The Bates Bobcast

Last week was a big one for Bates Director of Athletics Jason Fein. Not only was he named one of four Division III athletics directors of the year, but Bates announced the return of intercollegiate competition, including NESCAC play for spring sports. We sit down with Jason to talk about the exciting news. The Bobcats are back, on the Bates Bobcast!

This week we continue our Senior salutes with the field hockey team. We talk to senior captain Elsbeth Caulo and head coach Dani Ryder Kogut gives her perspective on where the program is headed now.

This week we continue our "senior salutes" with the men’s soccer team. We talk with the senior captains and head coach Tyler Sheikh gives his perspective on the men’s soccer class of 2021! The Bates seniors did not have a losing season during their time as Bobcats. In fact, they made some history, matching the program record for NESCAC wins in one season in 2019. This group was led by a pair of se...

This week we continue our Senior Salutes with the women’s soccer team. A trio of Bobcats join the show and head coach Joe Vari salutes the senior class for their leadership in a difficult time. The Bates women’s soccer class of 2021 went through a coaching change prior to their junior year and then had their senior year wiped out by the coronavirus. Nevertheless, seniors So Kim, Elizabeth Bennett...

The Bates football class of 2021 is in an awkward spot. Some may be returning this fall to take advantage of their extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA. But we don’t know yet who that may be. So this week we continue our senior salutes with senior captain Connor Hunt and head coach Malik Hall joining us to look back on the last four years.

Bates Director of Photography and Video Phyllis Graber Jensen grew up competing in a wide variety of sports with the boys in her New York City neighborhood of Kew Gardens in Queens. At age 12, she took up tennis and even got to hit with Billie Jean King. But when she entered high school, she discovered no opportunities for girls to compete in varsity sports. So then 16-year old Phyllis appealed to...

With this past fall’s sports season canceled due to COVID-19, we begin our Class of 2021 senior salutes with the Bates volleyball program. Angel Echipue, Ruby Lightbourn, Delaney Mayfield and Olivia McCulloch are the four senior captains this year. We salute them and chat with the team's head coach, Melissa DeRan, on the latest Bates Bobcast!

On this week's Bobcast we conclude the “Why I Coach” series with our softball and baseball coaches! Softball head coach McKell Barnes and baseball head coach Jon Martin join the show. McKell Barnes completed her seventh season as the head coach of the Bates College softball program in 2020, having taken over the position in January of 2014. In 2018, Barnes led the Bates softball team to its most w...

This week we continue our “Why I Coach” series with our lacrosse coaches. Women’s lacrosse head coach Brett Allen and men’s lacrosse head coach Peter Lasagna join the show to talk about their backgrounds and what led them to what is known as the “The Creator’s Game.” Appointed as the Bates women’s lacrosse head coach in 2006, Allen led the Bobcats to the NCAA tournament in 2016 and was named the N...

This week we continue our “Why I Coach” series with our skiing coaches! Interim alpine skiing head coach Kurt Simard and long-time Bates Nordic skiing head coach Becky Woods '89 join the show. A two-time EISA coach of the year with the University of New Hampshire, Simard graduated from UNH in 1991 with a business degree, but soon decided he wanted to get into coaching.  Woods is the longest-tenure...

Rei Hergeth wrapped up his first season at the helm of the Bates squash programs with the women ranked 16th in the country and the men 19th. He won three national championships as a player at Trinity College, before receiving his degree in anthropology in 2013. Hergeth immediately got into coaching upon graduating, and he uses his experiences in college to impart wisdom to current Bates student-at...

We continue our “Why I Coach” series with our basketball coaches, head men’s basketball coach Jon Furbush '05 and head women’s basketball coach Alison Montgomery! Furbush completed his 12th season as head coach of the men’s basketball team last year, and has led the Bobcats to 150 wins and eight NESCAC Championship tournament appearances through 12 seasons, including three appearances in the NESCA...

Since he was named head rowing coach at Bates in March 2009, Peter Steenstra has turned the program into the finest in Division III. Bates women's rowing has competed in the NCAA Championships in every year, including six second-place finishes and four NCAA Division III championships in the last five seasons -- the only Bobcats in Bates College history to win a national team championship. In 2019,...

Peter Casares joined Bates as the head men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach and aquatics director in 2007, and in 2020 was named NESCAC Women's Swimming Coach of the Year for the second time in his career. He then led the Bates men's swimming and diving team to a program-best fourth place at the NESCAC Men's Championships a week later. A women's-team record 11 athletes, as well as first-yea...

We continue our “Why I Coach” series on the Bobcast with the head coaches of Bates golf and tennis: Henry Fall and Paul Gastonguay '89! Hired by Bates in August of 2019, Henry Fall was a four-year starter on the Elms College varsity golf team, graduating in 2014. He was a two-year captain and led the Blazers to New England Collegiate Conference titles as a first-year and as a senior. In his senior...

This week we continue our “Why I Coach” series with the head coaches of Bates men’s and women’s soccer: Tyler Sheikh and Joe Vari! In 2019, his second season as head coach of men's soccer at Bates, Tyler Sheikh led the Bobcats to a 9-6-1 record, the program's most since 2008. That included a 5-4-1 record in the NESCAC, tying for the team’s most conference victories since 2000. That followed an 8-7...

This week we continue our “why I coach” series with the head coaches of Bates volleyball and field hockey: Melissa DeRan and Dani Ryder Kogut! DeRan completed her fifth season at the helm of the Bates volleyball team in 2019, leading the Bobcats to their fifth consecutive appearance in the NESCAC Tournament and a 16-10 record, the team's most victories in 10 years. DeRan joins the Bobcast to talk...

Malik Hall is the 20th head coach in the history of the Bates College football program. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 2003 and has coached throughout the northeast, most recently at the University of Pennsylvania before arriving at Bates in 2018. We sat down with coach Hall for a chat about how he got started coaching and who has influenced him along the way.

The Bobcast is introducing a series called “Why I Coach”, where we’ll sit down with Bates head coaches each week to chat with them about how they first got into coaching, what they enjoy most about it, and much more. Today, we chat with cross country and track and field head coaches Al Fereshetian and Jennifer "Jay" Hartshorn!

It's the 200th episode of the Bates Bobcast!  Take a trip down memory lane with us, with some of the highlights from the last five-plus years. Interviews this episode: 0:35 -- Clayton Spencer, President of Bates. Episode 5: Talking Bates Athletics with President Spencer. 5:43 -- Ahmed Abdel Khalek '16. Episode 21: Back-to-back national titles. 10:25 -- Sounds of Bates Track & Field at the 2017 NCA...

This week we’re checking in with a trio of Bobcat head coaches about how the fall practice season is unfolding. Needless to say, they’ve gotten very creative. Interviews this episode: 0:33 -- Dani Ryder Kogut, Head Coach, Field Hockey. 8:21 -- Peter Steenstra, Head Coach, Rowing. 25:51 -- Tyler Sheikh, Head Coach, Men's Soccer.

This week we’re remembering the life of John Jenkins '74, the former mayor of Lewiston and Auburn. Former track and field and football teammates and coaches reflect on what he meant to Bates and to the community as a whole. Interviews this episode: 1:03 -- Bob Littlefield '75 (Football and men's track and field teammate). 10:27 -- John Emerson '73 (Men's track and field teammate). 22:21 -- Vic Gat...

This week, experience the beauty of campus and the power of our community through our virtual 2020 Homecoming & Family Weekend. You can connect with fellow alums and parents, and learn more about life at Bates during this historic time, with Back @ Bates. We preview all the excitement on the latest Bates Bobcast. Register for Back @ Bates by going to https://www.bates.edu/back-at-bates/. Plus, the...

On this week's episode, senior men’s track and field sprinter Miles Nabritt joins the Bobcast to discuss the Bates Votes initiative. We're celebrating National Equipment Managers Week by chatting with Bobcat equipment managers Dave Haefele and Nicole Clark and the cross country teams are hosting their 49th annual alumni meet, but in a virtual setting. Interviews this episode: 0:59 -- Jay Hartshorn...

This week we’re taking a look at the start of fall sports practices at Bates. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our student-athletes and coaches are adjusting like never before. Interviews this episode: 0:43 -- So Kim '21, Women's soccer. 1:32 -- Hannah Sweeney '21, Women's tennis. 3:47 -- Thomas Formus '22 and Erik Stephens '22, Football. 6:49 -- Melissa DeRan (Head Coach) and Angel Echipue '21...