Kevyn B

🤞🏾

[Frank Rossi @FrankRossi]

A FAREWELL TO THE AMCATS
By Frank Rossi - @D3FBHuddle

I remember my first direct interaction with @goannamaria like it was yesterday -- in November 2021, @AMCAT_Football made the NCAA D3FB Playoffs, winning the ECFC's automatic bid with 7 wins in a single season -- despite winning a TOTAL of 12 games in their prior 11 seasons as a new program.

The first photo below was taken as I pulled into the school in Paxton, MA, with the football stadium being the first thing I saw. It reminded me of the barebones stadium you'd see at Hartwick, but in a much different, prominent location on the campus. After parking, I went through the Athletics building and remember its meager appearance even internally. I walked out to the football field to meet @Coach_Mul and his team, realizing to myself, "This is one of those institutions that remains alive because of its football program." Coach Mulrooney was awesome to talk with, and knowing how he was able to turn a program that struggled to win any games into a playoff team told me, without hesitation, that he wouldn't be at Anna Maria for much longer. Knowing that he's the Defensive Coordinator at IVY League/FCS Brown University now isn't a shock -- Anna Maria was his proving ground, and he knocked it out of the park there.

But I silently wondered how the effects of COVID -- including the long-term effects fiscally -- would affect @goAMCATS and the college itself. The now-80-year-old school had more of a prep-school feel to it as I looked around, and while they said they had around 1,400 students, it just felt like the school wasn't on firm fiscal ground. As I drove away in 2021, I said to myself, "If football wasn't in existence here, I feel like this private college wouldn't exist."

The school did outlast the existence of the ECFC, but the fall of the ECFC might have been the first real indicator that the future could be bleak for the College. Mulrooney left and the football program won only 4 or 5 games per year for the next three seasons, leading up to 2025. I began to wonder what the future would be for Anna Maria, as the team ended up in @mascacsports -- not necessarily by want, but much more because of need. The NEWMAC and CCC didn't seem ready to embrace such a small school without a real athletics history. The MASCAC was the only true option for Anna Maria.

In 2025, I crossed paths with the AMCATS one more time, this time actually attending an AMCATS game at Plymouth State in New Hampshire. There was plenty of youth on the AMCATS team, including a wunderkind of a QB -- freshman @NikoBoyce -- and it ended up being one of the best games I attended in all of 2025. Anna Maria held off PSU, 35-28, and I got to meet a Head Coach who was a lot younger (and a lot more talented) than me -- @CoachTKingsley. You could tell how important the win was for the entire team, and I could tell that I was in the presence of a great Head Coach who will likely follow the same general journey we saw for Coach Mulrooney. Rarely am I taken aback by people and things I encounter in D3FB after 30 years of coverage, but Kingsley really left me in awe of how he conducted himself and handled a REALLY young team successfully.

After a chaotic Week 11 that threatened a deja vu moment with MASCAC tiebreakers from hell, Anna Maria just missed the NCAA Playoffs in 2025. Kingsley and his staff have worked hard to prepare for a 2026 season that would build off that 2025 success...

Until today. Anna Maria announced, after warnings came to light mere weeks ago, that the College would be closing after this Spring term. AMCATS Football would become a part of our history, with their last game being a giant 62-15 victory over Dean at home on November 15, 2025. Much like teams like Wesley, the Anna Maria history is just that -- and the MASCAC teams will scurry to try to find replacement opponents in the absence of the AMCATS in 2026.

The news leaves a sour taste in our mouths -- not because it was unpredictable, as we've known that many schools are struggling in a national enrollment cliff to survive, especially in areas like New England with so many small-enrollment schools that lack the endowment resources to weather the Higher Education tide we are witnessing. The bad taste is from the idea that a program that was in the process of building and making new history has had the rug pulled out from under them and all of us. That proving ground where guys like Coach Mulrooney could show his true talents and where Coach Kingsley showed how he can excel with limited resources -- it's gone. Two weeks ago, the AMCATS had their first padded practice of the Spring. Today, those pads are likely being sold off to the highest bidder as the school now enters the liquidation phase. And to all of us that watch this, it absolutely sucks to watch.

Anna Maria may not have the history that other schools we lost along the way had, but we learned a lot from this school in a relatively short time. We learned that the REAL epitome of the "Small School" can excel in the largest football division with the right balance of leadership and talent. We learned that just because a football head coach may be young, that shouldn't be considered a detriment in any way. We learned that while a football program might be a key component to keep smaller schools open, it won't necessarily solve every problem forever. And we learned that even success in football doesn't guarantee success in the long-term vitality of a school in Division 3. It's just sad that we had to learn this at the expense of a small school that became much more of a household name in D3FB over the past five years.

While some may remember Anna Maria for this moment, we at "In the Huddle" will remember the AMCATS for what they provided in terms of excitement in our Division, especially since COVID. I will never forget that drive into their campus in 2021 -- even as the stadium lights go dark and the AMCATS program fades into a distant memory.

Thank you, Anna Maria, for the memories -- and we will never forget you.