After a rocky start to the season, the football team finished the year by winning four of the team’s final six games, and ended the year with a 5-6 overall record.
When asked for an interview by The Mirror, second-year head coach Joe Bernard told the sports information office that he had “prior engagements” after initially agreeing to meet with The Mirror for a face-to-face interview.
Bernard would only agree to answer The Mirror’s questions vie email. After press time, Bernard, who initially did not provide comment on some questions, did indeed send in answers, stating that there were E-mail problems that caused the delay. To allow the students the opportunity to read his answers to all of the questions, we have revised the interview, which follows below:
Q: What happened Saturday against Duquesne? What did they do well? What were you unable to do?
A: Duquesne demonstrated why they are undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country. They capitalized on our mistakes early and did not make any mistakes themselves. Our kids played their hearts out, but they were beaten by a better football team.
Q: After a slow start, the team began to come together. What do you think was the biggest reason for this?
A: With 14 of 22 starters playing together for the first time it took awhile for us to gel as a team and play with confidence.
Q: How much did the team’s numerous injuries affect the season?
A: The fact that we lost key starters to injury really hurt our timing on both sides of the ball and took us longer to gel as a team. But, I was extremely proud of the way the guys stepped in and helped us improve each week.
Q: Many players left the team this year. How did that affect the team unity and performance on the field?
A: It had no affect.
Q: Why did so many players leave? Most notably, Mike Prarie ’03, Tom Campion ’05 and Anwau Huffman ’05.
A: These players left for personal reasons.
Q: What can we expect from the Stags next year?
A: The future looks very promising. A lot of young players gained valuable playing experience. We do have to replace the great leadership provided by our seniors. That will be the challenge for the next class. We also look for guys to step up their games and replace some outstanding talent.
Q: How will the loss of the senior class, especially quarterbacks Mike Cerchio and Paul Gorra, affect the team next year?
A: Our quarterback position will have competition between some good underclassmen. We will evaluate their strengths during spring ball.
Q: Why did you deny the fact that Cerchio was suspended from the LaSalle game earlier this year, when asked by The Mirror?
A: I was never asked that question. So I never denied it.
Q: It was after that article, where The Mirror revealed that Cerchio was in fact suspended that you stopped talking to us for several weeks. Why?
A: The Mirror did not follow the protocol set by the sports information department regarding the interviewing of coaches.
Q: Gossip around the athletic center is the football team’s displeasure with The Mirror’s often negative coverage of the team. Considering the way the season started, wouldn’t you say the negativity was warranted?
A: The displeasure stemmed from The Mirror’s inaccurate reporting of our program which made it appear we have never achieved success (1998 MAAC Championship).
Q: The Mirror doesn’t intentionally give the team bad press. But certain events have occurred surrounding the team where it has been necessary … One was your DUI last year. You’ve never talked at length about it, has the mistake changed anything for you, either personally or professionally?
A: This was a personal matter.
Q: Was the mistake an isolated incident, where you can use it as an example to your players and others that are close to you?
A: Again, this was a personal matter.
Q: Where do you see the program five years from now? Do you see yourself apart of that team?
A: We must continue to recruit the type of quality student-athlete that can succeed at Fairfield University. I’m confident with these types of student athletes in our program, we will continue to be one of the top teams in the MAAC. I enjoy coaching at Fairfield. It is a program I helped start in 1996, but there are no timelines in our profession.
Leave a Reply