Mike Eagle took his first dip into coaching high school football nearly 20 years ago as a member of Tim Kings staff at Valley Regional, where he oversaw skill-position players and called the junior varsity offense.
A few years later, when he began his teaching career at McGee Middle School in Berlin, Eagle joined the Berlin High staff and dabbled in a little bit of everything for six seasons. Morgan gave him his first head coaching opportunity. Guilford, his second. Eagle then returned to Berlin to coordinate the Redcoats polished, high-powered offenses of 2017 and 2018.
The coach took a breather from football in 2019. On Thursday, his career officially circled back to the Pequot Conference when he was hired as coach of the Coginchaug/Hale-Ray/East Hampton co-op program.
Eagle replaces Erik Becker, who stepped down after three seasons and is now the new head coach at Haddam-Killingworth.
The fall away from coaching allowed me to sit back and recharge and help out at home, said the 47-year-old Eagle, who lives in Guilford with his wife and their two sons. To be honest, the time off was great. It allowed me to do a lot of things and it also solidified the fact that I missed football.
Mike Eagle will replace Erik Becker as the head football coach for the Coginchaug/Hale-Ray/East Hampton co-op program.
Mike Eagle will replace Erik Becker as the head football coach for the Coginchaug/Hale-Ray/East Hampton co-op program.
Mike Eagle will replace Erik Becker as the head football coach for the Coginchaug/Hale-Ray/East Hampton co-op program.
Mike Eagle will replace Erik Becker as the head football coach for the Coginchaug/Hale-Ray/East Hampton co-op program.
Paul Augeris news and notes: Eagle returning to sidelines as Coginchaug co-op coach
I missed the Friday nights, but more than that I missed being in the locker room with the guys. I missed the March 6 lifting sessions, the offseason work, the passing league in the summer, everything that goes into being a part of a football program. So its not only the games, but the relationships, all those things that revolved around football. This is a labor of love and a passion and Im ready to jump back in.
Eagles hiring in Durham has generated positive reaction. His varied experiences as a head coach with medium- and large-school programs inside the Pequot and out, plus his knowledge with offenses and defenses, give the Blue Devils a veteran they havent had out of the gate with past hires.
Were lucky to have an individual like Mike Eagle moving forward, Coginchaug athletic director Todd Petronio said. His familiarity with the Pequot certainly added a positive (to his candidacy) after the fact. It helps that Mike has connections, but his experience as a head coach in different settings gave us a flavor of what hes accomplished in the past.
The fact that Coginchaug has taken an upward turn in the last three seasons did not go unnoticed by Eagle. Last fall, the Blue Devils finished 7-3, their best record in some time, with a roster of almost entirely underclassmen and a loss of only a handful of impact seniors. In film study, Eagle quickly realized the team has some dudes who can play.
Way back when, you had to ask around and try to find film of players, but with the advancements in the sport now, you can just click on YouTube, he said. So here I am in the application process watching game film of Coginchaug against Rockville and Coginchaug (versus) Old Saybrook. Im watching and saying, whew, they have some very athletic, very fast players, in a very similar scheme to what I do. I know Coach Becker professionally. I know what he does as far as an offense. We are similar yet different, but looking at this opportunity, you do your homework going in. You study up on the school and the community so youre not jumping in blind.
Eagle played high school football for Tony Jaskot at Xavier in the late 1980s. He was an all-conference receiver, an all-county kicker and a senior captain (and later a short-lived walk-on at the University of New Haven).
He had a good run as a first-time head coach at Morgan from 2010-14 a 28-25 record with a Class S playoff appearance in 2013, the Huskies first since 2000. Morgan was 8-3 in his final season, just missing out on another playoff berth.
It was fun. I really enjoyed my time at Morgan, Eagle said. I was blessed to have some great coaches and great administrators and some great kids there who bought into my philosophy. Morgan had small-school appeal. We had a pool of 285 boys to pull from then. That has challenges in itself. I liked the challenge of how to get kids to play real iron-man football both ways, as well as the challenge of game-planning.
The Guilford job for him was a step up to the Southern Connecticut Conference with a large roster at his disposal, but it didnt pan out the way I had thought it would. He resigned (his choice, hes said) after winning just five games in two seasons.
When the Guilford job opened, it seemed like a good fit. I was in town already, Eagle said. When I left, Joe Aresimowicz, who had taken over at Berlin, invited me back to Berlin to call the offense for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. His son Michael was on my staff at Morgan and Guilford. That was my offense they had been cultivating at Berlin since 2010, so I jumped back in head-first.
The Redcoats, a state finalist in 2012 and 14, played for the Class M championship in 2018, where they lost to a St. Joseph team that blew out 12 of its 13 opponents that season.
Last summer, Eagle assisted Plainvilles Tim Shea for Team Constitution in the state senior all-star game. That was my last little fix before taking some time off, he said.
As Becker did before him, Eagle said he will call offensive plays at Coginchaug. In the coming week, Eagle looks forward to meeting the players and coaching staff and learning how a co-opted program navigates both the challenges and advantages of partnering with a family of schools.
The Pequot is a hodgepodge. Its a jambalaya of everything big and medium schools put together, he said. With co-ops, they give kids who dont have a chance to play at their school a chance to play at another school. Im right back in the middle of it and ready to get my hands dirty and get coaching again.
LIGHTS UP AT PALMER
Palmer Field gives the illusion of a much larger ballpark now that the eight light towers originally installed in the 1960s have been replaced and relocated. There are now just seven towers, powered by an LED system that is expected to get a dry run in the coming weeks.
The city will save money on future light bills with this system, which cost nearly $800,000. Coupled with the ballparks 2018 renovations to its entryways, the addition of a viewing deck and the replacement of the diamonds dirt surface, the LED lighting truly makes Palmer Field a modern-day park.
No more obstructed views, either. The new light towers are behind the grandstands on the first- and third-base sides of the park and the tower once within the viewing deck near the left-field corner is now behind the space.
The first Palmer Field game of the spring is scheduled for April 6 when Xavier hosts Immaculate. The Falcons play nine regular-season games at Palmer, Vinal Tech hosts three and Middletown and Portland two each.
IN THE SCHOOLS
** The five CIAC boys basketball tournaments begin this week. In Division V, Hale-Ray hosts Westbrook in the first round Monday. This is the Noises first postseason appearance in nine years.
Middletown and Xavier, both in Division II, have home games Tuesday night. The Blue Dragons host Wethersfield at 6 and the Falcons host McMahon at 7.
** We are into the quarterfinal phase of the CIAC girls basketball tournaments. In Class M, defending champion Cromwell hosts SMSA on Monday (7 p.m.) while Coginchaug plays at No. 2 seed Canton at 6. In Class S, top seed and Shoreline Conference champion East Hampton hosts Old Lyme on Thursday at 7.
The Bellringers are 3-0 against the Wildcats this season. In the second round, they scored the final 30 points to beat Stafford by 20. Coach Shaun Russells squad has only one senior and likely will do this dance again in 2021. East Hampton has been to a state final just twice winning Class S in 1980 and finishing runner-up in 1985.
** Eli Cyr was a Class L and State Open championship wrestler at Middletown High in 2019. He has taken a gap year since graduating and spent some of his time away from school working to make Hall Highs Drew Currier a better wrestler. Currier just won the state title at 120 pounds.
** Back in the day, Vinal Tech was a member of the now-defunct Charter Oak Conference with the likes of Portland and Cromwell. The Hawks had some good basketball teams and strong teams, but none matched what Jyqwam Fountain did last week in a 70-60 win over Norwich Tech. In his final game for Vinal, Fountain scored a school-record 48 points (or 69 percent of the teams total), including the 1,000th of his career. Tremendous.
** Mercy has signed on to play two softball games under the lights at Pat Kidneys Lu Gecewicz Field. The Tigers will take on Daniel Hand on May 6 and Lauralton Hall on May 15.
THIS AND THAT
** Middletown finished sixth out of 27 teams in the Nutmeg Weightlifting Competition for football players on Saturday, the Dragons best showing in 10 years. Junior lineman Jake Bowen put up 320 pounds on the bench press, most of any lifter, while junior running back/linebacker Jayden McDaniel lifted a total of 985 pounds on the day, second best in the 201-220 weight division. Top five lifting teams: Southington, Cheshire, New Britain, Shelton and Plainville.
** Wesleyan mens hockey won the NESCAC championship for the first time by pummeling Trinity 7-2 on Sunday.
** It would be cool to see area schools like Coginchaug and H-K pursue at least one date on either the Palmer Field or Pat Kidney diamonds. This is a pay-to-play scenario, of course, but who wouldnt want to see their student-athletes have an opportunity to play under the lights at premier facilities like ours?
** A friend and his wife recharged their batteries with a winter trip to watch golf, not play golf. This was the ideal vacation three PGA Tour events in three weeks, starting in San Diego with the Farmers at Torrey Pines, followed by stops at TPC Scottsdale for the Waste Management Open and Monterrey for the AT&T at Pebble Beach. Maybe I will be included next year?
** Cromwells Justin Stergos, who is part of the hockey co-op with host Newington, Berlin, Manchester and Canton, was named CIAC Division III Defenseman of the Year. The team went 17-3 and is the No. 2 seed in the D-III tournament, which starts Monday.
** Rough start for Bryant Universitys baseball team (2-11), but a promising one for Coginchaug graduate Luke Garofalo. The redshirt freshman right-hander, who had Tommy John surgery in 2018, has one win, five strikeouts and a 1.69 ERA in three relief appearances covering 5 1/3 innings.
** Finally, in a perfect world, traveling violations would be called 100 percent of the time. The world is far from perfect, and in my estimation roughly 50 percent of walks are caught by officials at all levels. Eye test, and the eyes, like numbers, usually dont lie.
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Paul Augeris news and notes: Eagle returning to sidelines as Coginchaug co-op coach - Middletown Press
