If your team failed to win a single game in 2009, after winning just two the year before, most players would have little motivation to compete. But not the Hoya football team.
Of course, it is never fun to go 0-11, but the promise of a clean slate and the chance to improve in the upcoming season has kept the Georgetown football team focused during the off-months. To wit, they’ve made some important changes, like hiring Hofstra’s former offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude. Patenaude has completely changed the offensive schemes the team uses, a big step forward since the team’s strategy has been overly conventional in the past.
“It’s light-years ahead from anything I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” senior linebacker and team co-captain Nick Parrish said. “Guys really bought into the system and a lot of the younger guys coming in are picking it up really quick.”
In recent years, the Hoyas haven’t had the best downfield passing game either, but that may change now that a battle for the spot of starting quarterback is being waged between two talented arms, sophomore Isaiah Kempf and junior Scott Darby. Last season, Kempf completed 50.4 percent of his passes with two touchdowns and nine interceptions. In Darby’s sophomore campaign, he completed 46.7 percent of his passes while throwing four touchdowns and four interceptions. Both quarterbacks have looked good in camp and Hoya fans have reason to hope that their hard work this summer will translate to success on the gridiron.
Not only does Patenaude come in with a lot of experience, his intensity should help keep players focused and energized—which could be a vital change for a team competing on the heels of a demoralizing season.
“There’s a lot more confidence in the camp, confidence in our schemes, offensive and defensive,” senior offensive lineman and co-captain Dan Semler said. “So the attitude’s been great. We’re really looking forward to [our first game at] Davidson.”
With their newfound confidence, the Hoyas have moved past last season’s 0-11 record and the losing culture may be gone. One look at practice says a lot about how the team feels as the once negative yelling has now turned into positive roars.
“Our expectation is to win every game, so we’re going to take one at time,” Head Coach Kevin Kelly said.
Most teams around the Patriot League might laugh at that statement after what happened last year, but the Hoyas, whose 2010 football season kicks off on Saturday, September 4 when the team travels to North Carolina to take on Davidson, don’t mind what other teams think of them.
“It’s perfectly fine for us to be the underdog this year, and [for] no one to believe in us. That’s perfectly OK,” Parrish said. “It just makes us want to work that much harder.”
