New Football Coach Jump-Starts Players, Stresses Recruiting

By: Anne B. Falcetano
Posted In: Sports

It’s 1 p.m., and like hundreds of Salve Regina University students and staff, Chris Robertson is sitting in the Miley cafeteria eating his lunch.

But unlike the majority of those in the cafeteria, Robertson is hard at work. He is hosting a prospective member of the Seahawk football team, and the player’s parents. Announced on Feb. 6, Robertson is Salve’s new and first full-time football coach, and this casual lunch meeting is as essential to his team as his coaching on the football field will be.

That’s because one of Robertson’s major challenges is recruiting players for what the university hopes will be a re-energized football program.

For this coach of 10 years, taking time to meet face-to-face with recruits is especially important. So when Robertson is finished with these visitors, he will return to his new basement office in Rodgers and carry on with the task of rounding up more prospects.

As the one month mark approaches for Robertson, more than 30 prospective football players have visited Salve. Along with help from returning players, Robertson says he has hopes of building a team with depth.

In his last coaching position at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the team was fortunate to have a larger roster, the opposite of his first coaching job at Siena College where he sometimes found himself jumping in and participating in practices.

According to Robertson, a larger team can help inspire players to become more competitive for positions,and in case of injury there are well-prepared players ready to fill in on short notice during games.

Athletic Director Del Malloy has commented that increased recruiting is one of the benefits that will come with a full-time coach, helping to bring the program to the next level.

However, the existing players are a large part of the new coach’s role as well. “My first recruits are the returning players in the Seahawk program,” Robertson said.

The existing players are crucial to a successful first season. They will be critical of their new coach after having played for his predecessor.

At his first meeting with the team, Robertson took the opportunity to make his first impression with the players and begin to get them refocused, hoping to bring a fundamental excitement for football out of the players.

At this meeting, Robertson presented his ground rules and expectations for the team. “I don’t need for the players to like me. But they will respect me,” Robertson said.

At 21, Robertson was hired to coach at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. Shortly after graduating with a degree in mathematics, he took the position. He found that some players were older than he was, and it was through his experience there that he learned to be strong and make the distinction between playing and coaching so that he was seen as a respected authority figure.

Already, Robertson has set high expectations for the players, beginning with offseason training and conditioning. He hopes that with proper guidance players will learn how to stay in shape during their down time and to train with a positive attitude.

Players are already reacting to Robertson’s requests and attitude. “We’re not looking for a friend,” said Scott Fitzgerald, a junior. “We’re looking for a coach, somebody to push us.”

Ryan Thomas, a junior, noted that more players are logging time in the weight room, and some can even be found in the Sullivan Fitness Center in the wee hours of the morning, a time of the day when most of their fellow students are warmly tucked away in their beds. The “no exceptions, no rule bending” method of training will drive the players to improve, Fitzgerald said.

At Robertson’s first meeting with the players, some of the most important topics discussed weren’t completely focused on football.

Robertson took the time to speak to players about the important role that they play as representatives of the football team, and more importantly the school. “We’re wearing our football helmet at all times,” said Thomas, referring to the meeting and how players should act in their everyday lives.

Robertson encouraged manners, team behavior at games, treatment of their superiors, respecting others and the respect that they should have for themselves.

Team members reported that Robertson also made promises of himself to the team, vowing to always be prepared as a coach for game day and making the assurance that the players would never go into a game unprepared.

After the meeting, there has been a new feeling of excitement from both the

players and the Salve staff. “I’m looking forward to going through the trenches with this guy,” Thomas remarked.

“I’m excited for the entire schedule,” added Christopher D’Angelo, a junior.

Both Thomas and D’Angelo were student members of the selection committee that recommended Robertson as one of the selections for the position. “We’re looking to get younger, get faster, get stronger, and I feel like with his attitude and his discipline and his plan that a winning season is on the horizon,” Thomas said. “His accolades speak for themselves.”

With spring football practices approaching, Robertson noted that he is going to focus on a method of logical progression, beginning with the foundations of the game and building from there.

This practical method to coaching is something that he highlights when instructing fellow coaches and staff. The first member of his new coaching staff is Coach Bill Carty. The players chose to integrate Carty’s “old school” style of coaching with their new head coach.

Robertson, a self proclaimed “control freak” and truly a football man through and through, notes that he has never known anything else but coaching football. His friends are all football coaches, and there is a passion for the sport that his players can see.

As the first full-time head football coach, Robertson has set goals for himself in both the short and long term. Increased recruiting, molding the team and bringing in wins are among the objectives he sees in his future.

“I don’t think anybody could put more pressure on him than he is putting on himself right now,” Fitzgerald said.

Whether it is with recruits over lunch in Miley or his new barely decorated office, Chris Robertson is hard at work and the Salve community awaits what fresh changes the upcoming footballs season brings.

Regardless of internal or external pressure, Robertson feels comfortable in his place right now. He notes, “Obviously I’m in the honeymoon phase, but I have no doubt in my mind that there’s no better place to be.”