NEW BRITAIN — Just over three months since taking over as the head football coach at Central Connecticut State, Adam Lechtenberg put on his first spring game on Friday and put a bow on a month of spring practices.
Lechtenberg has repeatedly said that he enjoys the hard-working nature of the players that come through New Britain after spending two seasons as the co-offensive coordinator from 2010-11 and now serving as the head coach. That notion held true through spring camp as Lechtenberg commended the players’ fight over the last month for the greater good of the team.
“It was great,” said Lechtenberg of his first spring game as the head coach. “We had a great atmosphere and beautiful night. Our kids did a great job this spring, and like anybody, we’re banged up. We’ve only got like six O-linemen out there and a couple of corners playing their butts off. We had a ton of kids tough it out so the rest of us can get better. There are guys out there playing on one ankle basically, so that the rest of the team can practice. I was very proud of our guys.”
The first portion of their offseason has seemingly come and gone in a flash. Hired on Jan. 11, Lechtenberg had to hit the recruiting trail right away, finalize his staff and install a new playbook under a tight deadline. He’s been impressed with how the players have handled the situation, however. Lechtenberg noted that the team has taken everything in stride and done everything that’s been asked of them.
“We have a long way to go,” Lechtenberg said. “We have to have a great summer. We have to continue to get better as program, but the kids’ attitude and effort has been phenomenal. I couldn’t ask them to be more invested.”
The last time Lechtenberg coached in New Britain he was helping the 2010 offense become the league’s best en route to claiming a conference title. Since his departure, the Blue Devils were crowned NEC Champs in 2017 and 2019 as well. Over the last two seasons, however, Central has turned in 4-7 and 2-9 seasons.
Lechtenberg has aspirations of not only adding another conference title to the décor at Arute Field but keeping the program in contention year-in and year-out.
“To be consistent we need to have great offseason development,” Lechtenberg began. “We’re young. In this league recruiting is always important, but the development in the offseason is going to be the biggest difference.
Our work ethic has to be our advantage. If we can develop the work ethic as a program where we work harder than everybody else — not work longer but work more efficiently and spend more time developing as a program — we’ll have a chance to be consistently winning. This program has had hot streaks where they’ve won some games and I want to be where we can be good every year.”
CCSU will kick off the 2023 season and the Adam Lechtenberg era on Sept. 2 at home hosting American International.
