August 5, 2025 • 53 mins
Coach Joe Conlin discusses Fordham football's upcoming season and their preparation to bounce back from last year's challenges. He shares insights about key players, position strengths, and the team's strategy for improvement in an increasingly competitive Patriot League.
• Recruiting in the Patriot League requires casting a wide net while maintaining academic standards, but produces players with strong character and focus
• Last year's challenging schedule included seven away games and significant injuries with 17 players down from the two-deep by season's end
• The defensive line has been the most consistent unit in camp, with veterans Claudia Robinson, Sam Burkle, and John Scott providing leadership
• Linebacker James Conway, the Patriot League's career tackles leader, returns from injury to anchor the defense
• The quarterback competition includes Jack (who gained experience last year), transfer Gunnar Smith, and Trip Holly, all showing improvement in downfield passing
• Reducing last year's 61 sacks and establishing consistent ground game are top priorities for offensive improvement
• Richmond joining the Patriot League this year (with Villanova and William & Mary coming later) significantly strengthens the conference
• Being picked near the bottom of the preseason rankings provides motivation for the team heading into the season
Thank you for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rocky (00:00):
no-transcript.
Coach Conlin (09:44):
Yeah, I got you there, you you are?
Coach Cahill (09:46):
I can hear you loud and clear.
How are you coach?
Coach Conlin (09:48):
good, how are you?
Coach Cahill (09:50):
well, it's always good and we can talk fordham
football.
I'm excited I had to get thefordham shirt out for tonight I
appreciate that shirt.
I took notice of it I said it'sso good to uh to have you on.
I know you guys are right inthe middle of camp so I'm not
going to keep you too long.
Coach Conlin (10:04):
I know how important your time is, so I
appreciate you jumping out withme tonight no happy to do it and
uh, um, the guys are actuallywe're heading into our kind of
our last meetings of the night,so so I have some time, so fire
away.
Coach Cahill (10:18):
So, coach, let's talk about we'll get to the
upcoming camp in the schedule.
I know I was just talking tothe audience.
I said said I always talk toyou guys in the Patriot League
about the tough non-conferenceschedules that you guys play and
I talked a little bit about youknow, the Patriot League and
the Ivy League, who you werefortunate enough to coach in
both leagues about the richacademics and how much harder it
is to recruit.
(10:38):
But now the Patriot Leagueoffers full scholarships.
Coach Conlin (10:46):
Talk to us a little bit about how tough it is
at Fordham and some of theseschools.
Academically it's a challenge.
It's not that different fromthe Ivy in terms of you don't
have to go as high as you had toin the Ivies.
The league has done a good jobof helping us out, especially
post-pandemic, in terms of doingaway with the academic banding
(11:09):
system and things like that, andnow it's just kind of based on
a narrative about thestudent-athletes' academic
success.
So you have to cast a wide netand you stretch your staff
pretty thin in terms of you knowthey're covering a wide area in
(11:29):
recruiting but it's fun.
You know you get to meet a lotof really interesting people.
You have great kids.
You know you're not dealingwith a lot of issues within your
team from a behavior standpoint.
You know these guys, they knowthey have a future out there, so
(11:51):
they do a great job on and offthe field and in the classroom.
So it definitely has itsbenefits.
You know you just have to workout and be diligent and be
organized in recruiting.
Coach Cahill (12:01):
Coach, how did the offseason go for you guys?
I know obviouslyrecruiting-wise, but offseason
workouts leading in the springball and'd the offseason go for
you guys?
I know obviously recruitingwise, but offseason workouts
leading in the spring ball andthen obviously up in the camp,
how's the offseason been for youguys?
Coach Conlin (12:11):
I think it's gone really well.
You know, we're holding steady,pretty healthy at this point in
time.
In camp we just had our I thinksixth practice today I think
sixth practice today so we'redoing okay from a health
standpoint.
Guys are bigger, you know.
They're stronger, they'refaster moving pretty well on
(12:34):
both sides of the line.
Coach Cahill (12:38):
So you know, so far so good and I think the guys
are in a good spot.
So, coach, coming off last yearI was going back and looking at
my notes I said, man, yourguys' schedule was brutal last
year with away games.
You guys, I believe you were atLehigh, at Holy Cross, at
Dartmouth, at Bucknell, I thinkyou guys were even at Bowling
Green last year and it was atough schedule.
But you guys had some injuries.
I think you guys had someyounger guys that had to step up
for you.
But I don't want to look at thepast but talk to us about.
(13:00):
You know the schedule last yearand now last year.
What you're looking forward tothe most coming into this season
.
Coach Conlin (13:07):
Yeah, I mean it was seven on the road and I
think it was backloaded, so Ithink we were home twice and in
the months of September andOctober we were at home twice.
So yeah, that was a challenge.
But yeah, I've been around someteams.
You know where you rally aroundthat Um and uh, you know, I I
(13:31):
kind of like being on the roadwith the guys.
You know it's just awesome, thehotel and and uh, you really
get to spend time with your team, um, in those situations, which
is a lot of fun.
So, yeah, we had a decentamount of road games, um, we
have the same amount this year.
We're seven on the road thisyear.
We're just kind of a morefront-loaded home game schedule
and it's spread out a littlebetter.
(13:53):
So that's good, you know.
So there are definitelychallenges from an injury
standpoint.
You know, I think it was for theback.
You know the final eight games.
You know we were down 17 guysfrom the two deep, uh, something
like that.
But that's you know, that'spart of the game and you have to
manage that and and uh, guyshave to step up and and it kind
(14:16):
of was what it was and and a lotof guys did get experience that
maybe we would have liked tohold on for for a year and but
that's okay and that's great.
Now you kind of take your lumpsand it was very similar to what
happened to us at Yale in 2016.
We had a tough year and we goto play the JV game against
(14:36):
Harvard and we need all thetalented freshmen on the JV team
.
So we lose that JV game.
I think 63 to nothing JV team.
So we'd lose that JV game.
I think 63 to nothing.
Um, we got to the hotel and, uh,coach Reno Tony was.
He was kind of freaking out alittle bit like, oh my, you know
we could blow down a JV gamelike that.
What's gonna happen in thevarsity?
(14:57):
I said you know just, we'll beokay.
I said all our good JV playersare playing tomorrow.
We ended up.
I think we started six freshmenon offense and I think Sean and
those guys on defense.
They started six or seven aswell, but found a way to win the
game and game-winning touchdownpass was from a freshman, kurt
(15:18):
Rawlings, to freshman ReedKlubnick, with two freshmen
offensive linemen protecting.
So you know, it's good forthose guys to get experience.
They come in.
You know they have a little bitdifferent demeanor going into
their sophomore year and we havea lot of true freshmen that
played last year, that are now,you know, kind of considered
veterans, and that's a positivething.
Coach Cahill (15:40):
Coach, is there a position group so far at camp
that you're really lookingforward to?
That's really impressed you themost so far.
Coach Conlin (15:47):
Well, yeah, it's kind of.
You know, that's a goodquestion, Interesting question.
You know, two days ago Ithought our offensive line had a
really good day.
You know, today I would say,you know, our defensive line has
been pretty consistent.
We have good depth there.
We have, you know,upperclassmen.
You know our defensive line hasbeen pretty consistent.
We have good depth there.
We have, you know,upperclassmen Claudia Robinson,
sam Burkle, john Scott.
(16:08):
They've all played a lot offootball for us.
So the defensive line has beenpretty solid.
I think our secondary is doinga nice job for the most part.
Obviously, we have James Conwayback in linebacker, so he's
been himself.
Obviously, you have JamesConway back in linebacker, so
he's been himself.
You know, I think our widereceivers are taking a big step
(16:28):
forward.
They're playing a little bitfaster than they played last
year.
Running backs, you know, we'rekind of finding out who's the
guy and things like that, andthat's been fun.
And we have some guys takingsome tremendous strides and we
have Jay Allen back from lastyear of tight end, so that's
been great.
So each position's kind oftaking their turn.
I would say the defensive linehas probably been the most
(16:51):
consistent day in and day out.
Coach Cahill (16:54):
Coach, I feel like I've said James Conway for 100
years and it's like he's playedit for him for 20 years and I
know he was limited.
Last year I think he onlyplayed in four games for you
because of injuries.
How nice is it to have him backanchoring that defense.
Coach Conlin (17:06):
Yeah, I mean, it's the greatest.
You know he's a tremendousleader.
He's a heck of a competitor.
You know every offseasonworkout, every offseason lift,
he is always at a high level.
You know I've never seen himflustered or frustrated or
(17:27):
discouraged.
You know he always just givesyou everything he has.
And you know it's going to beweird.
You know it was weird.
You know I looked out there andI saw 47 for years and it was
always great to have Greeny andnow I have him as my director of
ops.
But it's going to be differentwhen I don't see 48 in the
(17:49):
middle of our defense.
And I don't know if I'm goingto like it, because he's special
.
Coach Cahill (17:55):
Coach, talk to us a little bit.
Of course, the quarterback roomis always the fancy one.
Everybody wants to know who'sgoing to be under center for you
and I know Jack played a lot ofgames last year and you know I
think he played behind Tim or atthe more at when he was at
Fordham, and I think he played alittle bit under CJ too.
But you got a pretty goodquarterback room too.
Yeah, jack came in in 22.
Coach Conlin (18:14):
So he was here for Timmy's.
You know the great year thatTimmy had in 22 was here, was
behind CJ in 23.
And then, yeah, had to step inlast year and you know, for a
lot of time, did a really nicejob for us and wasn't really
protected like he should havebeen, but he fought.
(18:35):
He's really back to back.
He's put really two fantasticpractices together.
He's pushing the ball downfield.
He's doing back-to-back.
He's put really two fantasticpractices together.
He's pushing the ball downfield.
He's doing a nice job.
Gunnar Smith transferred inGunnar's doing a great job as
well.
He's had his last two or threehave been really fantastic.
(18:58):
And Trip Holly is also doing areally nice job.
So, yeah, it's been fun towatch those guys compete every
day and you know they're really.
You know we're completing a lotmore passes downfield than we
did last year at this time.
So it's been good.
Coach Cahill (19:17):
So, coach, and speaking of that non-conference
schedule, you guys will open upagainst Boston College on that
August 30th.
And then I was talking a littlebit before you came on the air.
You know of how much you knowthe history of Richmond now
coming into the Patriot, howmuch stronger that it makes this
conference.
And I've always said and peoplewill still argue with me, I
still say the Patriot Leaguestill one of the best
conferences top to bottom.
You know, out there, talk to usabout.
(19:37):
You know what Richmond bringsat a table, the history, and how
much that just strengthens the.
Yeah, I mean, it's I.
You know what Richmond bringsto the table, the history, and
how much that just strengthensthe pitchers.
Coach Conlin (19:44):
Yeah, I mean, I think you know this year and
then, and certainly whenVillanova and William Mary come
in, you know it's going to be ahigher-end FCS conference.
You know multi-bid league, yeah, I mean I think obviously
Richmondmond has historicallybeen I mean I go back against
(20:05):
those guys when I was at unh, um, you know, competing against
the dave clausen led richmondteam who was once the, you know,
the head coach of fordham.
So, um, yeah, I mean therichmond has always had talent.
You know it's a very goodschool, nice, so it's a great
fit for the Patriot League.
(20:25):
They've done a tremendousfacilities upgrade and they've
been.
You know they won a nationalchampionship 15 years ago.
So within our kids' lifetimethey've been the national
champions.
So I think it was 18 years agoor 19.
So, yeah, I mean theyautomatically and they were a
(20:46):
playoff team last year, so theyautomatically bring, you know,
that kind of pedigree to ourleague, which is fantastic.
And you know, at the same timethey kind of uphold the academic
standards of the Patriot League, which is great.
So it's going to be a lot offun.
You know, I remember those daysfrom the CIA, the old CIA, when
you had JMU, nova, richmond,delaware, william Mary, unh, and
(21:11):
you know it was a fistfightweek to week and it didn't
matter.
You know even Northeastern andsome of the quote unquote
lower-end schools could beat you.
You didn't if you didn't cometo play and if you were
overlooking, uh, what youperceived as a lower end school
(21:31):
because you had jmu or delawarecoming up, you know you were
gonna get smacked around.
So, um, it was really a toughbut really fun um and uh, a
great league to to be a part of.
So that's what I'm looking forwith our league and yeah, it's
been really good the last coupleyears.
I mean, obviously, lehigh comingon, kev's doing a great job
there, cross has been reallysolid.
(21:52):
Obviously, bob did a reallygood job there and Danny's doing
a good job.
So you know, now you gotLafayette.
You know Johnny did a good jobin 23.
Bucknell, you know Johnny did agood job in 23.
Bucknell, you know, made somenoise last year and they were
the only team to beat Lehigh inleague.
So yeah, I mean it's fun andyou know, week to week, year to
(22:15):
year, and we've always kind ofacquitted ourselves well in the
playoffs, especially lately.
Certainly, cross and Colgatehas made some runs.
You know Danny had a good teamat Colgate there in 2018.
So it's been a reallychallenging league and it's
really grown.
You know, even since I've beenin it just with the recruiting
and how teams are recruiting andwho they're going after and who
they're getting you know it'sbeen much more impressive and
(22:38):
fun to be a part of.
Coach Cahill (22:43):
So, coach, some of the alum were messing with me
because they were like you gotCoach on, you got to ask him,
you got to ask him this question, you got to ask him that.
Some of them said make sure youask him and just say what's
Fordham have to do this year toget things turned around and
have a bounce back year?
Coach Conlin (22:55):
Yeah, I mean I think obviously we got to
protect the quarterback right.
61 sacks last year is just anastonishing number and there are
a variety of reasons for that.
It's not all in the offensivelines, I'm not pinning it all on
them.
We have to be a little quickwith our decision making.
(23:15):
We have to do a better jobagainst press man and things
like that, which we have beendoing.
We've also been seeing a lotmore of it in camp, which is
good.
We've got to run the ball moreconsistently.
Uh, you know we had a lot ofgames where we ran the ball for
more than 200 last year, butthen we had probably seven where
we ran the ball for less than100.
(23:36):
So you know you got to havethat balance.
It can't be, you know, hey, wefind something this week to
where you know we're gonna have250 on the ground, but then the
next week, you know, againstholy cross, we're gonna run from
90, just because we, you knowwe can't figure it out or we
can't push those guys or wecan't scheme it up.
So, more consistency on theground on offense, and we have
(23:56):
to get back to the verticalshots downfield that you know we
did so well in 22 and 23 um,and a lot of that last year was
just soft tissue injuries at thereceiver position, so we never
had kind of a consistent groupDefensively.
We have to be a little stouteragainst the run and I think we
will.
With what we're doing and whatwe have up front, I think our
(24:19):
secondary is going to be reallygood, so we'll be able to mix up
coverage and things like that.
So more consistency on defense,change the picture a little bit
, some answers against someformational stuff that bothered
us last year, and I think thatstaff Allen Gant and James
Linehan have done a really goodjob this offseason, so I'm
excited to see what they can do.
Coach Cahill (24:40):
So, coach, I know you don't need motivation, we're
always looking for both inboard materials.
But so, coach, I know you don'tneed motivation, we're always
looking for both and boardmaterials.
But I got on the patrioticbecause I'll be doing some stuff
for them again this year andthey had georgetown, colgate and
fordham picked at the bottomthree, so I know we don't need
both in board material.
Well, that's got to pump up youand the coaches and the staff
as well, right in the players.
(25:00):
Yeah, pick us, pick, I'm notgonna lie.
Coach Conlin (25:02):
And uh, it certainly put a smile on my face
when I saw it.
You know, anytime you kind ofget a free thing you can use,
certainly put a smile on my face.
Coach Cahill (25:15):
Well, coach, I'm excited because I think you come
this way to play Colgate here.
I'll get a chance to see youhere and I'm going to bring my
son out to a game this year, sohopefully I'll get a chance to
say hi to you in person andcheer on a win at Fordham and
see you here locally at Colgate.
Coach Conlin (25:30):
Yeah, absolutely, let me know a week of and we'll
get you guys squared away,sideline all that stuff.
Coach Cahill (25:37):
Sounds good.
Well, coach, get back to theteam.
I appreciate you.
Go, rams, and I'll be pullingfor it.
I'll be be following you.
Coach Conlin (25:42):
Hopefully we'll chat again during the season.
Thanks, rocky, always apleasure.
Coach Cahill (25:46):
Alright, coach, thank you.
Let me fix my screen here.
Let me get back to where areyou?
There we go there.
We go.
Great to talk to Coach ConlonAlways good to area.
There we go there.
We go.
Great to talk to Coach ConlonAlways good to me.
(26:06):
I know these guys got meetingsso I didn't want to keep him too
long.
We'll talk to Coach Cahill herein just a little bit.
He'll jump on.
But yeah, I mean, nobody needsbulletin board material, right?
But Colgate, fordham andGeorgetown were picked in the
bottom three of the PatriotLeague and I know Coach had said
in another article that I sawonline I was going to bring it
up.
He said he's more motivatedthis year than ever and they had
(26:29):
a lot of injuries last year, alot of injuries.
You heard that they had to playa lot of freshmen and actually
his quarterback, cj Montez, justtransferred over to Kent State
to play for my roommate, anotherFordham grad, mark Carney.
So there was, he transferred.
But I'm excited to see whatthey bring.
I think they're going to be alot better, I think, defensively
(26:49):
, with Conway in the middle, Ithink they're going to be really
good up front.
Some of those young receiverslast year Coach talking about.
They struggle to get off thatpress man.
If you don't know football, ifyou can't get off a press man,
coverage, defense is gettingafter you.
So they gave up a lot of sackslast year, um, so I think
that'll help um the boys out alittle bit too this year.
(27:10):
Coming into the season is theability to get off a press
coverage um, and for them in theback end is going to be a lot
better this year too.
So being able to mix coveragesup and being able to do some
different things, but no matterwhat level you talk to any coach
when I talk to the high schoolguys, they say the same thing.
You got to be able to do twothings.
You got to be able to run thefootball and you get.
You got to be stout against therun and if you can do those
(27:33):
things, stop the run, run thefootball score in the red zone.
You got a chance to be really,really, really good.
So I'm excited to see um, seewhat Fordham will do this year
and bounce back.
The other thing they're going tohave and Coach talked a little
bit about it Conway is going tobe the stud that's back.
(27:53):
He was limited last year tofour games.
He is Fordham and the PatriotLeague leader in career tackles,
so he's back this year.
He's healthy.
Hopefully he can stay healthybecause he's a huge part of what
they do defensively.
Then on the back end, alexKemper, who's a senior defensive
back, is back and he'll beleading.
(28:14):
He's the anchor that back endon defense Excited experienced
quarterback room.
He was talking about Jack, whoplayed behind Tim DeMorad, was
had one of the best seasons infordham history, uh at fordham
and then obviously played alittle bit behind cj, uh before
cj got hurt and jack steppedinto the starting role.
(28:34):
So, um, I think we'll have agood bounce back year.
And that'll lead into talkingto coach cahill, who knows about
bounce back years because fromhis first year to last year one
of the biggest turnarounds inFCS in all of Division I turned
it around and won nine gameslast year, won the Patriot
League, got into the playoffs,made some noise in the playoffs
(28:55):
and now they are picked first inthe Patriot League.
So everybody is going to becoming for Lehigh this year and
I got a surprise for Coach whenI get him on, because I told him
the last time.
Next time I interviewed him.
I was going to have a Lehighshirt so I might just have a
surprise for Coach when he jumpson.
I didn't want to wear a Lehighshirt with my album modern on.
(29:16):
So we'll talk to Coach Cahill.
And again, these guys.
Last year Lehigh went nine andfour four.
They're five and one in thePatriot League.
They had the big win overRichmond in the playoffs.
They got beat to Idaho in theplayoffs.
The play at Idaho and that domewas was crazy.
They had the big win overLafayette.
Who, lafayette Lehigh?
(29:37):
I know you talk Ohio StateMichigan, you talk Army navy,
you talk auburn alabama.
If you haven't experienced alafayette lehigh game.
It's one of the oldestrivalries in college football
period fcs level, power fourlevel.
It's one of the best rivalriesin college football.
We'll talk to coach about thatone.
They won last year 38 14 overlafayette.
(29:58):
So we'll talk to coach a littlebit.
They're going to open upagainst richmond, so they know
each other extremely well.
As coach conlon said, richmond'scoming over to Lafayette, so
we'll talk to the coach a littlebit.
They're going to open upagainst Richmond, so they know
each other extremely well.
As Coach Conlon said,richmond's coming over to the
Patriot League and then you'regoing to get Villain League.
You're going to get William andMary coming over to the Patriot
League.
It's going to make the PatriotLeague that much stronger than
what it already is.
(30:18):
So we'll talk to Coach Cahillabout that.
And then they're going to bedown here at Colgate this year.
So it'll be nice to see Kevincome down here to Colgate.
I'm sure a lot of the localpeople here across the Mohawk
Valley that know Kevin will tryto get out to that game.
I know I'm going to try to getout to that game and watch him
play Colgate and then they doplay at Lafayette this year.
(30:42):
So they'll travel.
That'll be the last game of theseason.
We don't ever want to lookahead, but that one is always
the last game of the season.
They had their 13th PatriotLeague title.
They won last year and they hadthe second largest turnaround
last year, winning nine games.
And, as I said, they're pickedfirst in the Patriot League.
So we'll talk to coach aboutthat.
We'll talk about how camp'sgoing.
(31:03):
You know his staff, theirexpectations.
This year they had a greatrecruiting class coming in, as
did Fordham, with a goodrecruiting class coming in, and
recruiting now in the PatriotLeague is so much different than
again recruiting years ago inthe Patriot League.
So you know again, with beingable to offer full scholarships
now versus, you know, years agoit was the grants and blah, blah
(31:26):
blah, it was tough to get inacademically.
So a lot of that stuff haschanged, which I think has
helped.
And I think the ability to playagainst big time college
football teams like Fordham isgoing to open up against Boston
College.
They've played Navy before.
They've played Army.
They play a lot of the IvyLeague schools.
They've played Syracuse.
(31:47):
Colgate plays Syracuse everyyear.
So that's a great recruitingthing to come and play at
Colgate if you get a chance toplay Syracuse, which is really
special.
So a lot of that stuff haschanged over the years and I
think it really helps withrecruiting.
You know in that transfer portalthat no coach wants to hear
because every year you lose kidsand it's like these at the FCS
(32:10):
school, sort of like basketball,right, you get the mid majors
in basketball and you get themfor like a year and then they
transfer out and you see themplaying in like North Carolina
or Duke or one of the bigschools, and I think sometimes
it could be the same for thePatriot League, because they may
get kids for a year or two andthen they decide to transfer.
But again, you're coming to aPatriot League school to get a
(32:31):
great education, play reallygood football and then when you
graduate, the alumni base atthese programs like Lehigh and
Colgate and Fordham and Bucknellthe alumni support that you get
when you graduate isunbelievable.
So a lot of contacts, a lot ofdoors for jobs, careers, which
(32:54):
is great.
I know they do it all over theplace, but I've always said I
think the Patriot League and IvyLeague schools, the alumni base
, is special.
So when you go to those schoolsit's similar like the academies
, right, you're going to theacademies to get a good
education and then you're goingto serve our country for the
United States and you're goingto play big-time college
football.
(33:14):
Navy almost beat Ohio State afew years ago I think it was a
few years ago, right.
And you see now Navy, theArmies and the Air Force.
I think Army and Navy are goingto be ranked.
I think the Rankins came outtoday.
I think I saw Army in there,but Army and Navy are tough outs
every year and Army and Navywill play the Patriot League
(33:35):
schools.
So a lot of experience.
But again, recruiting, I think,has changed over the years.
So we'll talk to Coach Cahillhere in just a moment.
He's just getting ready to login, sign in now.
I'll bring him on and then Igot a special uh thing for him
I'm gonna have to do live on theair, so you'll have to bear
with me, um when he jumps on,because I think the last time he
was on me, I think I did havethe Ford, I'm sure, and he was
(33:56):
gonna send me one, but I said,don't worry about it, I got one
um.
So, um, soon as I bring him on,I will, um I'll surprise him um
with something that I have forhim.
So I'm I'm excited for uh forcoach Cahill to come.
He's got a great staff too.
These guys all have greatstaffs.
So coach Cahill has coach Nagy,who was my defensive
(34:20):
coordinator Um when I was atFordham.
He also has Coach Hunt, who wasthe head coach at Colgate.
So he's got a great staff um onhis staff and, as a as a young
coach like him, having thosecoaches available to you is
awesome.
So I'm going to keep my mouthshut.
I'm going to shut up here andquit talking and bring coach on.
(34:42):
Coach, hold down one second.
I got a surprise for you.
If I can, uh, take my screenoff here.
So I know you can.
Uh, you can, can see me, butlet me just switch up my my
screen here.
So just bear with me, I'm gonnaswitch this up, all right.
So hold you can hear me, right,coach?
(35:02):
Yeah, I got you do, you got me.
I got me loud and clear.
So I I was.
I didn't want to do this on theair because I got the fordham
shirt on and coach conlon wouldhave kicked my ass.
But I got to take this offbecause I do have a lehigh shirt
on underneath.
So give me a minute.
Coach Conlin (35:15):
There we go, there we go.
Coach Cahill (35:23):
All right, so hopefully he's not watching.
I think he had a team meeting.
I just got out of mind.
Rocky (35:29):
So I'm going to take a screenshot and send it to him,
make sure he's aware.
So he was busting my chops.
Coach Cahill (35:34):
He goes.
I got to be before Cahill, Ican't be after.
I'm like Coach, I'm Fordham, Igot to have you on first.
Absolutely, what's going on,man?
How are you?
Rocky (35:42):
We're good.
We're good.
We just finished anotherpractice.
We're going to practice fivetoday, going on six tomorrow.
We're in the heat of it.
It's been good.
You know it's been a funpreseason and a long way to go
to get to where we really wantto be, but it's fun to be around
the kids.
Coach Cahill (36:04):
It's fun to.
It's an energetic group andthey're working hard.
All I I got to tell you, all Isee on Twitter man is like the
nest is rocking and like allthese Lehigh, like I haven't
seen so much Lehigh on Twitterin probably the last few years
and it's like all everywhere Ilook I see lehigh talk to me a
little bit about um, the offseason for you guys, from
(36:24):
recruiting to what it was likefor um, conditioning leading up
to spring ball in the camp.
How much excitement is there atlehigh?
Rocky (36:28):
yeah, there's a lot right now.
It's, it's been, uh it's.
It's a fun place to be at andand listen, like when we, when
we took the job here, this iswhat we thought it was going to
be.
We thought Lehigh was a power.
We thought Lehigh should be inthe playoffs every year.
We thought it just needed to bebrought back.
And we're not great year lastyear, but we're not where we
really need to be yet.
(36:48):
We don't have the stability.
We need another recruitingclass.
We need another one after thatuntil you have true stability.
So it's good.
The offseason was great.
The kids are working.
You got to flush last year asfast as you can, which is hard
Kids, I think everybody.
It's human nature to fall inlove with yourself and think
(37:09):
you're so good and all that.
And as a coach, that's the funpart.
You got to bring them back downto earth and we did a good job
of that and it took them alittle bit to get past the
playoff run and to move on fromthat and the championship and
and now none of that matterslike none of that is relatable
to this team, while there's someguys on this team that were on
last year's team, it's a wholenew year and, uh, trying to to
(37:31):
get kids to understand that is.
It's fun and that's's that'spart of the drive.
As a coach, that's what youwant to do.
You.
You'd much rather be in thisposition than the position we
were in a couple of years ago,where everybody counted us out.
Coach Cahill (37:42):
So I was talking to coach Conlon.
I said you know, coaches don'tneed bulletin board material.
But I said, coach, I'm going togive you one.
And he knows.
I said Colgate, fordham,georgetown, picked in the bottom
and it's the opposite for youguys.
Right, you guys were picked atthe bottom or the middle of the
pack, to the bottom, I think, acouple years ago when you took
the job, and now everybody'scoming after you guys because
you guys were picked to win thepatriot league next to richmond.
(38:04):
So talk to us a little bitabout that it's a different
mindset.
Rocky (38:08):
You got it, you got to talk through it.
Um, you got to talk through tothe players that it's last year
is easy, you know, and nobody,nobody, had any expectations for
you.
And this year, everybody hasexpectations for you so you know
, we went, we did a lot ofresearch in the off season and
we put some projects on ourplayers and research projects
and stuff like that, and theydid a really good job with it.
(38:28):
And you know, really, reallyhave the hunting mindset.
You got to be able to hunt.
You got it doesn't matter ifyou're predicted to win the
league, you still have to beable to hunt and be on the
attack mode and you know we'llsee.
I think we're in a good spotwith that mindset.
But you don't know until youtest it and with any team, and
and the team we have right nowwill be a completely different
(38:49):
team than the one we have inmid-october, and that's when you
truly know who you are and Iwas was just again from talking
to Coach.
Coach Cahill (38:56):
I said now you bring you.
Guys played Richmond, you gotthem in the playoffs at their
place and you know, now theycome in the Patriot League.
And then you look and you seeVillanova's coming in the
Patriot League.
You're going to get a reallygood William Mary team.
Right, that's coming in thePatriot League.
Rocky (39:20):
It's going to strengthen this league even more.
You know, top the bottom, talkto us a little bit about that
here, with richmond come in, andthen villanova and william and
mary down the road.
Yeah, this is pretty unique.
We.
We open up with richmond athome and you know we played them
last year and finished theirseason last year.
So obviously they're excited toplay us.
Um, they want to, they want toright the wrong from last year.
Um, we know that we're, we're,why wouldn't you?
Um, and then our league justcontinues to get stronger.
You know it's not like we lostanybody.
You know Ross is still here,fordham's still here, colgate's
(39:42):
still here.
You know the true blue bloodsof you know Patriot League
football are all still here andall of us have gone into
playoffs and made runs.
And then you add you knowRichmond, obviously.
You add William, mary and youadd you know Richmond.
Obviously you had William andMary and you had Villanova.
You know Richmond and Villanovahave won national championships
.
You know, and you mentionedColgate.
Colgate played in one not toolong ago.
(40:02):
You know and you know.
So that's the stuff you growwith this league.
It's pretty awesome.
You know it's also challenging.
It's also going to be achallenge.
So you know you got to look atwhat you're doing
recruiting-wise, what you'redoing development-wise.
Are you doing enough to get thetalent you need to compete with
those guys?
Coach Cahill (40:21):
Coach, you got a special defense alignment that
was picked as a defensive playerof the year.
Talk to us a little bit of howspecial Matt is as a player.
Rocky (40:29):
Yeah, matt's different, he's driven.
You know differently Matt.
You know sometimes the best,you know the the sometimes the
best.
Um, the best players you haveare really good athletes, like
he's an exceptional basketballplayer actually when we had some
pickup games and stuff likethat and he's just super
competitive.
He doesn't want to be held down, he doesn't want to be held
back, he wants to go.
Uh, we have to put the governoron him in practice, otherwise
(40:51):
we can't get anything done.
You know he's going againstsome other guys that he just
makes look foolish at times andhe's just driven.
He's driven, he's driven.
He's here because he wants toget his degree from Lehigh.
You know it's last year he waspoached.
He tried to poach him and Mattdidn't want to leave.
Matt wanted to continue tofinish what he started here and
continue to go.
He's a very loyal kid.
(41:12):
He's a very loyal kid.
He's a very hardworking kid,comes from a great family.
I can't say enough good thingsabout Matt.
He's what Patriot Leaguefootball is all about.
You go and get a great degree.
We'll see what happens afterthis year, but he's been a
tremendous player for Lehigh.
Coach Cahill (41:28):
I know you talked about the expectations when you
got here.
This was the expectations,right, because when I played,
lehigh was always the team tobeat.
They were always in theplayoffs.
When I was at Fordham and wereyou worried the season you had
last year and I know you don'twant to look back at it, but you
, I would say you guys probablyoverachieved right in in your
(41:49):
second year, but those were theexpectations.
You don't look back, but goingforward.
It's like the bar's alreadybeen set.
Now it's really tough to stayat the top, right when you once
you get there yeah, yeah.
Rocky (42:00):
And then, like I was saying before, like kids, kids
want us, they want the instantgratification and that's kind of
what we had.
You know, in year two, all of asudden we're winning a
championship and it's like it'snot typically how it goes and we
were fortunate enough to to.
You know, we we won the leaguelast year.
It was great, everything fellinto our favor and we did a
great job with it and we won aplayoff game.
(42:21):
It was awesome.
Lehigh's back and you look atthat and like we're not quite.
We have a lot of work to do.
We have.
We had a huge first year classlast year.
We had to develop and all theyknew was success and there's
some good things about that,like all they know is to win.
So we had to build on that andwe still have to build on that.
And we'll have some bumps inthe road.
(42:42):
We'll have some bumps in theroad in preseason camp, you know
.
We'll have some bumps in theroad early in the season and
it's just a matter of how do wemanage those?
We had them last year how do wemanage those bumps in the road
and how do we continue to focuson ourselves?
It really doesn't matter whatthe rest of the league is doing
is.
Can we show up and be our bestversion every Saturday?
Coach Cahill (43:03):
And coach, you had so many guys last year, had
great seasons.
For this year you got sevenguys named to the All-Patriot
League and one of them I knowthat's special for in the back
in the backfield is Luke.
Talk to us a little bit abouthim and what he brings.
Rocky (43:15):
Yeah, luke's just gotten better each year.
Just no nonsense.
Does the work.
One of our strongest players,pound for pound.
One of our strongest guys, oneof our most explosive guys.
He actually won the award inthe weight room in the offseason
.
He's a dedicated kid from afootball family.
Dad played in the league, dadplayed at Vanderbilt.
Um, you know he, he knowsfootball.
(43:36):
He's very, very smart.
Um, you know, we don't have tosay too much to him.
It's more calming him downbecause he's so excited at times
and just keep bringing him backup.
But we're successful because ofguys like him and Matt.
You know Matt Spatney and and,uh, luke Yoder do a great job
for us.
They're great leaders byexample.
You know, they don't have to bethe rah-rah guys.
They can just get out there anddo the work and Luke has done
(43:59):
it.
Luke has done a great job andyou know we're excited for this
year.
He's going to continue to growand you know, bigger, faster and
stronger.
Coach Cahill (44:08):
And he knows what it takes in this league now and
you guys get a chance for you.
I said he gets a chance to kindof come home right to this area
.
You get a chance to come hereand play Colgate.
I know you don't like to lookahead, but how special is that
going to be for you to get achance to come a little closer
to home right and play here atColgate.
Rocky (44:22):
It's awesome.
I've been there a few times.
There a couple years ago weprobably played one of the worst
games of my short career as ahead coach up at Colgate.
We looked terrible, we playedterrible, it was bad, and so you
want to go back up and have abetter showing.
But anytime you get a show,that's home to me.
You know that's home.
Playing at Hamilton High Schoolis a rival of ours and you know
(44:43):
it's always pretty special togo back there and you know I
know a lot of people up thereand it's great to stay in Utica
and you know back where I grewup, and back where I grew up,
it's pretty special.
Coach Cahill (44:55):
Is there a position group right now at Camp
Coach that's impressed you themost?
That might be ahead of whereyou thought they would be coming
into camp.
Rocky (45:04):
I think we have experience at the running back
room.
We have experience in theD-line.
The offensive line had a couplequestions.
They're doing a good job ofpushing through the receivers.
We've got a couple guys thathave a little bit of experience
here and there.
I've been impressed with thelinebackers.
We lost an all-conference,all-everything Lehigh linebacker
last year in Mike DiNucci.
He graduated as a fifth-yeargrad student and we've got two
(45:28):
guys coming in to fill in andthey've done a good job from the
spring until now.
And kind of unfortunately, butfortunately for those two is
they got to play a lot in theplayoffs because we lost Mike in
our last game of the regularseason.
He broke his ankle and hemissed as a fifth-year senior.
He won a Patriot League anddidn't get a chance to play in
the playoffs, which broke myheart because he gave so much to
(45:48):
Lehigh.
But he gave these guys anopportunity to play at Richmond
and to go out to Idaho and havesignificant snaps, which is
going to help us this year.
Coach Cahill (45:57):
And Coach, talk to us a little bit, if you can,
about the quarterback room.
You've got some upperclassmen,You've got some young guys.
Talk to us about what that roomlooks like.
Rocky (46:05):
Yeah, we're young, we're young, we are.
You know, last year it was kindof worked out exactly the way
we wanted to.
I think Dan did a fantastic job.
Dan Hunt is one of the bestcoaches I've been around and he
did a great job with that roomand with a fifth-year senior and
a freshman and the way hebalanced it and just open and
honest communication and justDan being who he is, just a
(46:25):
great human being.
He did a great job with that.
And now we have a freshmanthat's had a ton of reps.
That will be a sophomore for us.
And we have another sophomorethat comes in and plays as well.
That will be a sophomore for us.
And we have another sophomorethat comes in and plays as well
and they're best friends andthey're roommates and they hang
out all the time together andthat's just.
That's hard to do this day andage.
It really is.
Everybody wants their own,they're in for their own, they
(46:45):
want to do whatever they want todo for themselves, but not
those guys.
They've done a really good jobof putting the program first and
whatever we've got to do to win.
That's their mindset and that'sa lot of the guys' mindset, but
particularly in that room, andwhen that room is like that,
you've got a chance.
Coach Cahill (47:02):
Yeah, I always brag and I know I bring it up
all the time to you, but havingthe experience of Coach Hunt and
then Coach Nags, who was mydefensive back coach at Fordham,
having that as a young coachlike yourself, with those guys
around you, I mean you can't askfor anything more than that.
Rocky (47:16):
No, no, there's so many days I go in and Coach Hunter
will look at me and just startlaughing.
He goes I'm glad I'm not inyour office, that's a your
office problem, and I'm like,yeah, I know, I know, I know,
just great quality men.
That's what you want to bearound.
You want to have fun.
It's it's.
It's fun to come into work.
We laugh, we joke, we get towork, we do it.
(47:36):
You know, we were mentoringkids, we're having a blast with
it and just good people.
You want to be around goodpeople and and coach Nagy and
coach Hunter are two of the bestand I was very, very fortunate
to bring them here when we camein and, um, they've been awesome
.
Coach Cahill (47:52):
So this year's team coach, and again, we're not
going to look at last year'steam, but what's different about
this group compared to yourgroup from last year?
Rocky (48:00):
I think we're a little younger actually.
We've got probably a biggersenior class that's going to
play for us, but we're onlygoing to be sophomore laden
probably.
So it's going to be interesting.
It's going to be an interestingteam.
We're not afraid to work,they're not afraid to work,
they're not afraid to work,they're not afraid to, you know,
(48:20):
put the work in and get outthere and, you know, give the
energy that we need at practice,all that stuff We've got to.
You know, as any coach is goingto say, we're terrible at
execution right now.
We've had five practices sowe're not very good.
So it'll be interesting to seehow we grow there.
You know, we just had a teammeeting.
I just left it, challengingthem in certain ways, and I'm
interested to see how they'regoing to respond to each other.
So it's it's going to be a funteam and that's just a matter of
(48:44):
what we are now compared towhat we are at the end of
preseason and where we are byweek.
And when we get to the by weekyou got to see where you are
We'll have two gate, two leaguegames under our belt at that
point and then, you know, seewhat's going to happen.
Coach Cahill (48:56):
Yeah, and I think too, bringing Richmond over.
And then again, I think youknow the league top to bottom is
a tough game.
You know week in and week out,yeah, and again I'm looking at
some of the teams again in theschedules it's like you guys
really got to grind.
You know every week becauseevery team I think has gotten
better.
You know every week becauseevery team I think has gotten
better.
You know Bucknell's been there,Holy Cross has been there,
(49:16):
fordham's been there in the pastand you know Coach Fitz will
get Colgate going.
Oh yeah, at some point there'sno doubt in my mind he'll get
that thing going.
But it just seems like with thecoaches in this league it just
keeps getting better and better.
Rocky (49:28):
Yeah, it is.
It's a great league and and youjust you named them all you
know you look at Bucknell.
In my opinion that's probablythe team to beat this year.
You know they've got thatquarterback, that's really good.
They've got a running backthat's really good.
They've run a really goodoffense.
They've got a new offensivecoordinator who's really really
good.
I've known him for years.
He does a great job and youknow everybody counts Col in
(49:56):
November.
It's not going to be easy.
They're going to fight.
Fitz has had a lot of success.
He's going to do a great jobthere.
He's going to get it rolling.
It's not going to take him long.
He knows what he's doing andhe's got a good staff to do it.
Fordham is it's going to comedown to the fourth quarter If
(50:21):
you make the play or not.
Coach Cahill (50:23):
I was really hoping you guys would play
Colgate earlier in the year,because every time I go watch
Colgate play Fordham Fordhamplays them in November and it's
either snowing out, it's adownpour and raining out and I'm
like, can I just get there whenit's like 85 degrees in sun?
Rocky (50:36):
yeah, and I'm like ah, I think there's three, I think
there's three of those days inthe summertime and, uh, in good
old hamilton, new york, and yougot to pick one of them that is
very true.
Coach Cahill (50:47):
But all right, man , listen, I won't keep you much
longer.
I appreciate you jumping on and, uh, I know you've always been
good to me.
I, I pull for, I, I pull foryou every game but one.
Rocky (50:57):
And I appreciate that.
Gotta stay loyal, and Iappreciate that and I agree with
you.
Coach Cahill (51:01):
Gotta stay loyal, but I can't wait to see you.
Hopefully I'll get a chance tosee you during the fall and good
luck I know we'll do it again.
Rocky (51:08):
Rock, thanks again.
Thanks for having me on Always,always a pleasure.
Coach Cahill (51:23):
You got it, man.
Good luck to you.
Thank you.
All right, coach.
Bye now.
So that's Coach Cahill, andhe's always been good to me, and
hopefully he didn't take apicture of me with the Lehigh on
, because I don't want CoachConlon to see me in a Lehigh
shirt.
But, as I just said, I pull forCoach every game but one, and
it's a game he plays for them.
I can't pull for him against myalma mater.
So, thanks to coach conlon,thanks to coach cahill, two of
(51:43):
my favorite coaches at talk,coach fits and colgate, will be
on with me.
As I said earlier too, we'llhave the high school coaches
will be on with me over the nextcouple weeks because they're
getting ready to start here in acouple of weeks.
So much more to come here onthe 46 power podcast.
So thanks, coach Conlon, thanks, coach Kale, thanks to you for
tuning in tonight with me.
Hope you enjoyed the show.
We'll see you again here on the46 power podcast.
(52:07):
Have a good evening, everybody.
no-transcript.
Coach Conlin (09:44):
Yeah, I got you there, you you are?
Coach Cahill (09:46):
I can hear you loud and clear.
How are you coach?
Coach Conlin (09:48):
good, how are you?
Coach Cahill (09:50):
well, it's always good and we can talk fordham
football.
I'm excited I had to get thefordham shirt out for tonight I
appreciate that shirt.
I took notice of it I said it'sso good to uh to have you on.
I know you guys are right inthe middle of camp so I'm not
going to keep you too long.
Coach Conlin (10:04):
I know how important your time is, so I
appreciate you jumping out withme tonight no happy to do it and
uh, um, the guys are actuallywe're heading into our kind of
our last meetings of the night,so so I have some time, so fire
away.
Coach Cahill (10:18):
So, coach, let's talk about we'll get to the
upcoming camp in the schedule.
I know I was just talking tothe audience.
I said said I always talk toyou guys in the Patriot League
about the tough non-conferenceschedules that you guys play and
I talked a little bit about youknow, the Patriot League and
the Ivy League, who you werefortunate enough to coach in
both leagues about the richacademics and how much harder it
is to recruit.
(10:38):
But now the Patriot Leagueoffers full scholarships.
Coach Conlin (10:46):
Talk to us a little bit about how tough it is
at Fordham and some of theseschools.
Academically it's a challenge.
It's not that different fromthe Ivy in terms of you don't
have to go as high as you had toin the Ivies.
The league has done a good jobof helping us out, especially
post-pandemic, in terms of doingaway with the academic banding
(11:09):
system and things like that, andnow it's just kind of based on
a narrative about thestudent-athletes' academic
success.
So you have to cast a wide netand you stretch your staff
pretty thin in terms of you knowthey're covering a wide area in
(11:29):
recruiting but it's fun.
You know you get to meet a lotof really interesting people.
You have great kids.
You know you're not dealingwith a lot of issues within your
team from a behavior standpoint.
You know these guys, they knowthey have a future out there, so
(11:51):
they do a great job on and offthe field and in the classroom.
So it definitely has itsbenefits.
You know you just have to workout and be diligent and be
organized in recruiting.
Coach Cahill (12:01):
Coach, how did the offseason go for you guys?
I know obviouslyrecruiting-wise, but offseason
workouts leading in the springball and'd the offseason go for
you guys?
I know obviously recruitingwise, but offseason workouts
leading in the spring ball andthen obviously up in the camp,
how's the offseason been for youguys?
Coach Conlin (12:11):
I think it's gone really well.
You know, we're holding steady,pretty healthy at this point in
time.
In camp we just had our I thinksixth practice today I think
sixth practice today so we'redoing okay from a health
standpoint.
Guys are bigger, you know.
They're stronger, they'refaster moving pretty well on
(12:34):
both sides of the line.
Coach Cahill (12:38):
So you know, so far so good and I think the guys
are in a good spot.
So, coach, coming off last yearI was going back and looking at
my notes I said, man, yourguys' schedule was brutal last
year with away games.
You guys, I believe you were atLehigh, at Holy Cross, at
Dartmouth, at Bucknell, I thinkyou guys were even at Bowling
Green last year and it was atough schedule.
But you guys had some injuries.
I think you guys had someyounger guys that had to step up
for you.
But I don't want to look at thepast but talk to us about.
(13:00):
You know the schedule last yearand now last year.
What you're looking forward tothe most coming into this season
.
Coach Conlin (13:07):
Yeah, I mean it was seven on the road and I
think it was backloaded, so Ithink we were home twice and in
the months of September andOctober we were at home twice.
So yeah, that was a challenge.
But yeah, I've been around someteams.
You know where you rally aroundthat Um and uh, you know, I I
(13:31):
kind of like being on the roadwith the guys.
You know it's just awesome, thehotel and and uh, you really
get to spend time with your team, um, in those situations, which
is a lot of fun.
So, yeah, we had a decentamount of road games, um, we
have the same amount this year.
We're seven on the road thisyear.
We're just kind of a morefront-loaded home game schedule
and it's spread out a littlebetter.
(13:53):
So that's good, you know.
So there are definitelychallenges from an injury
standpoint.
You know, I think it was for theback.
You know the final eight games.
You know we were down 17 guysfrom the two deep, uh, something
like that.
But that's you know, that'spart of the game and you have to
manage that and and uh, guyshave to step up and and it kind
(14:16):
of was what it was and and a lotof guys did get experience that
maybe we would have liked tohold on for for a year and but
that's okay and that's great.
Now you kind of take your lumpsand it was very similar to what
happened to us at Yale in 2016.
We had a tough year and we goto play the JV game against
(14:36):
Harvard and we need all thetalented freshmen on the JV team
.
So we lose that JV game.
I think 63 to nothing JV team.
So we'd lose that JV game.
I think 63 to nothing.
Um, we got to the hotel and, uh,coach Reno Tony was.
He was kind of freaking out alittle bit like, oh my, you know
we could blow down a JV gamelike that.
What's gonna happen in thevarsity?
(14:57):
I said you know just, we'll beokay.
I said all our good JV playersare playing tomorrow.
We ended up.
I think we started six freshmenon offense and I think Sean and
those guys on defense.
They started six or seven aswell, but found a way to win the
game and game-winning touchdownpass was from a freshman, kurt
(15:18):
Rawlings, to freshman ReedKlubnick, with two freshmen
offensive linemen protecting.
So you know, it's good forthose guys to get experience.
They come in.
You know they have a little bitdifferent demeanor going into
their sophomore year and we havea lot of true freshmen that
played last year, that are now,you know, kind of considered
veterans, and that's a positivething.
Coach Cahill (15:40):
Coach, is there a position group so far at camp
that you're really lookingforward to?
That's really impressed you themost so far.
Coach Conlin (15:47):
Well, yeah, it's kind of.
You know, that's a goodquestion, Interesting question.
You know, two days ago Ithought our offensive line had a
really good day.
You know, today I would say,you know, our defensive line has
been pretty consistent.
We have good depth there.
We have, you know,upperclassmen.
You know our defensive line hasbeen pretty consistent.
We have good depth there.
We have, you know,upperclassmen Claudia Robinson,
sam Burkle, john Scott.
(16:08):
They've all played a lot offootball for us.
So the defensive line has beenpretty solid.
I think our secondary is doinga nice job for the most part.
Obviously, we have James Conwayback in linebacker, so he's
been himself.
Obviously, you have JamesConway back in linebacker, so
he's been himself.
You know, I think our widereceivers are taking a big step
(16:28):
forward.
They're playing a little bitfaster than they played last
year.
Running backs, you know, we'rekind of finding out who's the
guy and things like that, andthat's been fun.
And we have some guys takingsome tremendous strides and we
have Jay Allen back from lastyear of tight end, so that's
been great.
So each position's kind oftaking their turn.
I would say the defensive linehas probably been the most
(16:51):
consistent day in and day out.
Coach Cahill (16:54):
Coach, I feel like I've said James Conway for 100
years and it's like he's playedit for him for 20 years and I
know he was limited.
Last year I think he onlyplayed in four games for you
because of injuries.
How nice is it to have him backanchoring that defense.
Coach Conlin (17:06):
Yeah, I mean, it's the greatest.
You know he's a tremendousleader.
He's a heck of a competitor.
You know every offseasonworkout, every offseason lift,
he is always at a high level.
You know I've never seen himflustered or frustrated or
(17:27):
discouraged.
You know he always just givesyou everything he has.
And you know it's going to beweird.
You know it was weird.
You know I looked out there andI saw 47 for years and it was
always great to have Greeny andnow I have him as my director of
ops.
But it's going to be differentwhen I don't see 48 in the
(17:49):
middle of our defense.
And I don't know if I'm goingto like it, because he's special
.
Coach Cahill (17:55):
Coach, talk to us a little bit.
Of course, the quarterback roomis always the fancy one.
Everybody wants to know who'sgoing to be under center for you
and I know Jack played a lot ofgames last year and you know I
think he played behind Tim or atthe more at when he was at
Fordham, and I think he played alittle bit under CJ too.
But you got a pretty goodquarterback room too.
Yeah, jack came in in 22.
Coach Conlin (18:14):
So he was here for Timmy's.
You know the great year thatTimmy had in 22 was here, was
behind CJ in 23.
And then, yeah, had to step inlast year and you know, for a
lot of time, did a really nicejob for us and wasn't really
protected like he should havebeen, but he fought.
(18:35):
He's really back to back.
He's put really two fantasticpractices together.
He's pushing the ball downfield.
He's doing back-to-back.
He's put really two fantasticpractices together.
He's pushing the ball downfield.
He's doing a nice job.
Gunnar Smith transferred inGunnar's doing a great job as
well.
He's had his last two or threehave been really fantastic.
(18:58):
And Trip Holly is also doing areally nice job.
So, yeah, it's been fun towatch those guys compete every
day and you know they're really.
You know we're completing a lotmore passes downfield than we
did last year at this time.
So it's been good.
Coach Cahill (19:17):
So, coach, and speaking of that non-conference
schedule, you guys will open upagainst Boston College on that
August 30th.
And then I was talking a littlebit before you came on the air.
You know of how much you knowthe history of Richmond now
coming into the Patriot, howmuch stronger that it makes this
conference.
And I've always said and peoplewill still argue with me, I
still say the Patriot Leaguestill one of the best
conferences top to bottom.
You know, out there, talk to usabout.
(19:37):
You know what Richmond bringsat a table, the history, and how
much that just strengthens the.
Yeah, I mean, it's I.
You know what Richmond bringsto the table, the history, and
how much that just strengthensthe pitchers.
Coach Conlin (19:44):
Yeah, I mean, I think you know this year and
then, and certainly whenVillanova and William Mary come
in, you know it's going to be ahigher-end FCS conference.
You know multi-bid league, yeah, I mean I think obviously
Richmondmond has historicallybeen I mean I go back against
(20:05):
those guys when I was at unh, um, you know, competing against
the dave clausen led richmondteam who was once the, you know,
the head coach of fordham.
So, um, yeah, I mean therichmond has always had talent.
You know it's a very goodschool, nice, so it's a great
fit for the Patriot League.
(20:25):
They've done a tremendousfacilities upgrade and they've
been.
You know they won a nationalchampionship 15 years ago.
So within our kids' lifetimethey've been the national
champions.
So I think it was 18 years agoor 19.
So, yeah, I mean theyautomatically and they were a
(20:46):
playoff team last year, so theyautomatically bring, you know,
that kind of pedigree to ourleague, which is fantastic.
And you know, at the same timethey kind of uphold the academic
standards of the Patriot League, which is great.
So it's going to be a lot offun.
You know, I remember those daysfrom the CIA, the old CIA, when
you had JMU, nova, richmond,delaware, william Mary, unh, and
(21:11):
you know it was a fistfightweek to week and it didn't
matter.
You know even Northeastern andsome of the quote unquote
lower-end schools could beat you.
You didn't if you didn't cometo play and if you were
overlooking, uh, what youperceived as a lower end school
(21:31):
because you had jmu or delawarecoming up, you know you were
gonna get smacked around.
So, um, it was really a toughbut really fun um and uh, a
great league to to be a part of.
So that's what I'm looking forwith our league and yeah, it's
been really good the last coupleyears.
I mean, obviously, lehigh comingon, kev's doing a great job
there, cross has been reallysolid.
(21:52):
Obviously, bob did a reallygood job there and Danny's doing
a good job.
So you know, now you gotLafayette.
You know Johnny did a good jobin 23.
Bucknell, you know Johnny did agood job in 23.
Bucknell, you know, made somenoise last year and they were
the only team to beat Lehigh inleague.
So yeah, I mean it's fun andyou know, week to week, year to
(22:15):
year, and we've always kind ofacquitted ourselves well in the
playoffs, especially lately.
Certainly, cross and Colgatehas made some runs.
You know Danny had a good teamat Colgate there in 2018.
So it's been a reallychallenging league and it's
really grown.
You know, even since I've beenin it just with the recruiting
and how teams are recruiting andwho they're going after and who
they're getting you know it'sbeen much more impressive and
(22:38):
fun to be a part of.
Coach Cahill (22:43):
So, coach, some of the alum were messing with me
because they were like you gotCoach on, you got to ask him,
you got to ask him this question, you got to ask him that.
Some of them said make sure youask him and just say what's
Fordham have to do this year toget things turned around and
have a bounce back year?
Coach Conlin (22:55):
Yeah, I mean I think obviously we got to
protect the quarterback right.
61 sacks last year is just anastonishing number and there are
a variety of reasons for that.
It's not all in the offensivelines, I'm not pinning it all on
them.
We have to be a little quickwith our decision making.
(23:15):
We have to do a better jobagainst press man and things
like that, which we have beendoing.
We've also been seeing a lotmore of it in camp, which is
good.
We've got to run the ball moreconsistently.
Uh, you know we had a lot ofgames where we ran the ball for
more than 200 last year, butthen we had probably seven where
we ran the ball for less than100.
(23:36):
So you know you got to havethat balance.
It can't be, you know, hey, wefind something this week to
where you know we're gonna have250 on the ground, but then the
next week, you know, againstholy cross, we're gonna run from
90, just because we, you knowwe can't figure it out or we
can't push those guys or wecan't scheme it up.
So, more consistency on theground on offense, and we have
(23:56):
to get back to the verticalshots downfield that you know we
did so well in 22 and 23 um,and a lot of that last year was
just soft tissue injuries at thereceiver position, so we never
had kind of a consistent groupDefensively.
We have to be a little stouteragainst the run and I think we
will.
With what we're doing and whatwe have up front, I think our
(24:19):
secondary is going to be reallygood, so we'll be able to mix up
coverage and things like that.
So more consistency on defense,change the picture a little bit
, some answers against someformational stuff that bothered
us last year, and I think thatstaff Allen Gant and James
Linehan have done a really goodjob this offseason, so I'm
excited to see what they can do.
Coach Cahill (24:40):
So, coach, I know you don't need motivation, we're
always looking for both inboard materials.
But so, coach, I know you don'tneed motivation, we're always
looking for both and boardmaterials.
But I got on the patrioticbecause I'll be doing some stuff
for them again this year andthey had georgetown, colgate and
fordham picked at the bottomthree, so I know we don't need
both in board material.
Well, that's got to pump up youand the coaches and the staff
as well, right in the players.
(25:00):
Yeah, pick us, pick, I'm notgonna lie.
Coach Conlin (25:02):
And uh, it certainly put a smile on my face
when I saw it.
You know, anytime you kind ofget a free thing you can use,
certainly put a smile on my face.
Coach Cahill (25:15):
Well, coach, I'm excited because I think you come
this way to play Colgate here.
I'll get a chance to see youhere and I'm going to bring my
son out to a game this year, sohopefully I'll get a chance to
say hi to you in person andcheer on a win at Fordham and
see you here locally at Colgate.
Coach Conlin (25:30):
Yeah, absolutely, let me know a week of and we'll
get you guys squared away,sideline all that stuff.
Coach Cahill (25:37):
Sounds good.
Well, coach, get back to theteam.
I appreciate you.
Go, rams, and I'll be pullingfor it.
I'll be be following you.
Coach Conlin (25:42):
Hopefully we'll chat again during the season.
Thanks, rocky, always apleasure.
Coach Cahill (25:46):
Alright, coach, thank you.
Let me fix my screen here.
Let me get back to where areyou?
There we go there.
We go.
Great to talk to Coach ConlonAlways good to area.
There we go there.
We go.
Great to talk to Coach ConlonAlways good to me.
(26:06):
I know these guys got meetingsso I didn't want to keep him too
long.
We'll talk to Coach Cahill herein just a little bit.
He'll jump on.
But yeah, I mean, nobody needsbulletin board material, right?
But Colgate, fordham andGeorgetown were picked in the
bottom three of the PatriotLeague and I know Coach had said
in another article that I sawonline I was going to bring it
up.
He said he's more motivatedthis year than ever and they had
(26:29):
a lot of injuries last year, alot of injuries.
You heard that they had to playa lot of freshmen and actually
his quarterback, cj Montez, justtransferred over to Kent State
to play for my roommate, anotherFordham grad, mark Carney.
So there was, he transferred.
But I'm excited to see whatthey bring.
I think they're going to be alot better, I think, defensively
(26:49):
, with Conway in the middle, Ithink they're going to be really
good up front.
Some of those young receiverslast year Coach talking about.
They struggle to get off thatpress man.
If you don't know football, ifyou can't get off a press man,
coverage, defense is gettingafter you.
So they gave up a lot of sackslast year, um, so I think
that'll help um the boys out alittle bit too this year.
(27:10):
Coming into the season is theability to get off a press
coverage um, and for them in theback end is going to be a lot
better this year too.
So being able to mix coveragesup and being able to do some
different things, but no matterwhat level you talk to any coach
when I talk to the high schoolguys, they say the same thing.
You got to be able to do twothings.
You got to be able to run thefootball and you get.
You got to be stout against therun and if you can do those
(27:33):
things, stop the run, run thefootball score in the red zone.
You got a chance to be really,really, really good.
So I'm excited to see um, seewhat Fordham will do this year
and bounce back.
The other thing they're going tohave and Coach talked a little
bit about it Conway is going tobe the stud that's back.
(27:53):
He was limited last year tofour games.
He is Fordham and the PatriotLeague leader in career tackles,
so he's back this year.
He's healthy.
Hopefully he can stay healthybecause he's a huge part of what
they do defensively.
Then on the back end, alexKemper, who's a senior defensive
back, is back and he'll beleading.
(28:14):
He's the anchor that back endon defense Excited experienced
quarterback room.
He was talking about Jack, whoplayed behind Tim DeMorad, was
had one of the best seasons infordham history, uh at fordham
and then obviously played alittle bit behind cj, uh before
cj got hurt and jack steppedinto the starting role.
(28:34):
So, um, I think we'll have agood bounce back year.
And that'll lead into talkingto coach cahill, who knows about
bounce back years because fromhis first year to last year one
of the biggest turnarounds inFCS in all of Division I turned
it around and won nine gameslast year, won the Patriot
League, got into the playoffs,made some noise in the playoffs
(28:55):
and now they are picked first inthe Patriot League.
So everybody is going to becoming for Lehigh this year and
I got a surprise for Coach whenI get him on, because I told him
the last time.
Next time I interviewed him.
I was going to have a Lehighshirt so I might just have a
surprise for Coach when he jumpson.
I didn't want to wear a Lehighshirt with my album modern on.
(29:16):
So we'll talk to Coach Cahill.
And again, these guys.
Last year Lehigh went nine andfour four.
They're five and one in thePatriot League.
They had the big win overRichmond in the playoffs.
They got beat to Idaho in theplayoffs.
The play at Idaho and that domewas was crazy.
They had the big win overLafayette.
Who, lafayette Lehigh?
(29:37):
I know you talk Ohio StateMichigan, you talk Army navy,
you talk auburn alabama.
If you haven't experienced alafayette lehigh game.
It's one of the oldestrivalries in college football
period fcs level, power fourlevel.
It's one of the best rivalriesin college football.
We'll talk to coach about thatone.
They won last year 38 14 overlafayette.
(29:58):
So we'll talk to coach a littlebit.
They're going to open upagainst richmond, so they know
each other extremely well.
As coach conlon said, richmond'scoming over to Lafayette, so
we'll talk to the coach a littlebit.
They're going to open upagainst Richmond, so they know
each other extremely well.
As Coach Conlon said,richmond's coming over to the
Patriot League and then you'regoing to get Villain League.
You're going to get William andMary coming over to the Patriot
League.
It's going to make the PatriotLeague that much stronger than
what it already is.
(30:18):
So we'll talk to Coach Cahillabout that.
And then they're going to bedown here at Colgate this year.
So it'll be nice to see Kevincome down here to Colgate.
I'm sure a lot of the localpeople here across the Mohawk
Valley that know Kevin will tryto get out to that game.
I know I'm going to try to getout to that game and watch him
play Colgate and then they doplay at Lafayette this year.
(30:42):
So they'll travel.
That'll be the last game of theseason.
We don't ever want to lookahead, but that one is always
the last game of the season.
They had their 13th PatriotLeague title.
They won last year and they hadthe second largest turnaround
last year, winning nine games.
And, as I said, they're pickedfirst in the Patriot League.
So we'll talk to coach aboutthat.
We'll talk about how camp'sgoing.
(31:03):
You know his staff, theirexpectations.
This year they had a greatrecruiting class coming in, as
did Fordham, with a goodrecruiting class coming in, and
recruiting now in the PatriotLeague is so much different than
again recruiting years ago inthe Patriot League.
So you know again, with beingable to offer full scholarships
now versus, you know, years agoit was the grants and blah, blah
(31:26):
blah, it was tough to get inacademically.
So a lot of that stuff haschanged, which I think has
helped.
And I think the ability to playagainst big time college
football teams like Fordham isgoing to open up against Boston
College.
They've played Navy before.
They've played Army.
They play a lot of the IvyLeague schools.
They've played Syracuse.
(31:47):
Colgate plays Syracuse everyyear.
So that's a great recruitingthing to come and play at
Colgate if you get a chance toplay Syracuse, which is really
special.
So a lot of that stuff haschanged over the years and I
think it really helps withrecruiting.
You know in that transfer portalthat no coach wants to hear
because every year you lose kidsand it's like these at the FCS
(32:10):
school, sort of like basketball,right, you get the mid majors
in basketball and you get themfor like a year and then they
transfer out and you see themplaying in like North Carolina
or Duke or one of the bigschools, and I think sometimes
it could be the same for thePatriot League, because they may
get kids for a year or two andthen they decide to transfer.
But again, you're coming to aPatriot League school to get a
(32:31):
great education, play reallygood football and then when you
graduate, the alumni base atthese programs like Lehigh and
Colgate and Fordham and Bucknellthe alumni support that you get
when you graduate isunbelievable.
So a lot of contacts, a lot ofdoors for jobs, careers, which
(32:54):
is great.
I know they do it all over theplace, but I've always said I
think the Patriot League and IvyLeague schools, the alumni base
, is special.
So when you go to those schoolsit's similar like the academies
, right, you're going to theacademies to get a good
education and then you're goingto serve our country for the
United States and you're goingto play big-time college
football.
(33:14):
Navy almost beat Ohio State afew years ago I think it was a
few years ago, right.
And you see now Navy, theArmies and the Air Force.
I think Army and Navy are goingto be ranked.
I think the Rankins came outtoday.
I think I saw Army in there,but Army and Navy are tough outs
every year and Army and Navywill play the Patriot League
(33:35):
schools.
So a lot of experience.
But again, recruiting, I think,has changed over the years.
So we'll talk to Coach Cahillhere in just a moment.
He's just getting ready to login, sign in now.
I'll bring him on and then Igot a special uh thing for him
I'm gonna have to do live on theair, so you'll have to bear
with me, um when he jumps on,because I think the last time he
was on me, I think I did havethe Ford, I'm sure, and he was
(33:56):
gonna send me one, but I said,don't worry about it, I got one
um.
So, um, soon as I bring him on,I will, um I'll surprise him um
with something that I have forhim.
So I'm I'm excited for uh forcoach Cahill to come.
He's got a great staff too.
These guys all have greatstaffs.
So coach Cahill has coach Nagy,who was my defensive
(34:20):
coordinator Um when I was atFordham.
He also has Coach Hunt, who wasthe head coach at Colgate.
So he's got a great staff um onhis staff and, as a as a young
coach like him, having thosecoaches available to you is
awesome.
So I'm going to keep my mouthshut.
I'm going to shut up here andquit talking and bring coach on.
(34:42):
Coach, hold down one second.
I got a surprise for you.
If I can, uh, take my screenoff here.
So I know you can.
Uh, you can, can see me, butlet me just switch up my my
screen here.
So just bear with me, I'm gonnaswitch this up, all right.
So hold you can hear me, right,coach?
(35:02):
Yeah, I got you do, you got me.
I got me loud and clear.
So I I was.
I didn't want to do this on theair because I got the fordham
shirt on and coach conlon wouldhave kicked my ass.
But I got to take this offbecause I do have a lehigh shirt
on underneath.
So give me a minute.
Coach Conlin (35:15):
There we go, there we go.
Coach Cahill (35:23):
All right, so hopefully he's not watching.
I think he had a team meeting.
I just got out of mind.
Rocky (35:29):
So I'm going to take a screenshot and send it to him,
make sure he's aware.
So he was busting my chops.
Coach Cahill (35:34):
He goes.
I got to be before Cahill, Ican't be after.
I'm like Coach, I'm Fordham, Igot to have you on first.
Absolutely, what's going on,man?
How are you?
Rocky (35:42):
We're good.
We're good.
We just finished anotherpractice.
We're going to practice fivetoday, going on six tomorrow.
We're in the heat of it.
It's been good.
You know it's been a funpreseason and a long way to go
to get to where we really wantto be, but it's fun to be around
the kids.
Coach Cahill (36:04):
It's fun to.
It's an energetic group andthey're working hard.
All I I got to tell you, all Isee on Twitter man is like the
nest is rocking and like allthese Lehigh, like I haven't
seen so much Lehigh on Twitterin probably the last few years
and it's like all everywhere Ilook I see lehigh talk to me a
little bit about um, the offseason for you guys, from
(36:24):
recruiting to what it was likefor um, conditioning leading up
to spring ball in the camp.
How much excitement is there atlehigh?
Rocky (36:28):
yeah, there's a lot right now.
It's, it's been, uh it's.
It's a fun place to be at andand listen, like when we, when
we took the job here, this iswhat we thought it was going to
be.
We thought Lehigh was a power.
We thought Lehigh should be inthe playoffs every year.
We thought it just needed to bebrought back.
And we're not great year lastyear, but we're not where we
really need to be yet.
(36:48):
We don't have the stability.
We need another recruitingclass.
We need another one after thatuntil you have true stability.
So it's good.
The offseason was great.
The kids are working.
You got to flush last year asfast as you can, which is hard
Kids, I think everybody.
It's human nature to fall inlove with yourself and think
(37:09):
you're so good and all that.
And as a coach, that's the funpart.
You got to bring them back downto earth and we did a good job
of that and it took them alittle bit to get past the
playoff run and to move on fromthat and the championship and
and now none of that matterslike none of that is relatable
to this team, while there's someguys on this team that were on
last year's team, it's a wholenew year and, uh, trying to to
(37:31):
get kids to understand that is.
It's fun and that's's that'spart of the drive.
As a coach, that's what youwant to do.
You.
You'd much rather be in thisposition than the position we
were in a couple of years ago,where everybody counted us out.
Coach Cahill (37:42):
So I was talking to coach Conlon.
I said you know, coaches don'tneed bulletin board material.
But I said, coach, I'm going togive you one.
And he knows.
I said Colgate, fordham,georgetown, picked in the bottom
and it's the opposite for youguys.
Right, you guys were picked atthe bottom or the middle of the
pack, to the bottom, I think, acouple years ago when you took
the job, and now everybody'scoming after you guys because
you guys were picked to win thepatriot league next to richmond.
(38:04):
So talk to us a little bitabout that it's a different
mindset.
Rocky (38:08):
You got it, you got to talk through it.
Um, you got to talk through tothe players that it's last year
is easy, you know, and nobody,nobody, had any expectations for
you.
And this year, everybody hasexpectations for you so you know
, we went, we did a lot ofresearch in the off season and
we put some projects on ourplayers and research projects
and stuff like that, and theydid a really good job with it.
(38:28):
And you know, really, reallyhave the hunting mindset.
You got to be able to hunt.
You got it doesn't matter ifyou're predicted to win the
league, you still have to beable to hunt and be on the
attack mode and you know we'llsee.
I think we're in a good spotwith that mindset.
But you don't know until youtest it and with any team, and
and the team we have right nowwill be a completely different
(38:49):
team than the one we have inmid-october, and that's when you
truly know who you are and Iwas was just again from talking
to Coach.
Coach Cahill (38:56):
I said now you bring you.
Guys played Richmond, you gotthem in the playoffs at their
place and you know, now theycome in the Patriot League.
And then you look and you seeVillanova's coming in the
Patriot League.
You're going to get a reallygood William Mary team.
Right, that's coming in thePatriot League.
Rocky (39:20):
It's going to strengthen this league even more.
You know, top the bottom, talkto us a little bit about that
here, with richmond come in, andthen villanova and william and
mary down the road.
Yeah, this is pretty unique.
We.
We open up with richmond athome and you know we played them
last year and finished theirseason last year.
So obviously they're excited toplay us.
Um, they want to, they want toright the wrong from last year.
Um, we know that we're, we're,why wouldn't you?
Um, and then our league justcontinues to get stronger.
You know it's not like we lostanybody.
You know Ross is still here,fordham's still here, colgate's
(39:42):
still here.
You know the true blue bloodsof you know Patriot League
football are all still here andall of us have gone into
playoffs and made runs.
And then you add you knowRichmond, obviously.
You add William, mary and youadd you know Richmond.
Obviously you had William andMary and you had Villanova.
You know Richmond and Villanovahave won national championships
.
You know, and you mentionedColgate.
Colgate played in one not toolong ago.
(40:02):
You know and you know.
So that's the stuff you growwith this league.
It's pretty awesome.
You know it's also challenging.
It's also going to be achallenge.
So you know you got to look atwhat you're doing
recruiting-wise, what you'redoing development-wise.
Are you doing enough to get thetalent you need to compete with
those guys?
Coach Cahill (40:21):
Coach, you got a special defense alignment that
was picked as a defensive playerof the year.
Talk to us a little bit of howspecial Matt is as a player.
Rocky (40:29):
Yeah, matt's different, he's driven.
You know differently Matt.
You know sometimes the best,you know the the sometimes the
best.
Um, the best players you haveare really good athletes, like
he's an exceptional basketballplayer actually when we had some
pickup games and stuff likethat and he's just super
competitive.
He doesn't want to be held down, he doesn't want to be held
back, he wants to go.
Uh, we have to put the governoron him in practice, otherwise
(40:51):
we can't get anything done.
You know he's going againstsome other guys that he just
makes look foolish at times andhe's just driven.
He's driven, he's driven.
He's here because he wants toget his degree from Lehigh.
You know it's last year he waspoached.
He tried to poach him and Mattdidn't want to leave.
Matt wanted to continue tofinish what he started here and
continue to go.
He's a very loyal kid.
(41:12):
He's a very loyal kid.
He's a very hardworking kid,comes from a great family.
I can't say enough good thingsabout Matt.
He's what Patriot Leaguefootball is all about.
You go and get a great degree.
We'll see what happens afterthis year, but he's been a
tremendous player for Lehigh.
Coach Cahill (41:28):
I know you talked about the expectations when you
got here.
This was the expectations,right, because when I played,
lehigh was always the team tobeat.
They were always in theplayoffs.
When I was at Fordham and wereyou worried the season you had
last year and I know you don'twant to look back at it, but you
, I would say you guys probablyoverachieved right in in your
(41:49):
second year, but those were theexpectations.
You don't look back, but goingforward.
It's like the bar's alreadybeen set.
Now it's really tough to stayat the top, right when you once
you get there yeah, yeah.
Rocky (42:00):
And then, like I was saying before, like kids, kids
want us, they want the instantgratification and that's kind of
what we had.
You know, in year two, all of asudden we're winning a
championship and it's like it'snot typically how it goes and we
were fortunate enough to to.
You know, we we won the leaguelast year.
It was great, everything fellinto our favor and we did a
great job with it and we won aplayoff game.
(42:21):
It was awesome.
Lehigh's back and you look atthat and like we're not quite.
We have a lot of work to do.
We have.
We had a huge first year classlast year.
We had to develop and all theyknew was success and there's
some good things about that,like all they know is to win.
So we had to build on that andwe still have to build on that.
And we'll have some bumps inthe road.
(42:42):
We'll have some bumps in theroad in preseason camp, you know
.
We'll have some bumps in theroad early in the season and
it's just a matter of how do wemanage those?
We had them last year how do wemanage those bumps in the road
and how do we continue to focuson ourselves?
It really doesn't matter whatthe rest of the league is doing
is.
Can we show up and be our bestversion every Saturday?
Coach Cahill (43:03):
And coach, you had so many guys last year, had
great seasons.
For this year you got sevenguys named to the All-Patriot
League and one of them I knowthat's special for in the back
in the backfield is Luke.
Talk to us a little bit abouthim and what he brings.
Rocky (43:15):
Yeah, luke's just gotten better each year.
Just no nonsense.
Does the work.
One of our strongest players,pound for pound.
One of our strongest guys, oneof our most explosive guys.
He actually won the award inthe weight room in the offseason
.
He's a dedicated kid from afootball family.
Dad played in the league, dadplayed at Vanderbilt.
Um, you know he, he knowsfootball.
(43:36):
He's very, very smart.
Um, you know, we don't have tosay too much to him.
It's more calming him downbecause he's so excited at times
and just keep bringing him backup.
But we're successful because ofguys like him and Matt.
You know Matt Spatney and and,uh, luke Yoder do a great job
for us.
They're great leaders byexample.
You know, they don't have to bethe rah-rah guys.
They can just get out there anddo the work and Luke has done
(43:59):
it.
Luke has done a great job andyou know we're excited for this
year.
He's going to continue to growand you know, bigger, faster and
stronger.
Coach Cahill (44:08):
And he knows what it takes in this league now and
you guys get a chance for you.
I said he gets a chance to kindof come home right to this area
.
You get a chance to come hereand play Colgate.
I know you don't like to lookahead, but how special is that
going to be for you to get achance to come a little closer
to home right and play here atColgate.
Rocky (44:22):
It's awesome.
I've been there a few times.
There a couple years ago weprobably played one of the worst
games of my short career as ahead coach up at Colgate.
We looked terrible, we playedterrible, it was bad, and so you
want to go back up and have abetter showing.
But anytime you get a show,that's home to me.
You know that's home.
Playing at Hamilton High Schoolis a rival of ours and you know
(44:43):
it's always pretty special togo back there and you know I
know a lot of people up thereand it's great to stay in Utica
and you know back where I grewup, and back where I grew up,
it's pretty special.
Coach Cahill (44:55):
Is there a position group right now at Camp
Coach that's impressed you themost?
That might be ahead of whereyou thought they would be coming
into camp.
Rocky (45:04):
I think we have experience at the running back
room.
We have experience in theD-line.
The offensive line had a couplequestions.
They're doing a good job ofpushing through the receivers.
We've got a couple guys thathave a little bit of experience
here and there.
I've been impressed with thelinebackers.
We lost an all-conference,all-everything Lehigh linebacker
last year in Mike DiNucci.
He graduated as a fifth-yeargrad student and we've got two
(45:28):
guys coming in to fill in andthey've done a good job from the
spring until now.
And kind of unfortunately, butfortunately for those two is
they got to play a lot in theplayoffs because we lost Mike in
our last game of the regularseason.
He broke his ankle and hemissed as a fifth-year senior.
He won a Patriot League anddidn't get a chance to play in
the playoffs, which broke myheart because he gave so much to
(45:48):
Lehigh.
But he gave these guys anopportunity to play at Richmond
and to go out to Idaho and havesignificant snaps, which is
going to help us this year.
Coach Cahill (45:57):
And Coach, talk to us a little bit, if you can,
about the quarterback room.
You've got some upperclassmen,You've got some young guys.
Talk to us about what that roomlooks like.
Rocky (46:05):
Yeah, we're young, we're young, we are.
You know, last year it was kindof worked out exactly the way
we wanted to.
I think Dan did a fantastic job.
Dan Hunt is one of the bestcoaches I've been around and he
did a great job with that roomand with a fifth-year senior and
a freshman and the way hebalanced it and just open and
honest communication and justDan being who he is, just a
(46:25):
great human being.
He did a great job with that.
And now we have a freshmanthat's had a ton of reps.
That will be a sophomore for us.
And we have another sophomorethat comes in and plays as well.
That will be a sophomore for us.
And we have another sophomorethat comes in and plays as well
and they're best friends andthey're roommates and they hang
out all the time together andthat's just.
That's hard to do this day andage.
It really is.
Everybody wants their own,they're in for their own, they
(46:45):
want to do whatever they want todo for themselves, but not
those guys.
They've done a really good jobof putting the program first and
whatever we've got to do to win.
That's their mindset and that'sa lot of the guys' mindset, but
particularly in that room, andwhen that room is like that,
you've got a chance.
Coach Cahill (47:02):
Yeah, I always brag and I know I bring it up
all the time to you, but havingthe experience of Coach Hunt and
then Coach Nags, who was mydefensive back coach at Fordham,
having that as a young coachlike yourself, with those guys
around you, I mean you can't askfor anything more than that.
Rocky (47:16):
No, no, there's so many days I go in and Coach Hunter
will look at me and just startlaughing.
He goes I'm glad I'm not inyour office, that's a your
office problem, and I'm like,yeah, I know, I know, I know,
just great quality men.
That's what you want to bearound.
You want to have fun.
It's it's.
It's fun to come into work.
We laugh, we joke, we get towork, we do it.
(47:36):
You know, we were mentoringkids, we're having a blast with
it and just good people.
You want to be around goodpeople and and coach Nagy and
coach Hunter are two of the bestand I was very, very fortunate
to bring them here when we camein and, um, they've been awesome
.
Coach Cahill (47:52):
So this year's team coach, and again, we're not
going to look at last year'steam, but what's different about
this group compared to yourgroup from last year?
Rocky (48:00):
I think we're a little younger actually.
We've got probably a biggersenior class that's going to
play for us, but we're onlygoing to be sophomore laden
probably.
So it's going to be interesting.
It's going to be an interestingteam.
We're not afraid to work,they're not afraid to work,
they're not afraid to work,they're not afraid to, you know,
(48:20):
put the work in and get outthere and, you know, give the
energy that we need at practice,all that stuff We've got to.
You know, as any coach is goingto say, we're terrible at
execution right now.
We've had five practices sowe're not very good.
So it'll be interesting to seehow we grow there.
You know, we just had a teammeeting.
I just left it, challengingthem in certain ways, and I'm
interested to see how they'regoing to respond to each other.
So it's it's going to be a funteam and that's just a matter of
(48:44):
what we are now compared towhat we are at the end of
preseason and where we are byweek.
And when we get to the by weekyou got to see where you are
We'll have two gate, two leaguegames under our belt at that
point and then, you know, seewhat's going to happen.
Coach Cahill (48:56):
Yeah, and I think too, bringing Richmond over.
And then again, I think youknow the league top to bottom is
a tough game.
You know week in and week out,yeah, and again I'm looking at
some of the teams again in theschedules it's like you guys
really got to grind.
You know every week becauseevery team I think has gotten
better.
You know every week becauseevery team I think has gotten
better.
You know Bucknell's been there,Holy Cross has been there,
(49:16):
fordham's been there in the pastand you know Coach Fitz will
get Colgate going.
Oh yeah, at some point there'sno doubt in my mind he'll get
that thing going.
But it just seems like with thecoaches in this league it just
keeps getting better and better.
Rocky (49:28):
Yeah, it is.
It's a great league and and youjust you named them all you
know you look at Bucknell.
In my opinion that's probablythe team to beat this year.
You know they've got thatquarterback, that's really good.
They've got a running backthat's really good.
They've run a really goodoffense.
They've got a new offensivecoordinator who's really really
good.
I've known him for years.
He does a great job and youknow everybody counts Col in
(49:56):
November.
It's not going to be easy.
They're going to fight.
Fitz has had a lot of success.
He's going to do a great jobthere.
He's going to get it rolling.
It's not going to take him long.
He knows what he's doing andhe's got a good staff to do it.
Fordham is it's going to comedown to the fourth quarter If
(50:21):
you make the play or not.
Coach Cahill (50:23):
I was really hoping you guys would play
Colgate earlier in the year,because every time I go watch
Colgate play Fordham Fordhamplays them in November and it's
either snowing out, it's adownpour and raining out and I'm
like, can I just get there whenit's like 85 degrees in sun?
Rocky (50:36):
yeah, and I'm like ah, I think there's three, I think
there's three of those days inthe summertime and, uh, in good
old hamilton, new york, and yougot to pick one of them that is
very true.
Coach Cahill (50:47):
But all right, man , listen, I won't keep you much
longer.
I appreciate you jumping on and, uh, I know you've always been
good to me.
I, I pull for, I, I pull foryou every game but one.
Rocky (50:57):
And I appreciate that.
Gotta stay loyal, and Iappreciate that and I agree with
you.
Coach Cahill (51:01):
Gotta stay loyal, but I can't wait to see you.
Hopefully I'll get a chance tosee you during the fall and good
luck I know we'll do it again.
Rocky (51:08):
Rock, thanks again.
Thanks for having me on Always,always a pleasure.
Coach Cahill (51:23):
You got it, man.
Good luck to you.
Thank you.
All right, coach.
Bye now.
So that's Coach Cahill, andhe's always been good to me, and
hopefully he didn't take apicture of me with the Lehigh on
, because I don't want CoachConlon to see me in a Lehigh
shirt.
But, as I just said, I pull forCoach every game but one, and
it's a game he plays for them.
I can't pull for him against myalma mater.
So, thanks to coach conlon,thanks to coach cahill, two of
(51:43):
my favorite coaches at talk,coach fits and colgate, will be
on with me.
As I said earlier too, we'llhave the high school coaches
will be on with me over the nextcouple weeks because they're
getting ready to start here in acouple of weeks.
So much more to come here onthe 46 power podcast.
So thanks, coach Conlon, thanks, coach Kale, thanks to you for
tuning in tonight with me.
Hope you enjoyed the show.
We'll see you again here on the46 power podcast.
(52:07):
Have a good evening, everybody.
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