By Darren Sands
The year that Jim Salgado left New York and moved back to Boston, the Red Sox won the World Series. Aside from that life is good for Salgado, his wife, Carolyn, and son, Jalen.
The former Pride football player and coach will return to old stomping grounds where the Huskies meet the Pride on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Salgado is now the assistant head coach of the Northeastern University program under first-year head coach Rocky Hager.
The Huskies are losers of four straight, and have lost the last three games by 17 points.
"We need to get a win here," Salgado said. "We know they're going to throw it, run a little, and try to throw it some more. Hopefully we can slow them down."
Salgado played four years at defensive back as a member of the Pride (1989-1992). In 1991, he led the team with six interceptions. His brothers, Lewis and Rich, also played under coaches Joe Gardi and Greg Gigantino.
"He was very competitive against the receivers," said Gigantino, the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. "The best players that he played against were in practice, though, guys like [Wayne] Chrebet and [Ken] Colon."
Gigantino has fond memories of Salgado's playing days.
"We were playing Towson and they threw a ball up in the end zone, and he intercepted it to ice the game for us. He was all excited and a coach went over to hug Jimmy and he had his helmet in his hand. He had his hands wrapped around Jimmy and this girl was holding the coaches [corded] headphones. He knocked the poor girls teeth out with his helmet, but he was a big contributor on those teams."
Salgado has the advantage of being able to tell his team's receiving core all about the strengths and weaknesses of Pride players like Prentice James and James Glee. Salgado said that while true, the players still have to go out and play the game. Coach Gardi agrees.
"It's going to give him a little edge, but we've changed some things. Our terminology is different and we have some different things we like to do," he said.
Salgado and his family lives south of Boston in Plainville, Mass. Though he is enjoying this stage of his career, Salgado does not rule out a return to the Pride. When asked where he sees himself five years from now, Salgado is poised and certain.
"Maybe someday I'll go back there [as head coach]," he said. "It's a great school, and a great tradition. If not at Hofstra, then hopefully I'll be coaching somewhere in the NFL."
Cream of the Crop
Saturday's game will showcase two of the Atlantic 10's finest defensive players in the Pride's Gian Villante, and Northeastern's Liam Ezekiel. The players are ranked one and two in tackles with 114, and 109 respectively. The sophomore Villante is the top five in the A-10 in forced fumbles and tackles for loss. Among others enjoying productive seasons are Cole Haley, Stephen Bowen, and Dan Garay. The entire defense shut out Maine in the 31-20 victory in the second half. Clarkson or Seck in 2005?
All Anton Clarkson has done for the past two weeks is throw for 731 yards and eight touchdowns, while leading his team to victory over Richmond and Maine. Reports are that Bobby Seck is working very hard in rehabilitation and the coaching staff expects for him to be at 100 percent for spring practices. It all begs the question: Is there a quarterback controversy in the works?
"We know we have two quarterbacks we can win with," Gardi said. "Anytime a player wins two games in a row for us they have a chance to be a starter."