Bryant Athletics Media Center
October 17, 2007
PROVIDENCE JOURNAL - www.projo.com
Fine's hard work places Bulldogs on winning track
by MIKE SZOSTAK, Providence Journal - link to Providence Journal Web Site
Ten years ago, the University of South Florida played its first football game. Today, the undefeated Bulls of the Big East Conference are ranked No. 2 in the AP and BCS polls, trailing only Ohio State, which played its first game in 1890.
USF is a great story that has drawn national attention.
We have a similar, albeit regional, story unfolding right here in Rhode Island. Eight years ago, Bryant University played its first varsity football game.
Today, the undefeated Bulldogs are in first place in the Northeast-10 Conference and are ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional poll, No. 4 in the first Lambert Division II Football Poll and No. 24 in the D2football.com national poll.
From nothing to national rankings in a decade or less is a stunning achievement, but don't think for a minute that the coaches leading these programs are popping bottles of bubbly.
"Those things are great. It is something I just can't control. We are going to keep banging it out and practice hard and try to get ready and hopefully play well against the next opponent we have," USF coach Jim Leavitt said Sunday on http://www.gousfbulls.com/.
Bryant's Marty Fine must have attended the same coaching academy.
"These accolades mean nothing. If these accolades come a month from now, then we have accomplished something," he said. Taking a breath, he tempered that blunt, but accurate, assessment.
"In some ways it's a positive statement on the direction we're going in. It's safe to say we're a better program than in the past. The university academically, socially and athletically is very accomplished, and we're a part of it."
Neither coach would speak for his players, although Fine suggested his Bulldogs consider the rankings "a nice reward for all the hard work they have put in to this point. If it's more than that, it's an error."
This is Fine's fourth year as head coach at Bryant, and each year has been an improvement on the last. He was 4-5 in 2004, 7-3 in 2005 and 8-3 in 2006. Last year his team shared the Northeast-10 championship and earned a bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Bryant graduated most of its offense, notably record-smashing tailback Lorenzo Perry of Providence, but the Bulldogs who returned this year have achieved in a different way. They're not so flashy or explosive, but they win. They are 6-0, their best start ever, and barring an upset this week at Saint Anselm should be 7-0 when they travel to Division I Stony Brook on Oct. 27. They will finish against NE-10 rivals Southern Connecticut and Bentley.
"Our hope is that we can win our conference championship. If we do, then I think we'll get in the playoffs. If we do, then our hope is to get a home game. If we do, then our hope is to win one," Fine said.
Step by step, game by game. It's all part of the process, whether you're Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, Leavitt and the USF Bulls or Fine and the Bryant Bulldogs.
Fine recognizes the similarity, at least between USF and Bryant.
"If you know Coach Leavitt, and I do, he is a relentless, tireless worker," he said, "The people who take something that's not going well, like Greg Schiano at Rutgers, or take nothing and win do it because they're hard workers. My proudest accomplishment here, and you can ask my assistants who have left, is that we know how to work."
It's a lesson he tries to teach his players. In a first-place showdown against Stonehill last Saturday, the Bulldogs "played the best half of football since I got here" but let down after running to a 34-0 lead early in the third quarter. Fine wants a 60-minute game because he knows his team will need it to win some game. More importantly, he wants his players to know they will need the equivalent of a 60-minute effort to win on the job after they leave Bryant.
"I like to think of them someday working at IBM and working eight hours a day and not getting up and going to the water cooler or playing games on their computer," he said. "We know we're not producing NFL players here. We're producing citizens to go into our society and be productive. The key to that is work."
It probably doesn't get much better than last Saturday for college football in Rhode Island. The recap:
Homecoming at URI; James Madison 44, URI 27; attendance, 6,163.
Homecoming at Brown; Brown 33, Princeton 24; attendance, 6,493.
Northeast-10 Showdown at Bryant; Bryant 34, Stonehill 6; attendance, 5,434.
NEFC Rivalry Game at Salve Regina; UMass-Dartmouth 17, Salve Regina 0; attendance, 750.
