coordinator".  I don't know who that is, but my guess would be Rutgers co-defensive coordintor Ed Pinkham, who went to Rutgers from Colgate a few years ago.  (Completing the Patriot League connection, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano is a Bucknell guy himself.)  (UPDATE: Add Rutgers recruiting Coordinator Joe Susan to the rumor list, too.  An eight year member of the Scarlet Knight coaching staff, he was an offensive line coach at Bucknell in the 80s, coordinator for Princeton in the 90s, and head coach at Davidson as well.)
  
• If you're a former Bucknell assistant coach, you're probably having a good offseason.  Jim Reid, once on the staff at Bucknell, was just hired by new UVA head coach Mike London as defensive coordinator.  Also, Temple assistant coach Jared Backus became the defensive coordinator at Princeton under new head football coach Bob Suarce.  Previously, Backus spent five years as an assistant at Bucknell.
• When Mike London was officially hired away from Richmond, one of the names to replace him that popped up was 14 year head coaching veteran Dick Biddle out of Colgate.  And soon after that - it seemed - Biddle signed a new contract that pays him through 2013.  With Biddle happy in Hamilton, Colgate also announced the promotion of offensive coordinator Dan Hunt to assistant head coach.  (Meanwhile, a former defensive line coach for Colgate - James Cregg - steps into the void at USC as offensive line coach.)
  
• Georgetown defensive coordinator Jim Miceli finally gave up trying to get some offensive traction with the Hoyas, instead opting to join the staff at FBS Akron.  Like the Bucknell head coaching search, the position hasn't been filled in the last four weeks; unlike Bucknell, information as to who might be filling the position is nonexistent.  Part of the reason might be that Georgetown has been without an Athletic Director since Bernard Muir left the Hoyas for Delaware seven months ago.
  
• 6' 6 Colgate WR Pat Simonds has most definitely gotten some interest in NFL circles - he recently released a quick interview for NFL Draft Scout.  The most interesting answer?  In his non-NFL aspirations, he mentions "I want to go to graduate school to become a collegiate athletic director."  Can a career as the new GM of the Packers be far behind?
• Speaking of the upcoming NFL draft, at Fordham tis week it's all about the East/West Shrine game.  QB John Skelton is being called "this year's Joe Flacco" and "one of the more intriguing prospects".  Scouts are wowed by his height and his arm in practice - it will be interesting to see what the scouts think at the conclusion of the E/W Shrine Game this Saturday at 3PM.
• And speaking of the upcoming NFL draft (yes, that was intentional), QB Dominc Randolph - you know, the guy who won the Patriot League championship, was Patriot League offensive player of the year and appeared in the FCS playoffs this year - signed with an agent recently but was, reportedly, nowhere near Orlando this week.  You have to believe Randolph will get serious looks before draft day - even if he doesn't make scouts drool over his height (a respectable 6'2), he undoubtedly has "it" in terms of football savvy.  While I respected Skelton's talent as a Lehigh fan, I feared Randolph's production.
• Finally - there's the story of LB Andrew Anastor, who is transferring to Lafayette from the now-defunct Northeastern program.  While there's a "one that got away" aspect to this from the Lehigh perspective, the story by Ben Watanabe is a must-read anyway in regards to the reaction of Anastor about Northeastern's football program dropping, and how he should be treated while other schools talked to him (not 'as a recuit', Anasotr emphatically says). Most interesting of all, though, is the following snippet in regards to transferring to a Patriot League school:

After flirting with Lehigh, Anastor plans to enroll at Lafayette in the spring. Yet his first-year story is far from over. It remains to be seen how many of the 18 credits he took to get ahead of his studies at NU will transfer to Lafayette. Since the Patriot League, to which Lafayette belongs, does not offer athletic scholarships, Anastor has to apply for grants to offset the scholarship money he received from NU.

He also hopes to receive four full years of eligibility because he did not play this season. Getting that could be complicated by the fact that the Patriot League does not offer redshirt seasons.

If the transfer goes through as planned, Anastor believes the move could ultimately be a good thing. He was “blown away” by Lafayette’s brand-new facilities and said the coaches project him as at least a three-year, all-league left tackle.

Still, Northeastern was his first choice. No amount of winning or awards can change that.

Fans think about transfer students for their football skills, generally, not their academics.  But in the Patriot League there are clearly other forces at play that sometimes get forgotten - like how much of a hassle it really is to fill out the aid forms when previously you didn't have to, and the uncertainty about transferring credits.  I fully anticipate Anastor to go to Lafayette and do well academically and athletically, but it's definitely not a smooth a process as folks might think.