Published:
Central Athletics thrives on family-forward approach
By Chris O’Connor
If you follow Central’s Director of Athletics Tom Pincince on social media, you are very familiar with the term, “Together, as we always do.” No matter the topic, whether it is a win in competition, a fundraising appeal, success in the classroom, or another of the numerous volunteer projects that Blue Devils student-athletes have participated in, that is the sign-off on the post.
“Central is special because of the people,” Pincince says. “We are able to accomplish things for that reason. Our coaches, our student-athletes, our staff, our alumni, and our families come together to achieve things that sometimes seem unachievable. It is that which makes us who we are, and I am proud to be a Blue Devil.”
Image
(Above) Central Director of Athletics Tom Pincince.
Merriam-Webster defines “family” as “a group of people united by certain convictions or common affiliation,” and the importance of family is woven through the history of CCSU Athletics.
Perhaps the best place to start is director of Athletics emeritus Charles “CJ” Jones, who served the university in numerous roles for four decades after his four-year career at Central as a basketball and baseball player. Jones played alongside Howie Dickenman under coach Bill Detrick.
“Bill took me, a kid from New York, under his wing a little bit while I was here and helped me out from a hoops perspective,” says Jones. “We built relationships in those years, and while we didn’t know it then, they would be lifelong relationships.”
That relationship played into one of Jones’ first moves after he was named director of Athletics in July 1995. He turned the following spring to Dickenman — his teammate and best man at his wedding — as the new head men’s basketball coach. That hire paid dividends, with Dickenman spending more than two decades at the helm of the Blue Devils basketball program, leading them to three NEC championships and NCAA tournament appearances.
Dickenman was a family-first guy, too and hired several Central alumni to help build the program. One of them, Patrick Sellers, is back on campus today in the same chair as his old boss. Sellers is a Central alumnus who played for the Blue Devils from 1987 to 1991 before he returned to serve as an assistant for Dickenman’s championship teams.
But the story doesn’t end there either. When the Blue Devils won the 2002 championship, Lenny Jefferson was in the building as a recruit of Sellers. Jefferson joined the program the following season and had a noteworthy career. He now sits alongside Sellers during games as an assistant coach and played an integral role in the Blue Devils’ regular-season crown last year.
Extended family
The family goes beyond coaches. Jones surrounded the programs with administrators that are Blue Devils through and through. He brought on Pincince, Amy Strickland, Molly McCarthy, and Mike Ericksen, to name just a few, who have supported the programs over the past two decades.
Strickland played for the Central volleyball team and headed out on a professional career that saw her spend time at Maryland, before she was called home to New Britain. McCarthy worked in other offices on campus, before she found a home in Kaiser Hall. The duo works tirelessly on behalf of the student-athletes in compliance and eligibility.
Ericksen joined the Central team in the strength and conditioning area and now serves as the associate athletic director for External Affairs. For a quarter century, he has been at the helm of building the program that makes Blue Devil athletes stronger and faster and healthier.
One of the athletes that he helped to train is Nicole Dumpson-Jackson, who was inducted into the CCSU Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame in October. A record-setting member of the track and field team, Dumpson-Jackson went into coaching after leaving Central, but, like many, she returned to the family and is now an assistant coach
“The one thing that I noticed when I returned is that people come to stay,” she says. “Amy is still here. Molly is still here. I worked for them as a student. Coach Ericksen was my strength coach and was on my hiring committee when I applied for this job.”
Dumpson-Jackson works alongside head cross country and track and field coach Eric Blake, a fellow alum. He is one of three head coaches who are Central graduates, with Sellers and head lacrosse coach Betsy Vendel.
For Vendel, Central really is a family connection. She is a second-generation graduate of the university, joining her mother, Mary Jane Robertson, a member of Class of 1980, on the alumni rolls.
“I remember picking my mom up at the airport and driving her around campus to show her how things have grown and changed since she was here,” Vendel says. “It is cool to see how far Central has come. How far we have come with what we do for the student body and how it changes with the different generations. All while having the same people in roles now that were here when I was playing.”
And while campus has changed and grown, so much of Athletics remains a constant. This summer, Paul Manwaring was elevated to the role of head athletic trainer. He has been on the New Britain campus since he enrolled for graduate school. For most of those years, he worked alongside Kathy Pirog, who ran the athletic training room since 1996, when she was elevated to replace her mentor, CCSU Hall of Famer Carl Krein, who remains active in hall of fame selections to this day.
“It is really about relationships,” Jones notes. “Finding the people who believe in the philosophy and are willing to share that with those that come after them. Showing them what it means to be a ‘true Blue Devil’ and then watching them and entrusting them to teach those traits to the next generation.”