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Baldwinsville’s Rotchford elevated to associate head coach for Mustang football<\/h3>\nBaldwinsville’s Rotchford elevated to associate head coach for Mustang football<\/h3>\nMorrisville State head football coach Curt Fitzpatrick recently announced the elevation of Patrick Rotchford to Associate Head Coach for the upcoming 2018-19 season.<\/p>\n
Rotchford will continue to serve as the run game coordinator, coach of the offensive line and recruiting coordinator, responsibilities he has overseen for the past four years on the Mustang sidelines.<\/p>\n
The Baldwinsville native joined the Morrisville State staff in June of 2014 after receiving an opportunity to return east at what he describes as the \u201cright time\u201d in his career.<\/p>\n
Rotchford made the trek from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College in Claremont, California to the small upstate New York town, rejoining forces with Fitzpatrick, a fellow St. John Fisher grad who once held the \u2018position\u2019 of teammate years earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI absolutely wanted to work for and with Coach {Fitzpatrick}\u201d, Rotchford said. \u201cHis vision for the program, and the opportunity he created fit at the perfect time with where I wanted my career to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
His three-year experience on the sidelines in Claremont as offensive coordinator, as well as running backs and offensive line coach, fit what Fitzpatrick needed for the program that was taking a new direction in the fall 2014 season.<\/p>\n
Together the pair created a dominant offensive unit, one that claimed the New Jersey Athletic Conference title after finishing 9-2 overall \u2013 6-1 within conference play \u2013 while earning the program\u2019s first bowl game trophy.<\/p>\n
When all was said and done that season, it was the work of Rotchford with the offensive line that saw the Mustangs lead the NJAC in three statistical categories offensively; total offense at 493.3 yards per game, rushing at 262.1 yards per game, scoring at 37.9 points per game, and ranking second in passing at 231.2 yards per game. Morrisville State also ranked 13th<\/sup>\u00a0overall in all of Division III in total offense and rushing, appearing in the end of year statistical rankings for the first time.<\/p>\n For the next three seasons, Rotchford\u2019s contributions to the Mustangs offense are none other than one of great value, as Morrisville State maintained a large presence as a member of the Empire 8 in their offensive game.<\/p>\n This past season alone, the Mustangs ranked second in the offense in scoring, third in total offense, second in rushing, and second in first downs.<\/p>\n Despite where Morrisville State finished in the statistical rankings on the year, one of the most memorable take-a-ways for Rotchford from the season was the touchdown score that came with\u00a01:16<\/span>\u00a0to go in the fourth quarter against alma mater St. John Fisher College Nov. 4.<\/p>\n \u201cOur come-from-behind win over {St. John Fisher} on our own turf was a statement win for our program and for the school,\u201d Rotchford stated. \u201cToo often our program, what we put into it, and our student-athletes, are looked at as less than. That was a special moment for Morrisville Football and really put the exclamation mark on the work that we put in each and every day on the field and in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking as a former offensive lineman, Rochford attributed much of the team\u2019s success to the Mustang student-athletes who have never wavered in their commitment to the program, and have strived to get better in all facets of life.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite student-athlete to coach is the one that has a tremendous work ethic, and is not afraid to practice good habits on and off the field to truly be the best they can be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery now and then you find that special student-athlete, one that not only puts in the effort you ask, but goes above and beyond in providing leadership to teammates as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love the game and was lucky enough to use my playing career to break into the field of coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCoaching the offensive line is special,\u201d he continued, \u201cthey usually have the most players on the field, and tend to be the biggest \u2013 their success relies on them working together.\u201d<\/p>\n While offensive linemen typically don\u2019t receive as much individual recognition as other positions, under Rotchford\u2019s leadership, the Mustangs have received D3football.com national team of the week accolades on October 28, 2015 as the line\u00a0racked up 482 yards total offense against the DIII 29th<\/sup>\u00a0ranked overall defense, Ithaca. In that same contest, the line assisted in collecting 267 yards in the running game against the Ithaca defense, which was ranked sixth-best statistically in Division III, allowing a mere 67.5 yards on average per game.<\/p>\n Rotchford has coached several players to All-Conference honors, including Fahraad Johnson and Kenny Maryon who went on to earn USA College Division III All-American accolades in 2016.<\/p>\n The 2017 season saw three more student-athletes under Rotchford\u2019s guidance receive conference recognition, including linemen Tyler Cowley and Marcus Thompson (Syracuse).<\/p>\n Running back Nick Edmond (Blythe, Calif.) also received All-Conference honors, becoming just the seventh in program history to collect more than 1,000 yards in the running game in a single season. Both Thompson and Edmond return for a final season this fall.<\/p>\n \u201cEach group has a different talent, personality and identity,\u201d Rotchford said about the different groups he coaches. \u201cUltimately, though, you have to want and desire to have the game in your hands when it\u2019s needed most.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPat is invaluable to our program and has done a great job as offensive line coach, and is one of the best recruiting coordinators around,\u201d Fitzpatrick stated.<\/p>\n \u201cHis contributions to our program go well beyond producing numerous all-conference caliber offensive lineman on the field,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s planning our recruiting strategy, developing our young assistant coaches, or designing our latest social media graphic, he is always striving to be the best he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of top-notch assistant coaches in the Empire 8, but in my opinion none are better than Coach Rotchford.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate his loyalty and commitment to our growing program here at SUNY Morrisville.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHis elevation to the role of associate head coach speaks to my confidence and trust in him, and also to his future when he one day gets a chance to lead his own program as a head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n What lies ahead for the Central New York native, no one knows. But in the meantime, Rotchford will enjoy continuing to put in the work to be part of something special at Morrisville State.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have loyalty and selflessness, no matter what role you have, people will respect what you\u2019re doing,\u201d he stated. \u201cThat is what I hope that my student-athletes will take away from being a part of our unit, and our program.\u201d<\/p>\n Morrisville State will start pre-season camp Saturday, Aug. 11, opening the 2018 schedule on the road at Norwich University Sept. 1<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Baldwinsville’s Rotchford elevated to associate head coach for Mustang football Morrisville State head football coach Curt Fitzpatrick recently announced the elevation of Patrick Rotchford to Associate Head Coach for the upcoming 2018-19 season. Rotchford will continue to serve as the run game coordinator, coach of the offensive line and recruiting coordinator, responsibilities he has overseen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[94,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-oXj","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rotchford16.jpg?fit=225%2C325&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/95934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}