Four Times. Maybe Five.
Can Jeff Devanney keep Trinity winning?
The end of the nine-week sprint can be heard in Jeff Devanney’s raspy voice. When he spoke Wednesday, he was a few days removed from the season’s biggest victory and only a few more from one of the biggest opportunities of his 13-year run as Trinity football coach.
“You get knots in your stomach as a coach Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” Devanney said. “As players, you get butterflies Friday night and Saturday morning. As a coach, by then you’re fine. To me, it’s Sunday, Monday, Tuesday as you’re trying to figure out the game plan.”
Trinity-Wesleyan, the traditional final-week NESCAC matchup that is a charming staple in our state’s fall football landscape, takes place Saturday at noon at Andrus Field in Middletown. There are more high-profile rivalries, though few much better, and what’s at stake this year in a series that began in 1885 represents the incredible staying power of Devanney’s program.
Trinity is seeking its third consecutive NESCAC championship.
The only other time the Bantams won three in a row was when they won four in a row under Chuck Priore in 2002-05. With Devanney as an assistant, Priore went undefeated his final three years and left to take over at Stony Brook, where he remains.
In the 13 years since, Devanney, 47, has kept Trinity at the top of the NESCAC. His 90-15 career record represents the best winning percentage in program history. He has led the Bantams to four of their eight conference titles and a fifth
might be slipping away before it really got started. Trinity had won 30 games in a row when Devanney took over in 2006. His first team went 7-1 to finish second. His second team went 6-2. With 2008 feeling like a make-or-break season, the Bantams went 8-0, the first of three undefeated seasons under Devanney. At least a runner-up finish has been clinched this season and Trinity will have finished first or second in the NESCAC in 11 of 13 years.
“It’s what I’m probably most proud of,” Devanney said. “The first few years were interesting. I was a very young coach. Everything from my standpoint was so heightened. I was 35, 36 years old trying to prove I could do it.”
Trinity (7-1) and Wesleyan (5-3) will be meeting for the 117th time Saturday. Trinity leads the series 62-53-1 and has won 16 of 17. The Cardinals have clinched a winning record for the seventh consecutive season, a program rejuvenated by Mike Whalen (who returned as coach in 2010 and is now athletic director) and fourth-year coach Dan DiCenzo.
The Bantams lost to Amherst in Week 8 last season before closing with a victory over Wesleyan to finish 8-1 while Amherst lost to Williams to fall to 7-2. This season, the Bantams are again tied with Amherst but would clinch the NESCAC with a victory because ties are broken by head-to-head results.
“You’re deal with all the emotions of the last game, seniors playing their last game,” Devanney said. “You have all that and sometimes players show up on Saturday and don’t play their best because they’re so caught up in the moment of this being their last game. And then you throw in, ‘Holy, crap, if we get this thing done we win three in a row.’ All of that goes into your mind. Sometimes it makes you not play well. But this team has given me no inclination that they won’t handle the job.
“They all just saw it last year. Amherst beat us, then I know exactly what happened -- as much as their coaches told them the season wasn’t over, the players thought the season was over because they beat Trinity. Then they went up and they laid an egg against Williams and lost and we ended up as champions.”
Four times now. Maybe five.
Devanney came out of East Lyme High in 1989 and played baseball and football at Trinity, an all-conference player in both. He had brief stints as a football assistant at Georgia Tech, Albany, Coast Guard and Central Connecticut and returned to his alma mater in 2001.
Like Daniel Jessee and Donald Miller — each 32-year coaches for whom the on-campus field is named — Devanney is Trinity football. And few have experienced the NESCAC to the extent he has. He has reached a point few coaches do – one of pure contentment. Devanney is not going anywhere, ever. He’ll retire at Trinity instead of embracing the nomadic lifestyle of the college football coaching ladder.
The son of educators – his father was a teacher at East Lyme High and his mother a teacher at Waterford High – Devanney loves the nine-plus months of his job that have little to do with football. That time has to do with networking and career placement. Trinity will hold a team meeting Tuesday, the theme being, “The season is over but we’re not going on vacation. Let’s go get internships.”
Who knows how many NESCAC championships he’ll have, say, 20 years from now, when he’d reach a 33rd season.
“There’s something about recruiting when you went to the school,” Devanney said. “I would definitely be [always] be happy here. It’s a great place. Twenty years? So, let’s see. I’m 47. Hopefully not 20 years. I’m hoping at some point I can retire and go play golf.”