• Patriot League In The Sagarin Rankings
  
• GUHoyas.com Preview
  
• Coaching Bios
  
• Patriot League Media Day
  
• Patriot League TV Schedule
  
• Street & Smith's: Hoyas 8th
  
• Important Details On Davidson Game Weekend
  
• Georgetown Honored For Grad Rates
  
• Georgetown Honored For Grad Rates
  
• Lehigh Selling Tickets To Georgetown Game
  
• Hofstra WR Transfers To Georgetown
  
• Hester Named HOYA Male Athlete Of Year
  
• MAAC Championship Ring Recovered
  
• Future Schedules Announced
  
• Column: Hoyas Not Eligible For 2001 Title?
  
• Two Brothers Join Hoyas In 2001
  
• Hester Not Drafted
  
• Bill Ward Makes Pro Debut
  
• WGTB Broadcasts Update
  
• Hester Pursues NFL Draft
  
• Recruits At Other Patriot League Schools
  
• 2001 Recruits Finalized
  
• A Father's Recruiting Chronicles
  
• Georgetown Football: Fifty Years Ago
  
• Former Hoya Captain Dies In Accident
  
• Two Assistants Named
  
• Georgetown Alumnus Named Lehigh Coach
  
• Hoya Alumnus Joins Titans' NFL Staff
  
• Benson To Host Area Coaching Clinic
  
• More New I-AA Schools
  
• Assistant Coach Leaves For Gonzaga
  
• West Coast Road Trip Confirmed; Cornell Arrives In 2003
  
• Multi Sport Facility Announced
  
• 2001 Schedule Announced
  

August 14--Georgetown starts the 2001 season at the bottom of the conference, at least according to Jeff Sagarin's rating system of 242 Division I football teams. Here is the ranking of Patriot League teams and Georgetown's 2001 non-conference opponents:

Patriot League:
102. Lehigh
146. Colgate
173. Bucknell
190. Towson
193. Holy Cross
202. Lafayette
213. Fordham
222. Georgetown

Non-Conference Games:
210. Davidson
212. Duquesne
224. San Diego
226. Wagner
228. Marist

Aug. 12--The official Georgetown site, GUHoyas.com, has published a preview by position, and it's fairly comprehensive in introducing the key figures on the 2001 season. In addition, this site has prepared a game-by-game analysis on the teams on this year's schedule.

Aug. 12--The official site has also added bios of many of the team's leading players, excerpted from the media guide. Also, here are links of bios on the coaching staff:

• Head Coach:Bob Benson
• Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs:Dan Rattay
• Offensive Coordinator/ Wide Receivers:Rick Ulrich
• Linebackers/Special Teams: Tim Breslin
• Offensive Line: Rob Sgarlata
• Quarterbacks: Joe Moorhead
• Tight Ends/Tackles: Paul Litwinetz
• Running Backs:David Holm
• Defensive Line: Dwight Ausbrooks

Aug. 2--The Patriot League held its annual media day August 2 in Center Valley, PA. Media coverage was surprisingly low--there were no articles found online in any of the league's eight media markets.

A poll was taken among PL coaches and sports information directors, listed below. Since teams could not vote for their own teams, a total of seven coaches and seven SID's voted. Of the 14 that voted for Georgetown in the poll, 14 picked them for last place, with one vote each.

No Georgetown player received votes for a pre-season player of the year vote.

Aug. 2--The league also announced its 2001 football schedule, with 22 regionally televised games. Georgetown's September 8 game at Holy Cross will be broadcast via WGMC-TV in Worcester, but will not be available outside of central Massachusetts.

Nine of Lafayette's 11 games and eight of Lehigh's games will be telecast this fall; however, neither school will telecast its games against the Hoyas. Holy Cross will be featured on seven telecasts this fall.

Among non-conference opponents, no televised dates are expected.

July 28--Street & Smith's Magazine, the dean of college football annuals, has published its 2001 edition. Its picks for the Patriot League are as follows:

1. Lehigh
2. Colgate
3. Holy Cross
4. Towson
5. Bucknell
6. Fordham
7. Lafayette
8. Georgetown

July 28--Georgetown's October 13 game versus Davidson will be part of a major weekend on campus.

The inauguration of John DeGioia, Ph.D. as Georgetown's 48th president will take place that weekend, at or near the conclusion of the Davidson game. "Inaugural Weekend coincides with a variety of regularly scheduled events, including Leadership Weekend, Parents Weekend, the Athletic Awards Banquet and a home football game", writes John R. Kennedy (C'52), chairman of the GU Board of Directors. "These activities bring to campus a range of university communities, including undergraduate students' parents and members of various Boards as well as faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends.

"I look forward to a series of events that will celebrate Georgetown's rich traditions and bold promise for the future while highlighting our continued academic excellence, strong Catholic and Jesuit identity and commitment to social justice," he continued. "We invite you to join us for this very special occasion."

Current schedule plans posted on the Georgetown web site have the ceremonies beginning off-campus at D.A.R.Constitution Hall at 3:30 pm. There is no official word if the game time (currently scheduled at 1:00) may be altered for the ceremonies. In any case, if you are traveling to Washington for the game and/or weekend, hotel accommodations should be made now.

Dr. DeGioia, a 1979 graduate of the College, is not only the the first first lay person to head a Jesuit university, but the first Hoya Football alumnus to become University president. DeGioia began work as president July 1, according to The HOYA.

July 27--Duquesne University has announced that its October 6 game at Georgetown will be broadcast on the Internet via RedZoneMedia.com. In fact, as many as 10 of the 11 games should have some sort of broadcast, excepting San Diego. The Georgetown broadcasting situation is unresolved until the students return next month. Thanks to those who posted comments on WGTB's guest book.

July 27--USA Today has honored Georgetown University among the top 10 Division I schools with graduation rates, according to a link to its online edition.

Georgetown's class of 1999 (entering school in 1994-95) was cited with an 87% graduating rate for all athletes by USA Today's calculations, which was eighth on its chart of top Division I schools. Lehigh University (94%) was honored with a $25,000 award by the newspaper. In fact, four of the top ten schools listed (Lehigh, Colgate, Georgetown, and Bucknell) play football in the Patriot League.

June 15--A press release on the Lehigh athletics site lists a deadline of July 2 to order priority tickets for its 2001 schedule, including its opener at Georgetown. Tickets, according to the tickets page, will be $8.00.

June 13--A press release at GUHoyas.com has announced the addition of Hofstra transfer Melvin Jones to the Georgetown roster, effective in the 2002 season.

Jones, a 6-1 wide receiver, played one year for the Flying Dutchmen* after a redshirt year in 1999. Jones attended Roosevelt HS in Greenbelt, MD and spent a post-graduate year in 1998 at Fork Union Military Academy. He will have two years eligibility remaining, beginning in 2002.

June 4--Although a week late, The HOYA has posted to its web site its May 25 "Senior Week" edition, the 19th consecutive year the staff has stayed through exams for its final issue. Included in the online issue is a feature on basketball walk-on and football WR Gharun Hester as the paper's Male Athlete of the Year.

“If I could send one guy to represent the university it would be Gharun Hester,” said head football coach Bob Benson. “Forget that he’s the best football player here and forget all of his success with basketball, he just a great guy. He’s wonderful to be around.”

Hester is still awaiting a call to a NFL training camp as a free agent. "“It worked out then [waiting for college recruiting] and I’m sure it will work out now,” Hester told The HOYA. “You can’t complain. Sure it’s discouraging but there are thousands of other guys out there in the same situation I’m in.”

May 31--Earlier this month, a post on Ebay was offering to sell a 1997 MAAC championship ring . However, after a post on the message board, it was reported that the ring was previously stolen and has since been recovered by authorities.

(Oct. 11--Fairfield added for 2002)

May 17--The Hoyas are still three months from their debut in the Patriot League, but future schedules are already taking shape.

The football office has released the tentative schedules for 2002 and 2003. In addition to seven Patriot League (PL) games each season, the 2002 season will feature Georgetown's first road trip to Miami since 1950, facing Florida International. FIU is a new I-AA scholarship program under the direction of former Miami Dolphins QB Don Strock.

Gone from the 2002 schedule will be Wagner, San Diego, and Duquesne, with the Hoyas seeking one and possibly two new opponents to fill the slate--in 2002 and 2003, the NCAA is permitting a 12th regular season game due to an extra week in the number of Saturdays before Thanksgiving.

The 2003 schedule features a full PL schedule as well as Georgetown's first Ivy League opponent since 1937, when the Hoyas travel to Ithaca, NY to face Cornell. Fans will also see the first-ever football matchup with Morgan State--a familiar basketball opponent, but a more formidable gridiron opponent from the MEAC conference.

It's too soon to tell who will fill the remaining spots. The Ivy schedules are booked well into the decade, and Georgetown appears to be moving away from the MAAC and Northeast level opponents. Depending on availability for their own schedules, teams from the ranks of the A-10, Pioneer, or MEAC may be interested, or one of the new I-AA programs such as Coastal Carolina or South Alabama seeking to fill its inaugural schedules.

May 10--A sports column suggests that Georgetown's abbreviated 2001 schedule will make it ineligible for the 2001 Patriot League title.

Columnist Tony Moss at SportsNetwork.com writes that "Georgetown will be on every schedule but that of Colgate, which was not forced to relinquish any of its five non-conference games in order to play the Hoyas [and as a result] Georgetown is ineligible for the league title, but its games will be listed in the league standings."

There is no comment on the Patriot League web site.

The eligibility issue may be academic, as few expect Georgetown to contend for the Patriot title in its first season. However, Colgate's decision to protect its two A-10 and three Ivy League non-conference games rather than travel to Kehoe Field will create an unbalanced league schedule this year.

The Red Raiders will play Georgetown in Hamilton, NY on November 16, 2002 and in Washington on September 6, 2003. A prior scheduling conflict in 2004 has not been resolved; Colgate has previously scheduled Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Massachusetts and has not added GU to its 2004 schedule to date.

April 30--Included in the 2001 recruits list was a pair of brothers from Florida, Ryan and Kyle Joyce. Each comes to Georgetown this fall with impressive credentials.

Ryan Joyce, a 5-11, 240 lb. fullback from Orlando's Lake Highland Prep, was the Florida Class 2A Player of the Year his junior season and a USA Today All-America Honorable Mention selection a year later. A 1st Team All-State selection in 1998 and 1999, Joyce was heavily recruited by Navy and Central Florida, among others, and was a Florida Blue Chips.com top 50 selection. However, Ryan began to show interest in programs in the Ivy and Patriot League and by that time, the window on Ivy and Patriot recruiting had closed for 2000. Ryan opted for a year at Lawrenceville (NJ) Prep, where he earned All-State honors.

A year behind was his brother Kyle, a linebacker at Lake Highland. Noted by the Orlando Sentinel as a "smart player with [a] 1350 SAT and [a] tough player as [a] 200-tackle club member", Kyle was a 1st Team All State selection at linebacker. Kyle, too, was interested in an Eastern program and schools began recruiting both brothers this past fall. Georgetown's arrival in the Patriot League and the strong interest of the coaching staff led to a visit, and a commitment from both brothers followed this spring.

April 23--Senior wide receiver Gharun Hester was not selected in the 66th NFL draft this weekend. A free agent signing could come in the next few weeks.

April 23--Meanwhile, a Georgetown alumnus has made his debut as the first Hoya in indoor football.

Bill Ward (C'98), who was a free agent signee of the Baltimore Ravens before being cut during training camp, has joined the Indoor Professional Football League (IPFL) as the starting QB of the Trenton (NJ) Lightning. The IPFL, a six team league organized along the general rules of arena football, plays a 16 game schedule through mid-August.

The expansion Lightning (0-2) open their home schedule this weekend at Trenton's Sovereign Bank Arena against Omaha.

April 21--Last week, we posted an open letter to WGTB regarding broadcasting Georgetown football games this fall. Following the letter and a number of supportive messages on the station's guestbook, the following statement was posted by station management:

"I just wanted to let those of you who want Hoya football games online on WGTB know that we are currently working with athletics to coordinate broadcasting several home games next year as well as the possibility of broadcasting a few basketball games. Thanks for stopping in and please check back again in the fall."

April 14--Senior Gharun Hester seeks to become Georgetown's first NFL draftee since 1953 at the NFL draft this weekend. Here are links from USA Today and NFL.com on Hester.

At other sites, neither CBS Sportsline nor The Sporting News are as generous, without listing Hester anywhere among its top candidates at wide receiver.

April 5--Here are links to the announcements of recruits signed by Bucknell, Colgate, Fordham, Lehigh, and Lafayette. Towson has not released its list to date.

An unofficial list of freshmen recruits for the 2001 has been posted from the football office, with a summary list posted at www.GUHoyas.com next week. The list is as follows:

The incoming recruits represent 12 states, with Florida (six) and Pennsylvania (four) with the most selections. Surprisingly, there are only two recruits combined from New York and New Jersey.

The 27 recruits average 6-1 and 212.4 pounds. Thirty years ago, the average was 5-11 and 179.3 pounds, so times (as well as stats) have changed.

The Hoyas recruited across a number of skill positions, with considerable success with receivers:

• Glen Rock, NJ wide receiver Jason Agnello was tabbed as a "speedy Division I prospect" by the Bergen Record, with RutgersFootball.com noting that Agnello "deserves a long look by the Scarlet Knights".
• Wide receiver Kurt Bennett comes to Georgetown from Burlington, MA, tabbed All-State and Class B MVP by the Boston Globe. He is a three time selection on the paper's All-New England Team among private schools.
• 6-5 tight end Jordan Jarry, from Nashua, NH, is a three sport star: an all-state tight end in football, a starting pitcher, and a center for his basketball team. "He’s going to be a great player here,” coach Bob Benson told the Nashua Telegraph. “The move to the Patriot League is an exciting move for us and he’s the type of kid we need to compete there.”

The Hoyas added six local players, including 2nd team all-WCAC defensive back Byron Anderson (DeMatha), all-IAC running back Daniel Patterson (St. Stephens-St. Agnes) and quarterback Janiero Wooten (Oxon Hill), who is listed as a wide receiver. A move to WR isn't that unusual, as Gharun Hester joined the Hoyas in 1997 and adjusted from QB to WR.

Georgetown fans will also notice a familiar last name to 5-10 wide receiver Dan Paulus, from Syracuse's Christian Brothers Academy. He'll be the third Paulus on the roster, joining brothers Dave and Matt on the team. It would be the first three brother combination on a Georgetown football team since the late 19th Century.

Even with the 27 recruits' collective skill level, most will see little game time with the existing depth chart. However, their arrival as the first Patriot League class this summer will begin to build the foundation that Georgetown will need in its battles against the conference's best.

April 5--Here's an interesting link: a father's chronicles of his son's recruitment in the Ivy League and the steps in the recruiting and admissions process. There are parallels with Patriot League recruiting issues so it may be worth a look.

March 22--Fifty years ago this spring, Georgetown football changed forever.

On March 22, 1951, football was summarily dropped by University President Hunter Guthrie, SJ, citing a $200,000 deficit following losses to Penn State, Miami, and Maryland. With the decision went 81 scholarships, plans for an on-campus stadium were scuttled, and a sport that had been a part of campus life for 63 years was gone.

Rev. Guthrie's tenure on the Hilltop was brief and tempestuous. He once threatened to fire basketball coach Buddy O'Grady because O'Grady did not approve the schedule with Guthrie in advance. He incurred the wrath of alumni by penning a essay in the Saturday Evening Post in which he served to indict the sport at Georgetown and those involved with it.

"Into football," wrote Guthrie, "goes a stupendous outlay of time, money, and manpower, accompanied by the raw passions of greed and slavish devotion, the ignoble emotions of spite, bitterness, and sly cunning...We did not want the clean, patrician features of Georgetown disfigured by a 'broken nose' and a 'cauliflower ear'", Guthrie wrote.

Guthrie left Georgetown after only three years to become a philosophy instructor at St. Joseph's in Philadelphia--a far cry from the president of a major university. Thirteen years later, the efforts of students to field a representative football team took hold, and was a national model for what is known today as I-AA non scholarship football.

Ironically, the proposed 1951 schedule would have dropped teams like Penn State and Miami from the schedule in favor of more competitive games with Bucknell and Lafayette. A half century later, the wheel has turned full circle.

March 16--According to this link from the Newark Star Ledger, we regret to report the passing of 1998 team captain Mike Melchionda (C '99), who died while vacationing in Aruba early this week.

Mike was a 6-0, 220 pound linebacker from Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, NJ. As a senior, he contributed 77 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 4 interceptions, and forced two fumbles as part of the defense on the 9-2 Hoyas. he was selected to the non-scholarship I-AA All-America team by Don Hansen's Football Gazette. At the time of his death, Mike was in sales at Glaxo Smith Kline.

Feb. 28--Georgetown has announced two new coaches and a third with new responsibilities. Here's an excerpt from GUHoyas.com:

"The Georgetown University football team has announced that Dan Rattay and Rick Ulrich have joined the staff. Rattay will serve as the defensive coordinator, while Ulrich will take over as the offensive coordinator/receivers coach. In addition, Joe Moorhead will become the quarterback coach. Moorhead was the running backs coach last season."

"Rattay comes to GU after serving as the defensive coordinator for six years at Johns Hopkins. He was a member of current GU Coach Bob Benson's first staff at Georgetown before moving to Johns Hopkins...Ulrich was an assistant coach at Pennsylvania the last six seasons. He was the wide receivers coach and was the special teams coordinator at Penn."

Feb. 26--Former Georgetown lineman Pete Lembo (B '92) was named head coach at Lehigh University. Lembo, a co-captain on the 1991 varsity, succeeds Kevin Higgins, who will join the NFL's Detroit Lions.

Since graduation, Lembo has served an assistant at Albany, Dartmouth, and Hampden-Sydney before joining the Lehigh staff.

"I would like to thank Joe Sterrett for this outstanding opportunity and thank Dr. Farrington for his ongoing support of the football program," Lembo said at the press conference. "I am also very appreciative of my family's support throughout my career in the coaching profession. Over the last three years, I have grown passionate about this University, the people, the traditions and the values that Lehigh represents. I have been fortunate to work under one of the finest coaches and human beings I will ever know in Kevin Higgins. I have worked hard to prepare myself for this opportunity and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead."

Lembo's coaching debut will be in familiar territory--September 1 at Kehoe Field, facing the Hoyas.

Feb. 21--The NFL's Tennessee Titans have named Jim Schwartz (C '89) its defensive coordinator. Schwartz, a defensive end and co-captain on the 1988 Hoya team, won the John Burke Memorial Award as a senior. Since graduation, Schwartz was a scout for the Cleveland Browns and an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens before joining the Titans.

Feb. 5--From GUHoyas.com: "Georgetown University Head Football Coach Bob Benson and St. Alban's head coach Doug Boswell will co-direct the Capital Football Clinic, to be held February 16-17, at St. Alban's School in Washington, D.C. Proceeds from the clinic will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

"University of Pittsburgh Head Coach Walt Harris, Baltimore Ravens' Defensive Coordinator Marvin Lewis and Denver Broncos' Linebacker Coach Larry Coyer headline a group of coaches from the National Football League, area college and high school football programs that will provide instruction for coaches during the two-day clinic."

For more information, contact the football office.

Jan. 16--The "growth market" for I-AA schools now appears to be the South. After a number of years of growth among private schools in the East, Southern state schools are now adding I-AA programs.

In addition to previously announced programs at Florida International, Florida Atlantic, and Coastal Carolina, South Alabama trustees have recommended the school upgrade its club team to I-AA by 2003, according to the Mobile Record.

Last month, Southeastern Louisiana announced it will revive its Division I-AA football program in 2003, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate. The school had dropped football for budgetary reasons in 1985, but has now raised $2.5 million towards football and for gender equity improvements to women's teams.

Jan. 4--Assistant coach Ken Lucas was named head coach at Washington's Gonzaga College High School, according to the Washington Post. Lucas has served as an assistant coach for four years at GU and had served two years as an assistant at Gonzaga in the early 1990's.

"I will look forward to following Georgetown and I will envy the coaches a little as they move to the Patriot League, " Lucas told the Post, "but Gonzaga is a great school and this is a great job."

Dec. 10--As recruiting is seeing a boost from the Patriot League affiliation, so too is scheduling. Georgetown's 11th game in 2001 will be its first West Coast road trip ever, a November 3 game at the University of San Diego. The game will be played at USD Stadium at the school's Alcala Park campus.

The game offers a great opportunity for fans to travel west to support the Hoyas. More details on travel plans and alumni club events will follow later in the year.

And here's another big item on scheduling: For the first time since 1937, the Hoyas will face an Ivy league opponent on a future schedule. On October 18, 2003, Georgetown will travel to Cornell University, although the Cornell web site currently lists Oct. 11 as its open date.

Ivy schedules are filled far in advance (for example, Columbia is adding opponents for its 2013 schedule), so Georgetown's efforts to attract more games will take time. However, this news is certainly a positive step forward for Georgetown Football into the new millennium.

Dec. 5--A press release from Georgetown has announced the largest set of athletics building projects in its history, including the future initiative to build a permanent multi-sport facility for Georgetown football and lacrosse, seen in the artist's rendering above.

Quoting the release: "This Multi-Sport Facility Renovation of the current Harbin Field is perhaps the lynchpin to all of the other renovation plans. This facility will be a 4,500 seat complex with the ability to accommodate a large range of prospective users, both athletic and academic. The field will be adaptable for football, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, and field hockey games. In addition, intramural and recreational use for the facility will be encouraged when the varsity teams are not playing or practicing. In addition, the field could serve a variety of other purposes. It could serve as an outdoor facility for events such as academic convocations, graduation, concerts, or student activities. The field will also comply with NCAA design requirements to allow for possible hosting of NCAA tournament play. Lighting will also allow for more flexible scheduling of the field."

"The facility will have coaches' offices, locker rooms, meeting space, press boxes, viewing suites, training and weight room areas, concessions stands, and a ticket office."

Nov. 27--A letter to the Gridiron Club membership and a link to the Patriot league web site introduces the 2001 schedule for Georgetown's debut season in the league.

The opener will be a mighty test: 2000 Patriot champion and NCAA quarterfinalist Lehigh (12-1 in 2000) visits undersized Kehoe Field on Labor Day weekend. A road game versus a renewed Holy Cross (7-4) team follows on Sept. 8, with the Hoyas going out of conference on September 15 to play Wagner (6-5). A road game to Fordham (3-8) follows on September 29, with non-conference home games following Oct. 6 versus Duquesne (9-2) and Oct. 13 Davidson (11-0). Road games at Bucknell (6-5) on Oct. 20 and MAAC foe Marist (6-4) lead to a pair of home games at season's end: November 10 versus Lafayette (2-9) and November 17 versus Towson (7-4).

Patriot League member Colgate is not on the 2001 or 2004 schedules for Georgetown. The Red Raiders did not get out of prior scheduling arrangements with A-10 teams to add the Hoyas, meaning Georgetown and Colgate will only play six conference games in those years.

From their 2000 seasons, the overall win-loss record of Georgetown's opponents is 73-48 (.603), with nine of the eleven opponents coming off winning seasons.