The Pardy's Over

Here at Bates, many observers agree that Pardy taught his players some remarkable lessons, lessons that were occasionally (and
understandably) overshadowed by a six-year win-loss record of 2-46.

Pardy taught his players to respect each other and their school. He taught them dedication in the face of adversity. And he taught them to eschew easy answers in favor of tough challenges.

Despite a coaching record that established, at one point, New England's longest football losing streak (thirty-seven games from 1991-1996), Pardy remained a relentlessly upbeat and positive coach.

"If we're going to beat this, I can't say to my players, `You've got to work harder and be more persistent' and then not be in my office working hard and being persistent," said Pardy in a Bates Magazine interview several weeks prior to his resignation. "I can't be around campus moaning if I then talk to our players exhibiting a positive demeanor."

Among the players, Pardy had many supporters. First-year linebacker Bob Rosenthal '01, who came to Bates from Walpole High School, one of the best football programs in Massachusetts, was encouraged to attend Bates by another Walpole graduate at Bates, Frost Hubbard '00. "I know Bates isn't the most attractive place to play football, but Frost put it as a challenge, to turn the program around," said Rosenthal in an early December interview.

Rosenthal, who was named defensive rookie of the year in the New England Small College Athletic Conference in 1997, said that Pardy tried to shake what seemed to be the team's ingrained expectation to lose. "The coaches put us in a position to win every week," he said. "But sometimes, when we're winning in a game, kids look around at each other like, `I wonder what's going to go wrong for us.' We just kinda expect to lose. Teams like Amherst and Williams, they get pretty much the same players. But they know how to execute to win."

Pardy came to Bates in 1992 from Marist, then a Division III football program, where he turned around a floundering program as the youngest head coach in the country. In many ways, he seemed to be an ideal coach for the 1990s. Not a smashmouth coach, he instead instilled a sense of family among his players, sometimes with slogans left on players' voice-mail ("Tough times don't last -- tough people do") or community-building exercises on the field. "He'd tell us always to say hello to each other and to eat with one another, to get the idea of a family," Rosenthal said. "At the end of practice, when we clap it up, we yell `family' or `together,' stuff like that. It seemed hokey at first, but after a while, they were like my brothers. He always says, `Family, classes, football.' That's the order you should take care of your priorities."

Director of Athletics Suzanne Coffey accepted Pardy's resignation, but she was also among his supporters. Interviewed last fall, she praised Pardy's contributions to Bates. "His biggest impact has been his ability to make these young men believe in themselves as leaders."

Bates is now conducting a national search for a new coach, who will inherit a program that has posted just one plus.-500 record in seventeen years (6-2 in 1981 under Web Harrison '63).

Pardy's legacy? Though his teams won just two games in six years (one a raucous, last-second win over Bowdoin in 1995 that snapped the thirty-seven-game winless streak), Pardy managed to instill a positive outlook among his players and a sense of responsibility to their campus community.

"He takes the time to get to know us," Rosenthal said in December. "When we stretch out, he walks around and says something to everyone. Not to be buddy-buddy, but to put a smile on your face before you start banging heads again.

"After practice, he always says, `Be a good person,'" Rosenthal continued. "He always brings up the concept of respect for others and how to treat people right, because we're part of the community."

By H. Jay Burns

Legends of the Game

Art Monk, who went on to a record-breaking career with the Washington Redskins.

Jim Brown, perhaps the game's best-ever running back.

And Walt Slovenski?

Sure enough, sprinkled throughout Syracuse grid records is the name Walt Slovenski,
legendary Bates track and field coach
emeritus, who played both ways for the Orangemen in the late 1940s.

Who, for example, holds the Syracuse football record for most interception yards gained in a game? Walt Slovenski, 108 versus Temple in 1946.

Who ranks higher in career average punt-return yardage, Slovenksi or Art Monk? That would be Walt, with a 15.3 average from 1946 through 1948, versus Monk's 9.8 average.

Who's number three on the all-time Syracuse interception list? That would be Slovenski, with thirteen.

And on offense, who was the Syracuse passing leader in 1946? Walt, with nine completions on seventeen attempts, good for 199 yards and three touchdowns (and a pass efficiency rating of 185.9, best ever for Syracuse).

"I think it's amazing that those records have held up," Slovenski said. "The game's changed today, with players specializing so much and not playing both ways."