Read the Norwich Cadets Athletic Communications memorial on Coach Mynter
Make Your Gift to Honor Coach and Connie Mynter
Coach Mynter's wife, Connie joined Barry on April 27, 2021. Coach and Connie are together again. An amazing couple loved the Norwich and Northfield community dearly. Thank you for your support of the Mynter Family Scholarship to honor this special Norwich family.
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Dear Norwich Friends,
Barry Mynter, a man synonymous with Norwich Football, passed away on May 23, 2020. Upon hearing of Coach Mynter’s unexpected passing, many of us who felt privileged to call him “Coach” were flooded with memories of our days at the Wick. Juggling the demands of Cadet life on the Norwich campus with the rigors of earning a place on the Norwich Football team was no easy task. Nothing worthwhile ever is. That reality was made painfully apparent when it became clear that being a high school star meant absolutely nothing when one entered the collegiate ranks. In college, everyone was a high school star. Everyone was fast. Everyone was strong. Many good players didn’t survive the transition. For those of us who did survive, who earned our spots on the sidelines of Sabine Field and in those huddles, who wore the uniform of a Norwich football player, both in victory and defeat, we are brothers in a very select fraternity of Norwich students. Much of the pride we feel from that association is directly attributable to the culture built by Coach Mynter and his passion for the game. “By God, if we don’t win they’ll leave this place knowing they were in a football game”, was one of his favorite game week quotes. To this day, many of us still refer to NESCAC schools as “the silk pant league.”
Building a successful college football program requires enormous discipline, a demanding personality and, inevitably, difficult conversations. Every college football coach has complicated legacies with his players and Coach Mynter was no different. After all, how does a coach manage a collection of teenagers and twenty somethings from different regions of the country and cajole them into coalescing around a commitment to a shared vision for what it means to be a part of the tradition that is Norwich football? Coach Mynter expected a great deal from his players. He expected preparation, execution, physicality and a commitment that every player in a Norwich football uniform would work until the whistle blew on each and every play.
In the end, however, it was more than his passion for the game or commitment to success on the field. After all, stewarding the extracurricular athletic careers of willful young men takes more than a taskmaster. It is a big responsibility and delicate balancing act. It takes a teacher. It takes a mentor. It takes a man who recognizes that the lessons learned on the field are every bit as important as those learned in the classroom; lessons that carry former players to success in all walks of life, in the armed forces, in the business world and as human beings.
In a reaction to the news of Coach Mynter’s passing, one former player offered the following: “I will be forever grateful for his part in making Norwich a part of my life. Without it I wouldn’t have my rook buddy friendships, my wife and kids nor the life I am living. These thoughts I shared with many of you around a reunion fire pit a few years ago and I was lucky enough to share those same thoughts with Barry and have the opportunity to say thank you.”
As has been offered in the context of Coach Mynter’s legacy, “No life ends until all the lives it has touched are gone.” In that spirit, we are asking you to consider a gift to the Barry Mynter Family Scholarship Fund. The goal is join together as a team to raise $25,000 to endow a scholarship in his honor.
With your help, we can celebrate the legacy of Barry Mynter, and the best traditions of Norwich football, each time we return to The Hill or from afar.
Essayons,
Bill Tanner '75, Steve Hammond '75, Dan Lay '83, and Bob Anderson '86