Sean McDermott ’98 does not have an ego. In place of an ego, he has a passion. And every Sunday, and occasional Monday, that passion, coaching football, is on display in NFL stadiums.

McDermott’s debut as the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator came this past Sunday, 12 years after concluding his playing career as a standout free safety for the College. Following in the footsteps of deceased Eagles’ coach Jim Johnson is no easy task, yet McDermott got off to a strong start as his defense limited the Carolina Panthers to 10 points, causing seven turnovers, returning one for a defensive touchdown.

Despite his speedy rise to coaching prominence, it was not always clear to the now 35-year-old McDermott that football would be his calling. He entered the 1993 season as a walk-on at the College and was redshirted. Intense weight room sessions and a devout work ethic earned McDermott a scholarship, an accomplishment he calls his greatest at the College.

With the scholarship, he garnered playing time. As a redshirt sophomore, he willed himself into the Tribe’s free safety slot, a position at which he would start for the next three seasons, leading the College with 320 tackles over that span.

“He was a player that all of the other players respected because of his hard work and where he had started and what he had achieved,” Tribe Head Coach Jimmye Laycock said. “He had earned everything that he had gotten. Nothing was given to him, and he got it through hard work and effort.”

During McDermott’s time at the position he started next to future seven-time NFL Pro Bowl safety Darren Sharper ’96.

“It was a tremendous honor [playing next to Sharper],” McDermott said with a smile. “Darren was a highly talented individual. We worked well together. I got him lined up, and he made all the plays.”

While Laycock routinely expected Sharper to register game-changing plays, he equally expected McDermott, the team’s “Mr. Consistency,” to be in the right position at the right time to secure the tackle.

McDermott was unable to follow Sharper into the NFL, and instead experimented with a coaching career.
He began as a volunteer defensive assistant under Laycock in 1998, deferring a finance job offer from PricewaterhouseCoopers to remain at the College.

“He had a tremendous work ethic when he came off the field in helping us with all the roles a young coach has to do,” Laycock said. “His attention to detail and his ability to get things done … Some people don’t get them done, he got them done. It was very obvious to me that he would be a very good coach if he decided to go in that direction.”

Despite Laycock’s attempt to keep McDermott on the Tribe’s coaching staff, when the Eagles called in late 1998 about a scout position opening, “Mr. Consistency” made the jump to the NFL. He evolved into a defensive specialist coach in 2001 and has worked with various facets of the Eagles’ defense since then.

“I would have liked to have kept him here, but then he went [to] the Eagles, and I think that proved that he started from the bottom there and worked his way up. That is something that is not unusual for him to do,” Laycock said. “He is not an ego kind of guy, he is in it for the right reasons. He is not in it for money. He is in it because he likes to coach. Whatever he does, he would do very, very well. He just happens to be coaching.”

McDermott has maintained close ties to the College, returning to campus yearly to support the football program. He regards Laycock as a mentor and appreciates how his former coach has welcomed him into his football family — a family whose values are more than just X’s and O’s. McDermott said Laycock instills the vision of always doing the right thing at all times into his players.

“If you have to ask yourself if it is right or not, it’s probably wrong,” McDermott said of Laycock’s policy. “Doing the right thing, treating people the right way, handling yourself the right way on and off the field: it’s a first-class school and a first-class football team and program.”

Regardless of his NFL success, McDermott occasionally ponders where the PricewaterhouseCoopers job would have taken him.

“[If I had taken the job] it honestly would have been [like] living the American dream,” McDermott said. “Maybe having a couple kids and family in the suburbs somewhere of [Washington,] D.C., having a dog and a white picket fence.”

For McDermott, that white picket fence will have to wait. For now, the only fences he sees are the ones held up by passionate Eagles fans cheering on his defense. The one emblazoned with a cutout “D” in front of it, that is.

Volleyball: Tribe take two out of three at weekend tournament

The College (7-3) took two out of three matches at the Georgetown Hoya Classic, defeating Georgetown and Hampton while losing to Maryland 3-0. The Tribe took down the host Hoyas Friday night, coming back after dropping the first two sets to win 3-2. After losing their first match Saturday to the Terps, the Tribe rebounded in its final game of the tournament to defeat Hampton 3-0. Sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Kresch was named to the all-tournament team for her effort. Junior hitter Ginny Bray was also honored, picking up the CAA Defensive Player of the Week Award after a career-high 12 blocks against Georgetown Friday.

Golf: Men, women kick off fall play with mixed results

Both the men’s and women’s teams teed off their fall seasons last weekend, although at different locations. The women’s team competed in the Bucknell Invitational, at which sophomore Caroline Sweet finished on top of the leaderboard for the first time in her career. Sweet carded a 54-hole score of 220 (+10) to help the Tribe win the tournament with a final score of 893 (+41). The men’s squad opened up at the Maryland Intercollegiate Tournament, at which they took 14th place in the 54-hole tournament. Freshman Zachary Glassman finished first for the Tribe with a total of 222 (+9), while junior Brandon Parker finished second with a score of 225 (+12).

Field Hockey: Tribe falls at Princeton, drops to 3-2 on season

The Tribe (3-2) lost 7-0 to fourth-ranked Princeton Saturday, recording their second loss of the season against a top-25 opponent. Sophomore goalkeeper Camilla Hill tallied a career-high nine saves after coming in for the second half with the Tribe down 6-0. Hill allowed only one goal in the game’s final 35 minutes. Other standout performers included freshman midfielder Maria Caro, who took two shots and recorded a defensive save, as well as senior midfielder Sarah Louie and sophomore midfielder Mikala Savides, who each recorded a pair of shots.

A 25-yard goal from Niagara midfielder Levi Tesch in the 73rd minute proved to be the College’s downfall as it failed to defend last year’s title at the 34th annual ODU/Stihl Classic in Norfolk this weekend. The College (2-2) bested Temple 2-0 Friday before falling to Niagara 1-0 Sunday.

Despite outshooting the Purple Eagles 22-12, the Tribe was unable to find the back of the net.

“We did enough to win,” Head Coach Chris Norris said. “We felt for long stretches, we were in control of the game. But the goal never came.”

The match remained scoreless until Tesch, booked for a yellow card just a minute earlier, gave Niagara the lead with 16 minutes to play off a set piece. The Purple Eagles’s center midfielder curved his shot over the College’s wall, bending it near post past diving junior goalkeeper Andrew McAdams.

Despite consistent offensive pressure from the Tribe, senior midfielder Price Thomas’s shot was saved in the waning seconds of the match to end the College’s comeback hopes and give Niagara its first victory of the year.

Although Sunday’s loss spoiled the College’s chances of winning the tournament’s championship for the third time in four years, the Tribe performed well against Temple in the weekend’s opening match. Goals from Thomas and senior forward Andrew Hoxie were all the College needed to overtake the Owls.
Thomas’s mark in the 66th minute materialized off of a loose ball in the College’s half of the pitch.

“It was a great counterattack,” Norris said. “We took the ball in our half and played it to [junior forward] Alan Koger in the midfield. [Koger] sent it to Hoxie and Hoxie continued it on to Price. Price went one-on-one with the keeper and he finished it off.”

Hoxie’s first goal of the season came courtesy of a feed from junior midfielder Nat Baako with under five minutes remaining. The senior eluded a defender and hammered home the goal.

McAdams led the Tribe defensively, registering two saves in his first shutout of the year.

Despite a third place tournament finish behind host Old Dominion and Niagara, Hoxie and junior back Mike DiNuzzo were named to the All-Tournament team for the weekend.

The Tribe found plenty of success at last year’s William and Mary Invitational, including a doubles championship secured by the pairing of then-junior Carmen Pop and then-freshman Katie Kargl. But the early success was short-lived as injuries shredded the roster. At some points, the Tribe could not even fill out three doubles pairs for matches.

So when the annual tourney began for the 17th year this weekend at the College, head coach Meredith Geiger-Walton put a premium on what the fall season should mean for her team.

“We didn’t expect to win,” Geiger-Walton said. “We’re just focused on fitness and getting back into playing shape.”

Needless to say, the College decided to play the tournament on the safe side. Now a senior, Pop pulled out of the flight B singles tournament on the first day after losing in the first round to Marshall University’s Catherine Keller in the interest of staying healthy. She and freshman Nina Vulovich did play in the top flight doubles tournament and secured a seventh-place finish in the bracket.

“I have strained quads, so I didn’t want to force it,” said Pop.

The Dutch native wasn’t the only one cautiously playing through her weekend on the courts. Junior Lauren Sabacinski lost two matches in top-flight singles play on Friday, then subsequently dropped from the field, participating only in doubles competition with her partner freshman Marlen Mesgarzadeh. She is recovering from an ACL injury that ended her sophomore season.

“This is her first competitive tennis in about a year,” Geiger-Walton said. “We’re just trying to work her back into it.”

While Pop and Sabacinski made strides to stay fresh, senior Ragini Acharya played in both singles and doubles tournaments all three days. While she did retire from a consolation game Sunday after losing the first set to Virginia’s Erin Vierra, the 107th-ranked Acharya teamed up with freshman Anik Cepeda and came away with third place in the flight A doubles tournament, discarding Winthrop University’s Yassmine Alkema and Elizaveta Zaytseva 8-3.

“Our freshmen bring up our energy and really puts us in a position to be competitive,” Geiger-Walton said. “Our returning players are really excited and are willing to help them learn what Tribe tennis is all about.”

The aggressive, net-playing Cepeda, who also won third place in flight C singles play, was in sync with Acharya’s steady backline-play dominating and frustrating the Eagles’ pair.

“It’s funny when the other team gets mad,” Acharya said. “They told us ‘Good game, cheaters.’”

The mix of veterans and youth in the doubles pairs and cautious singles play will likely continue next weekend, when the Tribe continues their fall schedule in the University of Virginia Invitational.

“Last year, we experienced what you don’t want to happen,” Geiger-Walton said. “This year, we want to get what we want later in the year and just focus on fitness right now.”

William and Mary won two of three matches at the Georgetown Hoya Classic this weekend, improving their record to 7-3 on the year.

Sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Kresch was selected to the all-tournament team, notching 2.55 kills per set and 2.36 digs per set for the Tribe while junior middle Ginny Bray’s defensive dominance earned her the Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Week.

Friday night, the Tribe opened against host Georgetown. After falling behind 9-2 to start the first set, the College managed to tie the set at 16-16 with help from Kresch after three consecutive kills. The Hoyas quickly took back the lead, eventually winning the first set 25-21.

In the second set, the College kept up with Georgetown, but the Hoyas proved to be too much, pulling out a close 5-23 victory.

Down 9-5 early in the third set, the Tribe recorded eight straight points to pull ahead 13-10 before securing the third set with a 25-18 margin. The College rolled in the fourth set, dye to a 14-3 run, winning 25-11 to the match at two sets apiece.

The Tribe used its momentum to open up a 7-0 lead behind senior libero Lindsey Pflugner’s service in the third set. The College cruised to a decisive 15-5 set for the 3-2 match victory.

Head Coach Melissa Shelton said the turnaround after the first two sets was due to “bigger plays at better times.”

Bray set a career mark with 12 blocks against the Hoyas. With Bray’s 10 kills, the junior recorded her first double-double on the season.

“Bray had a great weekend – we expect that from her,” Shelton said.

After the College’s lengthy five-set match Friday night, the Tribe was blown-out by Maryland Saturday morning 3-0.

“Our setting was way off.” Shelton said. “Maryland was blocking well.”

Saturday evening the College squared off with Hampton, a school which had failed to beat the College in thirteen all-time meetings. That tradition would remain in tact as the Tribe won 3-0 in dominating fashion behind senior hitter Lauren Powell’s 9 kills and 9 digs. Sophomore Brooke Bauernfeind added 9 kills and 7 digs in the win.

With their 2-1 record on the weekend, the Tribe took home third place and will travel to Dallas, Texas this weekend to compete in the SMU Challenge, a tournament that Shelton called the toughest of the season to date.

The Tribe is set to face Texas State, Syracuse and SMU over two days.

Last week, William and Mary experienced the most exhilarating of college football achievements: the major upset over an in-state rival. Saturday, they were left with the less-exciting aftermath: the trap game against a less-glamorous opponent.

But with Northeastern conference foe Central Connecticut State in town, the Tribe was able to post touchdowns on two of their first three possessions to jump to a 16-0 lead on the way to a comfortable 33-14 win.

The Tribe would successfully avoid a letdown one week after defeating ACC-foe Virginia, and improved the team’s record to 2-0 for the first time since 2001.

However, the College was inconsistent at times on both sides of the ball, failing to get fully in sync against a weaker Blue Devil squad.

“We did what we had to do to get a win tonight,” Head Coach Jimmye Laycock said. “I don’t think we played great, but it’s a win.”

After operating a conservative offensive game plan against U.Va., Laycock was aggressive early, capping a 13-play opening drive by going for the touchdown on fourth and goal from the one-yard line. Senior quarterback R.J. Archer scrambled right on a naked bootleg, outracing the defense to the pylon to take an early 7-0 lead.

The teams then traded punts before senior defensive end C.J. Herbert hit CCSU quarterback Hunter Wankett at his own two-yard line, knocking the ball loose. The Blue Devils recovered in their own end zone for a Tribe safety.

The College put the game all but out of reach on the ensuing possession. Archer drove the Tribe 58 yards in five plays, going up 16-0 after junior tailback Courtland Marriner broke a 37-yard touchdown run down the right sideline.

“In the first half, offensively, it was tough to find something to fault,” Laycock said. “R.J. played really well. He made some nice throws, some nice decisions.”

The Blue Devils managed to generate some offensive rhythm in the second quarter, scoring a pair of touchdowns on lengthy drives.

But the Tribe had answers each time, as Archer responded to both CCSU scores with a touchdown pass. The senior tossed a 17-yarder to junior fullback Jimmy Hobson, and connected with senior wideout D.J. McAulay for a 21-yard score before halftime.

After the break, the Tribe shut out their opponents in the second half for the second straight week, holding the Blue Devils’s option-heavy attack to a mere 78 yards rushing on the day.

Sophomore linebacker Jake Trantin led the way with 10 tackles, but the College was occasionally thrown off balance by CCSU’s quick rushing offense.

“We made some plays and made some stops when we needed to, but we expected more,” Trantin said. “We didn’t come out the way we should have; usually, we’re a little sharper.”

Sophomore tailback Jonathan Grimes finished with 82 yards on 19 carries to reach 1,000 yards for his career. Needing only 19 games, he became the fastest in Tribe history to reach that mark.

The game was marred by an injury to redshirt freshman Ryan Moody on a third-quarter interception. The wideout suffered an ankle injury while attempting to make a tackle, and spent 15 minutes down on the field. Laycock confirmed that Moody would need surgery following the game.

That factor contributed to a subdued mood, despite the win. But overall, the College was happy to escape its home opener with a perfect record intact.

“You think about [the game] all week, you don’t want to slip up,” senior safety Robert Livingston said. “After a big win, a loss takes everything away. We got a win, but no one is satisfied.”