Buck still casts shadow at UMaine

I had vowed to try and get through this University of Maine football season without mentioning Mike Buck. I figured two full seasons had passed since the record-setting quarterback last fired his spiralling rockets through the air over Alumni Field. Only a handful of players who were members of the 1989 Maine team that Buck led to the Yankee Conference title are still on the squad, and they’ve since had to live through two difficult 3-8 seasons.

I figured it was at best unrealistic and at worst unfair to make any kind of comparison between Buck and Emilio Colon, the tough, young redshirt sophomore quarterback of this year’s Maine squad. We’re talking two completely different styles of quarterbacks playing for different teams. Besides, how would any of us react to always having someone from the past thrown in our faces? “Gee, you’re pretty good at this job. But you should have seen the guy we had here three years ago…”

Yes, I was all set to let Buck’s name lie quietly pressed in the record books, never to see the light of newsprint under my byline in a University of Maine football story again, at least until some future QB with a gun for an arm and a group of sticky-fingered receivers around him launched an assault on the records.

But a curious thing happened Monday during Maine head coach Kirk Ferentz’s weekly press conference. Ferentz, who presumably had also heard Buck’s name mentioned often enough the past two seasons to cause him to wonder if the team nickname should be changed to the you-know-whats, took time out to talk about the continuing effect the current New Orleans Saints backup signal-caller is having on the UM program.

Asked if he thought Maine has finally gotten past having Buck and the ’89 team constantly used for a basis of comparison by fans and media alike, Ferentz displayed mixed feelings on the subject.

“On one hand I hope so, yet on the other hand, I read a quote this weekend from (UM offensive coordinator) Jack Cosgrove where he made a statement that Mike may go down as the best quarterback in the history of this school,” Ferentz said. “I’d say the chances of that are pretty good. So I imagine they’re always going to be talking about Mike Buck.

“I hope like heck if we get another (quarterback) at that level I’m around here still to coach him,” continued Ferentz, warming to the subject. “That would be great. He was an outstanding performer. I think it’s a natural thing for people to talk back about those days. But we’re certainly a different football team and the guys we have playing quarterback are certainly different than Mike Buck. That doesn’t mean they can’t be successful in their own right, too.”

A few minutes later I happened to be talking to Cosgrove about Maine’s offensive gameplan this season when he, unsolicited, brought Buck’s name into the conversation.

“One of the things we haven’t done the last couple of years is put the ball down field effectively,” said Cosgrove, who coached Buck. “When Michael was here you had an instant threat in that department. Although Michael was guilty of being too bombs-away in that department. He threw some interceptions he shouldn’t have.”

It was at this point I realized, consciously or not, fairly or not, Buck is still a palpable presence in this Maine program. Or, more accurately, his absence is still being felt.

Ferentz admitted the vacuum created by Buck’s departure has proved too strong for the quarterbacks who have tried to step into the gap, until Colon. And Colon has still to prove he can lead Maine to a winning campaign, never mind vie for a title.

“It’s no secret it’s been a real uncertain area for us the last two years,” Ferentz said. “We’ve played four or five guys at the position. It’s like anything else, unless you establish some stability at a position or in a coaching staff or whatever it may be, you’re going to have some ups and downs.”

I came away hoping Colon remains up to the task of living in Mike Buck’s shadow, which, I am now convinced, is going to continue to grow until some quarterback leads Maine to another title.