Perhaps in any other year, Paul Tortorella might have been unnerved by the prospect of another division title with a team going 5-0.
But when a sixth-year IUP coach looks at his Crimson Hawks, they’re a team with a source of mental focus and resilience that no other IUP team has had in recent years.
“You see it 24/7,” he said. “You see it in meetings. You see it in interactions in the football office. You see it in the weight room. Hmm, when things go wrong during a game, you can’t tell from the reaction of the bystanders, everyone is calm, confident, they don’t overreact, some teams never get It’s a culture of intangibles. It’s just in their DNA.”
It’s been just over a year since Tortorella’s Crimson Hawks started 5-1 and Slippery Rock’s impressive 27-point drubbing made the IUP the team to win PSAC West. But in the weeks that followed, the IUP saw him take a 10-point lead in his last two minutes in a loss to California, looking vacantly uninterested the following week, as he lost 6-1 at home to Edinboro. , effectively ended the season. play off.
There was some finger pointing and frustration with some infighting among the players on the sidelines as the Crimson Hawks went from front-runner to loser in two games.
“Last year, when things got really bad, they got really bad,” Tortorella said. This year, when I or one of the other coaches gives them a message, all 90 players listen and they hear it. Only 75 or 80 people actually heard about it.”
This season has gone without much of the source of last year’s drama, and the injection of new players has helped change the culture.
- In the opening game on September 10 in East Stroudsburg, the IUP led 20-0, but the Warriors took the lead with 28 straight points. After tying the game at 35, the IUP held their defense and moved the ball downfield for the winning field goal.
- The following week at Shippensburg, the IUP gave up a Pick 6 interception in the 3rd quarter to make it a 14-point game. The Crimson Hawks then scored a safety and a quick touchdown to turn the momentum around and put the game away.
- After Mercyhurst scored in the third quarter on September 24 to cut the IUP’s lead to three points, the Crimson Hawks hit three straight touchdowns to turn a close game into a rout.
- When the Slippery Rock drew within eight points early in the fourth quarter on October 1, the IUP defense closed the door and helped the Crimson Hawks hand the Slippery Rock their first loss.
- And last week in California, the IUP overcame an 11-point 4th quarter deficit to score the game’s final two touchdowns and hold out until the Vulcans’ clock ran out for a 22-21 win. .
“These things you might not expect to see on the scoreboard, but they do,” says Tortorella. “They are so invested that they are doing the right thing and they are resilient. They play the next play and they change the momentum very quickly. It’s something we earn as a team and hopefully we try to keep it.”
Totorella said he saw a cultural shift in last season’s final game as the IUP emerged from a 14-point hole in the fourth quarter to beat West Chester 31-24. He said the 2022 season carried over because the new players were of high character.
“We didn’t bring many transfers,” he said. “We’ve brought in a lot of freshmen who have voted in. When you bring freshmen in, they have to vote in when they’re here in their first year or it’s too late.” The transfers you bring in for a year are the same thing as they’re the only year they’re there. Some teams bring 20 transfers. It’s a tough culture, but sometimes you have to do it. “
He also said that having so many players in the program for so long creates an environment where the team’s success trumps the idiosyncratic.
“This year, we have 15 senior citizens, 12 of whom have been here for five or six years,” he said. “The investment in their program is tremendous. Their equity in the program is off the charts. They love the IUP, they love IUP football. Having spent six years in IUP football, bad culture can quickly become bad, good culture can quickly improve and become good, and that is the message to the people who participate in the program. I think it’s an homage.”
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