Status of NVL

It was pretty much a consensus last year that the NVL was "down" from previous years. And, from what I have been reading, this may be another down year for the league. Here's a thought to ponder. Could it be that the overall experience, or rather lack thereof, of the head coaches is a contributing factor? In the over 30 years I have been covering the league I can not remember another time when there were so many realatively new coaches.

Naugatuck's Rob Plasky, entering his 10th season, is the longest tenured coach at his current school. He has more wins (53) and losses (41) than any other coach at their current position. But let's not forget that Plasky was 10-1 his first season after taking over for Craig Peters making his record 43-40 after that initial year. The last two years mark the first consecutive losing seasons at NHS since 50 years ago in 1958-59. The last time the program had a longer streak of consecutive losing seasons was from 1945-1952.

Ansonia's Tom Brockett, entering his fifth season, is second in wins with an overall record of 46-5 while Kennedy's Chris Sarlo, now in his sixth season, is second in losses with 38 versus 14 wins. Wins at Ansonia and losses at Kennedy are nothing out of the ordinary, so that should not be too surprising.

The only other coaches who have been at their current school longer than this year's senior class are Jude Kelly, in his sixth season at St. Paul (27-25) and Jason Martinez in his fifth at Crosby (17-24). The other nine head coaches have a combined 11 years of experience as head coaches and a combined record of 58-57.