Ewing, NJ ... Eric Hamilton '75 had one game left in his football playing career at Trenton State College. It was a home game against Southern Connecticut State College after the Lions defeated Western Connecticut State College 13-10 the week prior.
It was going to be one final time he could arrive at the field early, slip his head through a football jersey, and snap the chin-strap on his helmet. For one more day, he could walk out onto the playing field and embrace the rush of being a football player.
But it never happened. The week leading up to the game, bacterial meningitis broke out on at the College. No one was permitted to come on campus for health and safety precautions. That included the Southern Connecticut football team. As a result, the game was canceled.
“It was crushing,” Hamilton recalled. “To not have that final game of your career was very difficult to take. No one ever told us the week before, 'This is going to be your last game.' For us seniors, we never had closure.”
For the All-American center, his playing career was over but unbeknownst to him, the ink had dried only on the opening chapter of his Lions football career. Hamilton enjoyed his student-teaching experience in industrial arts, but when an opportunity arose to pursue a graduate assistant position with his alma mater, he found himself back on the football field. Hamilton joined Carmen Piccone's staff in the fall of '75. Piccone was the fourth head coach hired in four years, after taking over for Dick Curl.
“Once I started assistant coaching, I was hooked,” said Hamilton, who recognized a friendly face in coach Paul Vichroski when he joined the staff. “I really liked the student teaching, but in my mind I felt that it just wasn't something I could do every day.”
In the winter of 1976, Piccone went to the annual college coach's convention in St. Louis, MO, where he was offered and accepted a position with Temple University. Once again, the Lions' football program was forced to withstand another coaching change. Then school President, Dr. Clayton Brower and Director of Athletics Roy Van Ness found themselves in a position to hire a new head coach for a fourth time in five years. This time, they decided to roll the dice. Rather than look outside the bloodline of Trenton State College, they determined their best chance at resurrecting the tradition and stability of the football program was to hire a member of the family.
Hamilton was 23 years-old, and in May of 1977, became the youngest college head football coach in the country.
“I look back now to my first year coaching at 23 years-old and I can seriously tell you I didn't have any idea of what I was gettting myself into,” Hamilton remembered. “But I did know one thing. I wanted to right the ship at my alma mater. We had four different coaches during a four-year span in the early to mid 1970s and the program was falling off the map. And I took that personal. All I wanted to do was get the program back to where it was supposed to be and have the respect and tradition that it had before me and when I first arrived on campus.”
The first scheduled scrimmage game for the young coach was against the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field. Coaching players who were previously teammates, Hamilton did his very best to put on the face of a stern coach and leader to disguise the obvious youth of a man in his early 20s. That plight lasted about five seconds into his coaching career.
“We (assistant coach, Tony Ianiero) got off the bus at Franklin Field and the guy came up to us and said, 'Are you guys the trainers or team managers?' That is how my coaching career started.”
The Lions took on William Paterson College in their first game of the '77 season and Hamilton notched the first victory of his career, defeating the Pioneers 14-0. TSC went 4-5 that year, and from there, Hamilton and his program took flight. Over the next six years, the Lions went 43-14-2 and the program and institution had what it was searching for the better part of the 1970s. They had a leader, an individual who was committed, and ultimately, the face of the program.
Fast forward to 2010 and The College of New Jersey defeated Western Connecticut State University 22-16 on October 30. It marked the 200th career coaching victory for Hamilton against the very same institution that he won his final game as a player.
No, Hamilton was not dressed in uniform for the game, nor is he scheduled to play Southern Connecticut this Saturday. But he can feel closure. When he accepted the head coaching position of the Lions football program in 1977, he set out to build upon the prior tradition that had been set. He wanted to earn respect, instill pride, and achieve. With eight conference titles, six NCAA appearances, and an overall record of 200-134-6, Hamilton has carried out his objectives and done so with integrity.
“The school President, Dr. (Clayton R.) Brower, and the Director of Athletics, Roy Van Ness, took a chance on me and I'll never forget what those two gentlemen did for me personally. To have the opportunity to be a head coach of a football program and to do it at your alma mater, it was a dream come true.”
On the bus ride home from WestConn, Hamilton leaned over and asked offensive coordinator Bobby Acosta for information about Kean University, their upcoming opponent. Only an hour removed from win number 200, the period of reflection had expired. The only number that now matters for Hamilton and his 2010 squad, is win number five.
