Yankee Conference 1996

In this post, we discussed the Yankee Conference’s inaugural season of 1947. Now, let’s look at 1996, the 50th and final season of the YC before it morphed into the Atlantic 10 football conference and, in 2007, the Colonial Athletic Association. 

One quick note: I have no plans to do full histories for James Madison, Richmond, Villanova and William & Mary unless there’s some massive demand (or JMU jumps off the flavor-of-the-week uniform derby). These four are here just for the sake of completeness. But ya never know …

The YC split into two divisions from 1993-96: The Mid-Atlantic (all the newbies who had joined the YC over the previous decade, including decidedly non-Mid Atlantic Northeastern) and New England (with the six traditional YC teams). The YC’s successors, the A-10 and CAA, used a two-division setup off and on over the next several seasons, but the CAA has gone with one division since 2010. 

My memory may be fuzzy, but I seem to recall there was some hand-wringing over how the Mid-Atlantic teams basically marched in during the 1980s and took over the good ol’ YC (in both 1995 and ’96, five league teams ended the season nationally ranked in the TSN poll, four from the Mid-Atlantic). Of course, just two years later, UMass became the first YC/A10/CAA team to win the FCS (I-AA) national title, so who knows?

The YC ended after NCAA legislation frowned upon single-sport conferences in "major" sports such as football and basketball. The YC needed to attach itself to an already existing conference, and the Atlantic 10 was willing to oblige. 

And now, some notes about the season and uniforms, with an emphasis on our “guest” teams …

William & Mary was the final YC champion, and thus got to retire the sacred Bean Bot trophy, which apparently now sits in the Tribe’s trophy case. (Kinda odd for a team that played in the conference only four years. In a better world, a longtime YC powerhouse like UNH or UMass would have won the last title.) W&M’s uniforms have yellow trim here, but the Tribe switched to gold around 2001, and have kept it ever since. 

One of W&M’s more notable players was safety Sean McDermott (No. 28), who was an all-A10 selection in 1997. The former walk-on now coaches the Buffalo Bills for a living. (Speaking of coaches, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was a standout wide receiver at W&M from 1991-94.) Another safety, Darren Sharper, was a two-time All-American and three-time all-YC selection who was named YC defensive player of the year in ’96. He went on to an outstanding NFL career with the Packers, Vikings and Saints … and currently is doing a 20-year sentence for multiple rape and drug-related charges.

Also note the unusual placement of the YC patch on W&M’s home jerseys; it’s on the shoulder instead of on the front. One of Northeastern’s road styles has it on the sleeve.

Villanova, which became a I-AA/FCS powerhouse almost immediately after resuming the program in 1985 following a four-year layoff, had some notable players, too. Wide receiver Brian Finneran (No. 25; two brothers were teammates, thus the full name on the back) went on to a distinguished NFL career, mostly with the Atlanta Falcons. His Wikipedia bio offers this gem: “Finneran also has one of the most powerful and sought-after cards in the Ultimate Team portion of the video game Madden 25 due to him being listed as 6'7", two inches taller than his actual height.”

Nova’s helmets are kinda off compared with the rest of its color scheme: The Wildcats have always had navy blue as their primary color, but the “V” on the helmet had bright red and gold trim, while the jersey trim veers closer to maroon. Today, the uniforms use light blue trim, obviously out of a deep respect for my Black Bears. (Sarcasm mode)

And let’s not forget Villanova’s cartoonish primary logo from this period, which I believe lasted only a year or two, and for good reason: You’re a Division I school, not a minor league hockey team.

A logo only an Odessa Jackalopes fan could love.
Actually, that team is still around, so what do I know?

I miss the old James Madison uniforms that served the Dukes well for many years: Gold helmets, purple jerseys and gold pants. These days, it’s white helmets and pants, and it’s not the same. (The gold lids were worn for one game in 2019, I believe.) Although methinks JMU fans would rather watch a perpetual powerhouse than a mediocre team in throwback duds, right? 

JMU didn’t make the I-AA playoffs in ’96, but qualified in ’94, ’95 and ’99 — and all four games were against teams that now play in FBS (2 against Troy, 1 apiece against Marshall and Appalachian State).

Richmond was the one Mid-Atlantic team (I don’t really count Northeastern, which was a YC team in everything but name for decades before it officially joined in ’93) that didn’t dominate the YC in ’96. I did a post a while back on the most boring uniforms in this project, but these unis win the Bland Bowl trophy hands down. Plain navy helmets, plain navy jersey with a white sleeve stripe and plain white pants — the whole thing looks like those awful airbrushed photos Topps used in the 1970s when it made football cards but didn’t have a license to use NFL logos. The Spiders wore flashy red-and-silver uniforms until former Maine defensive back Jim Reid became coach in ’95. Wonder why he chose to make his team look so dull? (Reid, who played at Maine in the early ‘70s, is still coaching, and was Boston College’s defensive coordinator the last four years.)

Spiders linebacker Paris Lenon (No. 6) went onto a journeyman NFL career as a linebacker/special teamer.

Other tidbits from ’96 …

• New Hampshire had one of New England’s most exciting players in Jerry Azumah, who ran for 1,308 yards and 17 TDs and was named the YC’s offensive player of the year. (Two years later, he took home the Walter Payton Award as the top player in all of I-AA/FCS.) He went on to a Pro Bowl NFL career as a Chicago Bears special-teamer.

Jerry Azumah flies high against Villanova in 1996.

• Maine’s Jack Cosgrove was named YC coach of the year after leading the Black Bears to their best record in seven years. Maine had to toil in a temporary stadium after Alumni Field, their home since 1946, was condemned. (Alfond Stadium, its current digs, was built in 1998.)

Maine offensive lineman Mike Flynn blocks against James Madison in 1996.
Flynn went on to start for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens team that won the Super Bowl.

• Rhode Island’s game at UConn was cancelled after 31 players (yes, THIRTY-ONE) were involved in an assault on a URI fraternity the week of the game. You can read more on that here.





Rhode Island faces Boston U. in 1996.
This photo came from the 1997 Renaissance yearbook, but it looks more
like a fan pic from the stands, which it probably was.



• Delaware's 8-4 season, which included a trip to the I-AA playoffs, was actually pretty ho-hum by the Blue Hens' standards. In the '90s, Delaware made the NCAAs six times and had a winning record every year.

• Northeastern, meanwhile, had only two winning seasons the whole decade -- '96 and '97. The Huskies' coach, Barry Gallup, was a player and assistant coach at Boston College for 25 years before he took over at Northeastern, going 38-60-1 from 1991-99. (Trivia: One of his NU assistants was current Jaguars coach Doug Marrone.)

Northeastern visits UMass in 1996. The attendance in Amherst was 12,206;
the Minutemen's largest crowd in 2019 was 12,234 (HINT, HINT).