David Lloyd's explanation for the football team's new mentality is historical and simple: the Greek ethos.
"For the Spartan warriors, their shield was more important than the spear," said Lloyd, a senior left tackle. "You lose the spear, you get a slap on the wrist. You lose your shield, it's punishable by death, because you punished your teammates. That's the attitude we have. My brothers, on the offensive line, defense, everybody: They're more important than anything."
Whatever new mindset the Jumbos have adopted — be it Spartan or Medfordian — has coincided with the promotion of interim head coach Jay Civetti, who took over shortly after Bill Samko stepped down in December following 17 years of leading the program.
With the season−opener at Hamilton less than three weeks away, players are pointing to increased accountability, intensified workouts and more bonding opportunities as a sign of an attitude shift for a team coming off its worst season since 1996.
To close Saturday night's practice, Tufts' first upper−pad workout of the season, the Jumbos lined up on the edge of Bello Field. In unison, the players removed their chin straps and placed their helmets on the goal line, creating a graveyard of white headgear as, together by class year, they marched forward.
"We look to the warriors on our right and our left with everything we do," Lloyd said. "Basically every play, it's for everybody else around us, and that's the concept Coach Civetti's brought in. And I think it's really worked. As a senior, I haven't felt this in a preseason yet, so it's really exciting to have him in here."
Most of Civetti's practice plans stem from his days under Tom O'Brien at both North Carolina State and Boston College. For five seasons, Civetti worked under the longtime collegiate coach as a graduate assistant, and he even returned to Raleigh, N.C., on Nov. 28, 2009, to help the Wolfpack for one game after an illness on the team's staff.
"None of this is my stuff; I'm just following the blueprint of someone with a lot of experience in Coach O'Brien," Civetti said. "The guys at N.C. State, the coaches at Boston College — those men — they made me."
Civetti joined Samko's staff at Tufts in 2008 and served as the Jumbos' offensive coordinator for three seasons, helping guide a record−breaking passing game last season. When Samko left, Civetti took over recruiting duties until he was promoted to interim head coach on Jan 3. He remained the offensive coordinator and also coached the quarterbacks.
Assuming full control of a college program is a different animal — Civetti's last head coaching gig was on the freshman team at Milton High School — but his Div. I experience has laid the groundwork for tackling the challenge.
"I think he's started to bring a new identity, understanding how we're trying to change the tone of Tufts football," said first−year defensive assistant Rich Gunnell, who played under Civetti at Boston College. "Just from being here a month I can already see that change happening. He's always looking out for his players, so I can see that now and I could see it back then when he used to coach me."
Everything, from the material to the intangible, seems different. Recruiting, according to Civetti, will focus more on specific needs, and coaches attended dozens of camps this summer. The Jumbos have new practice jerseys, more meetings and longer practice sessions, structurally organized like O'Brien's.
Players aren't allowed to remove their chin straps during practice, except during water breaks. They run everywhere, hold conditioning drills at the end of their intensely spirited practices and, last week, became the fourth Tufts program — men's lacrosse, women's soccer and ice hockey are the others — to undergo Judgment Day: the intense, Marine−run leadership and conditioning program.
"All I know, the staff, we're just pointing the boat in the direction and these guys are doing it on their accord," Civetti, a 2001 Trinity graduate and an All−American offensive lineman for the Bantams, said.
"They're deciding how far we're going to go [and] at what speed. Within the structure of the program, it's their team. They're the ones who are making it. We're just the guys blowing the whistles and calling the plays."
Nonetheless, it's all adding up to an atmosphere ripe with what senior linebacker Nick Falk called "the most selfless mindset of looking at things" he's ever seen on a football team — a strong statement coming from an ROTC cadet.
Following Saturday's practice, Civetti broke into a slow trot outside the field, an act that at once defined his personal mentality and that instilled within his new team.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have to do this walk−jog," he said. "I ask the kids to run off the field, and it's only fair that I do it too. I hold them accountable, so I have to do the same for myself."
