Trophies are one of the best ways to remember great performances for a team. Not very often do teams get to come together for a collective goal. The Little East Conference (LEC) holds a competition each year called the LEC Commissioner’s Cup. This year-long event totals points based on performance from every sport in each school’s program.
Keene State received 16 straight cups from 2000 to 2016. However, the Owls went on a dry streak, coming in second place from 2016 to 2022 to Eastern Connecticut State University (EastConn). KSC Athletics turned around and brought the cup back home last year in 2023 and are looking to go back to back this year. Director of Athletics Marty Testo said the cup “shows how hard our coaches are working and how hard the athletes are working.” Testo added that winning these cups makes the program more attractive and speaks volumes of the school and athletics department.
Al Bean has been a part of the Little East Conference since its inception in 1986. Bean was one of the first volunteer commissioners for the former basketball-only conference. While Bean has worked with the LEC, he has seen it grow to include all sports and grow from six to nine schools. After bringing in the other teams, the LEC committee decided to bring in the competition of the commissioner’s cup.
Although athletic performance is very important to the programs, both Bean and Testo mentioned how proud they are of the student-athletes’ success in the classroom. Each team in the LEC held an average GPA above 2.9 in the fall. Around 50 percent of student-athletes at Keene have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Testo said he is “content with our situation,” as he is proud of the performance of the teams and proud of the academic success. Testo said he strives to have the athletes at Keene State work as hard as they can in the classroom and said there is a “correlation between success on the playing field and in the classroom.”
“With regard to the academic side, there has been a stereotype that athletes don’t perform academically; that’s long from the truth,” said Bean. Bean added he believes the ability to play sports in college allows students to pursue careers they might not have found if they weren’t involved in a team. “We all want to see our teams do well in the classroom, competition and in the community,” said Bean.
Bean said he believes the commissioner’s cup is “really important to the schools” and thinks that each program takes the competition seriously. The competition brings camaraderie between the teams within each program and allows them to work for a bigger goal rather than just themselves.
As it stands now, Keene State is leading in the standings of the commissioner’s cup. They have accumulated 6.65 points. EastConn is in second with 6.08 points. It is important for the spring sports to keep up the Owls’ momentum and score some valuable points as the season comes to a close. Teams gain points from their regular season record and placement in the LEC standings.
Carson Flake can be contacted at
cflake@kscequinox.com
