Bye week is timely for Bears Injured senior captains should return vs. Hens

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ORONO – The University of Maine football team is beat up.

That makes this the perfect week for coach Jack Cosgrove’s Black Bears to have an open date in their grueling 12-game regular-season schedule.

UMaine, coming off Saturday’s exhilarating 24-17 come-from-behind victory over Hofstra, doesn’t play again until a Nov. 9 home game against longtime Atlantic 10 rival Delaware.

“We need one. I need one,” Cosgrove said of the one-week hiatus.

In the hope of rejuvenating the players, the coaching staff gave the Bears Sunday off. The team watched Saturday’s game tape on Monday, then planned to use Tuesday as a day to review the players’ academic progress.

UMaine, now ranked No. 5 in the country among Division I-AA teams, had its hands full Saturday with Hofstra. While the Bears continue to miss suspended wide receivers Stefan Gomes and Paris Minor, three other key performers were sidelined Saturday with injuries.

On defense, All-America candidate Stephen Cooper (left ankle), a linebacker, and fellow senior captain Brendan Curry (left knee), an end, were unable to play because of injuries.

“Coop almost wanted to fight me [to play] and Brendan was right behind him,” Cosgrove said of his leaders. “I think we made the right decision.”

Cooper, who is among the candidates for the Buck Buchanan Award presented to the top defensive player in I-AA, had played in 42 consecutive games for the Bears.

“We made decisions to be smart. We learned some lessons the last couple weeks,” Cosgrove said of managing injured players.

Two weeks earlier offensive tackle Mark Lehner was held out of action against Massachusetts because of ankle and knee injuries. He returned a week later in good shape.

However, tight end Danny Fusco was allowed to play at Florida International, a week after spraining his ankle. He reaggravated the injury and missed the Hofstra game.

Fusco’s absence was noticeable Saturday as the UMaine offense struggled mightily.

“We didn’t play well at all,” said senior quarterback Jake Eaton. “We were playing without our tight end and we run a lot of plays through our tight end.”

Cosgrove hopes all will be healthy by the time the Bears line up against the Blue Hens. Holding Cooper, Curry and Fusco out last weekend should pay dividends in the long run.

“We just felt with those three games at the end [of the season]… it was more important to have them ready than for today.”

Anderson chosen to hear appeal

UMaine President Peter Hoff on Monday announced he has chosen Mark Anderson to hear the final appeal of suspended football players Paris Minor and Stefan Gomes.

Anderson, a faculty member who has served as UMaine’s chief financial officer since July, 2001, has considerable experience dealing with the university’s conduct code.

“Mark Anderson brings the ideal combination of experience, judgment and temperament to this task,” said Hoff, who considered handling the appeal himself but chose instead to follow the precedents and charge a highly regarded UMaine employee with the duty.

“He has my unqualified support and I am certain that he will make a fair and appropriate decision,” Hoff said.

Anderson is an instructor in resource economics and policy at UMaine. He is the coordinator of the ecology and environmental services program in that department.

Anderson has served in a variety of roles on campus, including one year as interim vice president for student affairs. As such, he was designated by Hoff to hear a number of conduct code decision appeals. Anderson served on the UMaine Conduct Code Committee from 1987-92 and was its chair from 1990-92.

It was the conduct code committee that on Sept. 25 voted to suspend Gomes and Minor from the university through May 31, 2003, for violating the UMaine student conduct code.

The men were accused of sexually assaulting a woman, a fellow UMaine student, on June 10 at her Old Town apartment. The Old Town police investigated the allegations, but neither it nor the Penobscot County District Attorney’s office has yet filed charges against Minor and Gomes.

On Oct. 21, a three-person UMaine appeal committee upheld the conduct committee’s suspensions. Gomes and Minor filed their final appeals last Friday through their attorneys.

According to Hoff, Anderson will be asked to consider two questions in hearing the students’ appeal: Was the UMaine student conduct code committee process followed correctly or was it flawed?

And, was the sanction appropriate?

If Anderson found the process was significantly flawed, he could refer the case back to a new conduct code panel. Or, if the sanction is deemed inappropriate, he can impose a new sanction, whether it be more lenient or more severe.