Finding another school was the easy part for some football and hockey players who suddenly can’t play for Fairfield any more. Now comes the hard part: ending the emotional attachment to Fairfield and their friends here.
“It as certainly been a struggle for players to find a new school,” said Pat Nugent, former assistant hockey coach. “Fairfield was perfect fit athletically, academically and socially for many players. It has been a challenge for them.”
Nugent has been helping players with this process by contacting other coaches.
Some players have been lucky and have already arranged where they are going next year.
Defenseman Eamon Delgiacco, ‘ 05 has already committed to play at Colgate University.
“The transferring process went pretty good, the university was very cooperative,” said Delgiaicco. “I am upset about leaving my friends and having to start over, but I think I found a pretty good spot, and I am just trying to make the best of the situation.”
Jack Devaney ’05 has decided to go to play hockey at Quinnipiac University just two weeks after the disbandment was announced.
“I just wanted to get the process over with,” said Devaney. “It stinks to leave the guys on the team, but I have no emotional attachment to this school.”
The only other hockey player that has finished his transferring plans is Cody Wojdyla ’05, who is going to RPI. All other players are still going through this tough transferring process.
“Pretty much all the sophomore and freshmen players are going to leave,” said Nugent. “It just depends on what school and coach wants them.”
Many players have said that the school has been very cooperative with helping them find a new school to go to.
“So far the school has been very accommodating with helping me in my situation,” said Uros Stosic, ’04, a former member of the football team.
Stosic’s situation is rare because he is transferring with only one more year of eligibility left.
“It’s really tough especially because it’s going to be my senior year,” said Stosic. “But it’s all for the love of the game.”
Goalie Andrew Martin, ’05, is also planning to transfer. The 6-foot-1 keeper from Texas said he plans to go to a school in the ECAC or Hockey East Division next year.
Many of the former players of this university blame Father Kelley for the decision and also believe it was not fully budget problems.
“I blame Father Kelley and the athletic department,” said Delgiacco. “They brought us here to play hockey, form a team, and they took it all away from us.”
Players don’t feel they received a respectful announcement from the university.
“Father Kelley didn’t even address us about the decision,” said Maurice Stallings, ’05, a former member of the football team. “It’s sad.”
Stallings is in the process of narrowing down his decision to transfer to four different schools. In the next couple weeks, he will be going to visit to help his decision.
“To find new schools is different based on each player,” said Nugent. “It’s just about finding the school with a right fit based on a player’s academics and athletic ability.”
Leave a Reply