New coach brings a fresh attitude

This off season, sprint football has been hustling to adapt to new head coach Thomas Cocuzza, a new offensive scheme and a more intense attitude.

The team's new offense, called Tiger Ball, is a blend of several different offenses but most strongly resembles Texas Tech's five wideout system.

"I was talking to the freshman recruits, and I asked if they know why we throw the ball so much," Cocuzza said, his voice hoarse from a nine day training camp.

"It's because when kids play in the park, what do they say? They say 'let's play catch.' They don't say 'let's go hand the ball to each other.' We're making this game as fun as possible so we can get more guys out."

Don't be fooled, however, by the new emphasis on fun. The practices are more focused than last year.

"A few people that have been playing for two or three years have dropped out because the team is now more challenging," sophomore defensive back Kadir Annamalai said. "In practice nobody is screwing around. Everyone is more focused, so our practices are much better. So far it's definitely been a huge improvement and more fun."

So far the team is doing well with the new offense.

"The guys are picking it up pretty well," Cocuzza said. "Our quarterback Alex Kandabarow is experienced and has done an unbelievable job. Unfortunately our wideouts have gotten a little bit nicked up, so we're trying to get them healthy. People think I'm hoarse from coaching, but it's actually from all of these crash courses to get the guys up to speed."

But they still have more work to do.

"The team is ahead of where we thought we would be, but we're not where I want us to be yet," Cocuzza said. "We're trying to get everyone to a level where we can compete in this league. Every day I'm more amazed at how smart these kids are."

Many players are excited about the team's changes.

"Last year one of our biggest problems was that we would never change," Annamalai said "The old system wasn't working, but we were not adjusting on a week to week basis. We were not making ourselves better."

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Cocuzza's resume includes a stint with the New Jersey Red Dogs of the Arena Football League. He comes to Princeton from Kean University, where he was the offensive coordinator.

"He's a lot better than our old coach and he's much younger," Annamalai said. "He is more motivated, which excites all the players on the field."

The Tigers compete in the Collegiate Sprint Football League, along with Penn, Cornell, Virginia Military Institute, Army and Navy. To be eligible, athletes must weigh less than 172 pounds.

To get more people to try out, Cocuzza has made the commitment to the team more flexible.

"We understand the players' commitment to school," Cocuzza said. "Several people are situational players. You can be our second down back or our third and long receiver. These players only come out for those practices and only play in those situations."

The team has 32 returning players and 44 players on the roster. Compared to Cornell, which has 60 players, and Army and Navy, which each have 100-man rosters, Princeton is somewhat behind.

"We expect that this turnout is due to the recent losing history of the team," Cocuzza said. "But we're trying to get the word out about the team. We're playing for real. We're trying to show that the rewards are well worth the commitment."

With its first game against Cornell two weeks away, the team is looking forward to putting its new playbook to the test.

"Because our offense is new, Cornell will not know what to expect, which is a huge advantage," Annamalai said. "Plus we almost beat Cornell last year — it was a close game until the fourth quarter. We are focusing most our energy on this first game."

The team is hopeful for more wins

"It was amazing when we beat VMI," Annamalai said. "Everyone was so pumped. We feel a lot more prepared this year, so hopefully we'll get more moments like that. This year we feel like an actual football team."