Hello and welcome to the first edition of Ryan’s Monday Musings!
This is a weekly column on Monday mornings where I talk about what caught my eye from the previous week’s action in professional, college, and high school sports.
Bills Boost Brady to Head Coach
This year had quite the head coaching carousel with 10 vacancies this cycle. Buffalo was one of the surprise inclusions when they fired Sean McDermott two days following their AFC Divisional Round loss to Denver. After 12 days and nine interviews, the Bills opted to play it safe and select the very first person they interviewed.
Joe Brady gets the big promotion following two-plus years as their offensive coordinator. On the surface, it seems like the hire mirrored their stadium situation: a lateral move. It is also reasonable to view this hire as a downgrade from McDermott given that Brady has no prior head coaching experience. By going the in-house route, the decision doesn’t feel like one that a team trying to get over the hump and into a Super Bowl would typically make.
After all, Brady is not blameless in their playoff shortcomings. In their last three postseason defeats, Buffalo had the ball late on with a chance to win the game but failed to tie or take the lead each time. While their porous defense was probably the biggest reason for all three of those losses, part of the problem lies with the play-calling, too.
That being said, it wouldn’t be a surprise if owner Terry Pegula looked at the current state of the league and what the common trend has been in Super Bowl-winning coaches.
The answer? Offense, offense, offense.
Of the last 10 Super Bowl champions, eight had offensive-minded head coaches, namely Andy Reid, Sean McVay, and Nick Sirianni. If you expand it to the losing teams, 13 of the 20 coaches have offensive backgrounds.
It’s no secret that the NFL has evolved into a high-flying and high-scoring league nowadays. While the old cliché that ‘defense wins championships’ still rings ture—just look at this year’s Super Bowl contenders as prime examples—having a consistently strong offense is arguably more imporatnt, which Brady has delivered during his time as OC.
Only time will tell if this was the right move, but hey, it could’ve been worse. One of the candidates Buffalo interviewed was Philip Rivers, who has grand total of… zero professional coaching experience. And barely any high school coaching under his belt. Consider yourselves lucky, Bills fans.
Cornell Men’s Hockey Hits The Road
Cornell men’s hockey began the calendar year by playing almost the entire calendar month in the comforting confines of Lynah Rink. It was a wildly successful stretch with a 7-1 record, but the big question for the Big Red was if their home form can translate away from East Hill. So far? So, so good.
Cornell ventured to New England last weekend to battle Yale and Brown. On Friday, the Big Red took down the Bulldogs 5-2 powered by a Jonathan Castagna hat trick. The following night at Brown, it was Gio DiGiulian’s turn in the spotlight, scoring a pair of second-period goals to help the Big Red prevail 4-2.
Castagna has continued to flourish, currently leading the team with 12 goals and 25 points. With his pair of assists against Brown, the junior extended his points streak to four games, as did his fellow classmate Jake Kraft.
Now ranked seventh in the National Power Index (NPI) and winners of 10 of their last 11 games, the Big Red aims to keep the good times rolling this weekend for a home-and-home series against Colgate. They’ll be up in Hamilton on Friday before returning to Lynah on Saturday.
Leah Antes Joins 1K Club
When a high school basketball player scores 1,000 career points, they typically achieve it during their senior year. It’s rarer to accomplish this feat as a junior, and it’s almost unheard of as a sophomore.
Enter Odessa-Montour’s Leah Antes.
On Friday, Antes reached this milestone after scoring 17 points in a 41-33 win at Tioga. While she became the 10th player in program history to surpass 1,000 points and joins elite company in the process (Stefanie Collins, anyone?), Antes stands out as the Grizzlies’ youngest player to do so.
To add a cherry on top of that special night, the Grizzlies punched their ticket to sectionals with the win over the Tigers.
I was on the call for their previous game against Spencer-Van Etten on Wednesday where Antes erupted for 30 points to lead the Grizzlies to a 42-30 victory. The most impressive part of that performance was going 14-of-15 from the free throw, including 6-of-6 in the fourth quarter. The cool, calm and collected nature she displayed at both the charity stripe and throughout the game as a whole is beyond her age.
Antes is not alone in joining the 1,000-point club. The other local athletes to gain exclusive membership this season are Candor’s Jakobe Foster and Emmi Makie, Union Springs’ Maddy Kalet, and Trumansburg’s Arlo Peake.
Other Things That Caught My Eye
- The old saying ‘nothing last forever’ rang true for two local teams who saw double-digit winning streaks come to a close. On Saturday, Cortland women’s basketball fell in a tight one to New Paltz 57-55 to snap a 14-game winning run. That same day, Ithaca High School boys hockey was also upset, falling at Canton 3-2 to bring an end to a 10-game victory streak.
- Believe it or not, the season has already begun for Division I men’s lacrosse, while women’s lacrosse will get underway later this week. While both Cornell teams will have to wait until next weekend to get going, there are quite a few Ithaca girls lacrosse alums who will be in action starting this weekend. Shea Baker (Class of 2022) starts her senior season with Boston College on Friday against Northwestern, a rematch of the 2024 national championship in which Baker’s Eagles soared to glory. Mackenzie Rich (Class of 2021) and Syracuse host Maryland on Friday. Out west, Ella Thomforde (Class of 2025) will make her collegiate debut with Stanford on Saturday when they head to UC Davis. Eleni Switzer (Class of 2025) will also have her first collegiate game for Niagara on Saturday at South Florida.
- Finally, a special shoutout to the Ithaca College students who are taking part in Super Bowl LX’s Radio Row this week out in Santa Clara. They will get the unique opportunity to work alongside many other members of the press and interview high-profile athletes and sports media personalities. I am always amazed by the work these students put out every time they go to Radio Row, and I’m sure this year’s crop will be no exception given what they’ve done so far this school year. The six students from the Roy. H Park School of Communications heading to Radio Row are Rayahna Tryka ‘26, Connor Smith ‘26, Keenan Jackson ‘26, Colin Martin ‘26, Molly Golden ‘28, and Devon Jarvis ‘27. Have fun!
