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Football Coach Named Coach of The Year
Head football coach Dave Clawson was named the 2002 Schutt Sports Coach of the Year in Division I-AA at the annual American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) meeting in New Orleans on Jan. 6.
Clawson, also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson I-AA Coach of the Year Award, led the Rams to a record-setting season. They won the 2002 Patriot League championship and made their first ever NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearance in the school’s history. The 2002 Rams set school records for most wins on the I-AA level, most wins in the Patriot League, most points scored in a season (418) and finished the season ranked 12th in the Sports Network poll and 15th in the ESPN/Sportsticker poll.
Arriving at Rose Hill in 1999, Clawson built the Rams from a 0-11 squad his first year to league champions in 2002. This past fall, the Rams set numerous offensive team and individual records and had 14 players named to the All-Patriot League. In the playoffs, the Rams defeated Northeastern University, the Atlantic 10 champions, before falling to Villanova University in the quarterfinals. Fordham finished the year with a 10-3 overall record, 6-1 in the Patriot League.
Clawson joins former Holy Cross head coach Mark Duffner (1986-87) as the only coach in Patriot League history to win the League's Coach of the Year honor in consecutive years (2001 and 2002).
Ram Named Third Team All-American
Junior running back Kirwin Watson was named a Third Team All-American by the Associated Press on Dec. 19, becoming the first Ram to earn such an honor since Barry Cantrell (FCO ‘98) in 1997.
Watson, the 2002 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year and a two-time first-team All-League selection, won his second-straight Patriot League rushing title this year, averaging 112.8 yards per game and scoring 19 touchdowns (18 rushing) to win the league scoring crown. He is eighth on the league's career rushing list with 3,140 yards. Among the I-AA national leaders, Watson is ranked ninth in the nation in both rushing and scoring (8.77 points per game).
Watson rushed for 1,467 yards on the year, surpassing the 1,000-yard mark for the second year in a row. He also set a Fordham single-season record that surpassed Chip Kron's (FCO ’87) 1984 record of 1,263 yards. Watson became the first Fordham running back to compile two 1,000-plus yard seasons.
Over his career at Fordham, Watson has amassed 3,140 yards and 28 rushing touchdowns on 631 carries. He is second in each category on the Fordham career list.
Fordyce and Watson Named ECAC All-Stars
Senior kicker Matt Fordyce and junior running back Kirwin Watson were named to the 2002 ECAC I-AA All-Star Team on Dec. 13.
Watson rushed for 1,467 yards on the year.
Fordyce, who was the first player named first team All-League as both the place-kicker and punter in Patriot League history, connected on a school-record 18 field goals on the year (out of 26 attempts). He booted an NCAA I-AA playoff record five field goals in the Rams' 29-24 win over Northeastern University in the first round of the I-AA playoffs. Fordyce also served as the Fordham punter in 2002, punting 57 times for 2,183 yards, an average of 38.3 yards per punt, second best in the league. He placed 21 of his 57 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
McElderry Named Head Men’s Soccer Coach
Jim McElderry has replaced retired head men’s soccer coach Frank Schnur, becoming the fourth head coach in Fordham men’s soccer history.
“We are excited to be able to find a coach of Jim McElderry’s caliber for our position,” said Frank McLaughlin, executive director of athletics. “He will be able to continue to build on the tremendous job done by Frank Schnur and take the men’s soccer program to the next level.”
McElderry arrives at Fordham after serving as an assistant coach at Fairfield University since 1993. There, the soccer program enjoyed unparalleled success, advancing to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship game for the past four years. In 1998, the team broke into the top 25 for the first time in the school’s history.
A 1993 graduate of Fairfeild, McElderry was a four-year letterman and was inducted into the Fairfield Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. He has played professionally for the New York Fever (A-League), the Long Island Riders (A-League) and the New York Freedoms, a Division 3 team. He has also been associated with the Region I Olympic Development Program and was an Under 17 Connecticut Olympic Development Coach.
Erika Newell Named A-10 and ECAC Performer of the Week
Sophomore Erika Newell was named Atlantic 10 and Eastern College Athletic Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving Performer of the Week on Jan. 27. This is Newell’s second A-10 weekly conference honor for this season and her first from the ECAC.
Newell won the 200 backstroke (2:07.17) and 200 individual medleys against Marist on Jan. 21, while also helping the 400-medley relay team to victory. She then posted first place overall finishes in the 200 freestyle (1:57.42) and 200 individual medley (2:07.93) in the dual meet against La Salle and Seton Hall on Jan. 25. Newell was also part of both relay team victories (400 medley and 400 freestyle) in that dual meet.
The Fordham Women’s Swimming and Diving team went on to its first victory ever over the University of Massachusetts, 189-110, on Feb.1. This improved their record to 11-3 on the year, 4-0 in the Atlantic 10.
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