New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
A familiar face, and place
Becker returns home to strong tradition, gentle breeze at Hand
MADISON — There may be bigger high school stadiums in Connecticut, but none nicer than Strong Stadium and certainly none in a more beautiful shoreline setting than the Surf Club.
Even as the sun beat down Tuesday on the joint practice between two of the state’s stalwart football programs — pushing the temperature toward the high 80s — a gentle breeze wafted from Long Island Sound.
“No place better in the world,” senior captain Seth Sweitzer said after Daniel Hand had worked out against Greenwich for the better part of three hours.
Hand victories and Hand titles have rolled in as inexorably as the surf for a half-century. Larry Ciotti. Steve Filippone. The tradition is real, and it is strong.
“Everything you see here is about tradition,” Filippone said.
The last we saw Hand in 2019 before COVID hit, the Tigers had their No. 1 state ranking and 36-game winning streak end in the Class L championship showdown against St. Joseph. Notified of an investigation into his professional conduct, Dave Mastroianni would resign a few months later as coach and teacher.
Filippone, a seven-time state champion, came out of retirement to guide the program through 7-on-7 play, before not only giving Erik Becker his blessing as Hand’s new head coach.
Filippone also stayed on as his offensive line coach.
“Coach Fil has been the most important man in my life since I was 17,” Becker said.
“By the time it’s all said and done, Erik will be the best high school football coach Hand has ever had,” Filippone said. “I mean that. Player, assistant, he has invested his life in this program.”
Filippone insists Becker already is Hand football’s No. 1 historian. Dates. Games. Scores at halftime. Don’t even bother checking his numbers.
In other words, no pressure.
“The weight of our tradition could be a burden, but, for us, it’s a source of strength,” Becker said.
“The fact we are 27-time division champion, 13-time state champion, nine undefeated seasons, we’ve won 76 percent of our games over 50 years. That comes with great responsibility, but it also is an incredible aversive lesson.
“Part of that is something I don’t think I would have realized unless I had spent time away to be more grateful for what we have.”
After he graduated from UMass and started work in the area, Becker said he could not stop himself from going to Hand practices. He started as a volunteer assistant, doing anything he was asked.
Becker coached the Hand freshman team for six years. He became Hand’s offensive coordinator for six more. The Tigers went to four state playoffs during that time, winning Class L state titles in 2011 and 2012. He helped produce all-state quarterbacks and all-state receivers. Filippone said offensive production was never better than in those years.
“When I left, I didn’t think I was coming back,” Becker said. “I left with a peaceful heart, knowing I had to grow and I was going to go build my own house. It took me a long time to be ready to go.”
After 2015, he joined his friend L.J. Spinnato, another Hand guy, at Choate as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.
“I always wanted to have an opportunity to turn a program around as a head coach,” Becker said.
Coginchaug would give him that opportunity. He took over a 1-9 team in 2017, went on to win 60 percent of his games over three years, went 7-3 with three starting seniors in 2019. Haddam-Killingworth hired Becker and he remains deeply grateful to its administration. COVID stole the 2020 season, no 7-on-7, no independent league. Three determined practices a week. He is proud of helping place players at Middlebury, RPI and Bryant.
“When the coaching job at Hand opened up,”
Becker said, “there was kind of a confluence of a teaching job opening and coach Fil indicating he was only going to do it for a year.”
This is Becker’s dream job.
“This is the best job in America,” Becker, 43, said. “To lead this program is an honor beyond words — it’s service. It’s a service I hope to do for the next 20 years for my town, my school.”
Filippone still remembers that day a quarter century ago when he had to get Becker out of class and bring him home. Becker was 17. His dad had died.
“Man, that was a tough day,” Filippone said. “We were there for him.”
“If I didn’t have this football team and coach Fil in my life, I would have spiraled out of control,” Becker said. “The stability, the love, the brotherhood of this program grounded me and provided me a source of strength. A home.
“I’m blessed to be able to say that. I’m sure I’m not the only one. There are countless other young men who needed the program more than the program needed them.”
Filippone sees the effect a teenager’s transformative experience has had on Becker as an adult.
“Erik is a terrific Xs and Os guy,” Filippone said. “But the No. 1 thing is he is so geared to enhancing the experience for the kids who play for him. He is about building trust and strong relationships. He’s 100 percent about character.”
Becker said he is not overthrowing schemes nor rewriting playbooks. On the contrary, he said two terrific coordinators already were in place with Mike Ferraiolo and Mike Davis.
“Both grew up in Madison, both dear friends,” Becker said. “We’re trying to keep as much consistent for the kids as possible. With talented guys in place, my job is to support them and help them get better. I’ve never not been a coordinator, but I’m not one now. I’m trying to be superhands off both sides of the ball.”
Asked what his job as head coach is, he thought for a moment and unleashed a stream of consciousness.
“Culture drives behavior,” he said. “Behavior produces results. There is a great culture here and my job is to uphold it and enhance it, communicate it, own it every day. No. 2 is speed. I work hard with kids on getting faster.
Speed is the No. 1 metric on any field. No. 3 is GPA. I want to make sure these guys are wired tight in the classroom.
“But my No. 1 job is character development. I coach to help boys become respectful, responsible, honest and caring men who’ll become great husbands and fathers and citizens.”
After COVID, Becker feels the level of uncertainty every coach in the state feels. He said he does know his team will play relentlessly and believes they will be the tougher side.
“If you look at us, we’re not terribly big,” he said. “We’re fast and we’re athletic. If we can stay healthy, we can be very, very good. No. 1, we always expect to win. Our standard is sky high.”
Days like Tuesday matching up with Greenwich make it a little clearer.
“I thought we had a great practice with one of the state’s best programs,” Becker said. “I thought we matched up really well, got out healthy and got better.”
Becker looks around and points out players who have had dads, uncles and brothers play at Hand. He settles on Sweitzer. Rick, Ken, Dale and Scott played and they had sons. There have been enough Sweitzer boys to field a football team. Seth is the seventh in the family to be a Hand captain.
“He is a top five kid in Connecticut high school,” Becker said of his wide receiver/defensive back.““He’ll end up at Yale or Dartmouth.”
Hand football?
“It means everything to me,” Sweitzer said. “Along with the tradition, my dad played on this field. My uncles and brothers and cousins. I’m so happy it’s finally my time to shine.
“Once you play here you can’t really leave. You’re always drawn back to it, whether it’s games or practices.”
Sweitzer knows that’s what happened to Erik Becker. Hand football, the giant magnet on the shoreline.
“I’m such a big fan of our tradition and I want to connect our kids to that story,” Becker said. “Not only our guys but these young kids (who had run onto the field). To have that lineage is so significant. Getting kids to know the story in and out inspires the next generation.
“It’s funny. When I was Coach Fil’s coordinator, he was still my high school football coach. So when he would yell at me, I’d do the same thing as when I was 14. I’d kind of cower. I’d go in the tank a little. Part of going away, running a program, coming back, we interact in a different way now. It feels so right. I couldn’t imagine a better situation than to share the field with him every day.”
A little breeze came in off the Sound. Surf Club. Football. Erik Becker smiled.