If you need any proof, Georgetown’s new starting quarterback, junior Matt Bassuener can tell you all about it.
“Well, I’ve been lucky to be involved with a lot of the international aspects of football,” Bassuener says, “I just love this game.”
In last week’s 31-14 loss at Colgate, the latest chapter was written in Bassuener’s football odyssey. Georgetown became the fifth team in the third country to call on Bassuener to start under center since 2000. For the junior quarterback, the road less traveled is finally paying dividends in the NCAA.
Bassuener’s journey to Georgetown began in his hometown of Port Edwards, Wisc., a small hamlet in central Wisconsin somewhere between Milwaukee and St. Paul, Minn. Despite a population of only about 2,000, Bassuener claims that football rules the roost in Port Edwards. In a graduating class at John Edwards High School that had just 43 students, he boasts that 13 of 20 boys played football.
It was during his time at John Edwards when Bassuener’s international curiosity got the better of him. During his sophomore year, he explored possible student exchange opportunities, eventually singling out Finland as an interesting prospect. While most people bring their skis to the Nordic country, Bassuener brought his pigskin.
“I researched it and found out that they had a club team there that a lot of American college guys go and play on,” Bassuener says.
So before he could say “nakemiin” (“goodbye” in Finnish), Bassuener was on the other side of the Atlantic, quarterbacking his under-21 team to Finland’s A-Junior National Championship in 2000.
“It was a great experience,” Bassuener says, “I was a little naive though. Finnish is such a different language. But by the time I got back, I understood it pretty well.”
While Bassuener continued to have success in his junior and senior years back in Wisconsin, earning his high school football team’s most valuable player award both years, college coaches wanted to see him tested in a tougher environment. So Bassuener went on to a post-graduate year at Western Reserve Academy, a co-ed boarding school in Hudson, Ohio, he led to the league championship in 2002.
He again began to look into college options, and a particular school and football program caught his eye. This time the school was south of the border in Monterrey, Mexico.
Bassuener enrolled at Tecnologico de Monterrey in 2003, whose football team he subsequently guided to a national championship in the Organizacion Nacional Estudiantil de Futbol Americana (ONEFA), exico’s collegiate football association. After successes in Finland, Wisconsin, Ohio and finally in Mexico, Bassuener finally had the opportunity to come play in the country where football is king.
“It ended up being a storybook finish for me [in exico],” Bassuener says. “We won the national championship and I had a great game. But when I heard from Georgetown, I knew I couldn’t pass up that opportunity.”
So Bassuener, who was recruited by former Head Coach Bob Benson, transferred to the School of Foreign Service and redshirted the 2004 season, in accordance with NCAA rules. He played the 2005 season primarily as a defensive back, appearing in every game on special teams. It wasn’t until the spring of 2006, when a new coaching staff came in, that Bassuener got a chance to see some playing time at quarterback.
“It’s an interesting story, because in the spring we were thinking of making him a defensive back,” Offensive Coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jim Miceli says, “But with the injuries to [junior] Nick Cangelosi and [sophomore] Gunner Coil, he got a tremendous amount of reps at quarterback. He just wanted a chance.”
After losing out on his bid for the starting quarterback job to sophomore Ben Hostetler in the preseason, Bassuener had only to wait until the third game of the season to get a chance to showcase his abilities.
Bassuener’s first big break came Sept. 16 in the Georgetown’s 34-21 loss at Brown, when he came off the bench to throw two fourth-quarter touchdowns and revive a dormant Hoya offense. While his performance at Brown earned praise, it was his heroics against Columbia that solidified his claim to a starting role.
“Against Brown, he had a good game,” Head Coach Kevin Kelly says, “Against Columbia, he had an excellent game.”
With Georgetown down 17-0 late in the second quarter in New York on Sept. 23, and with three interceptions already credited to Hostetler’s credit, Bassuener was again called upon. All he did was throw for three touchdowns on 17-for-22 passing in the Georgetown comeback, only for the Hoyas to lose by the closest of margins, 23-21. Bassuener’s play earned him Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors and a starting job in the Colgate game.
Alas, last week Bassuener could not find the same success in his start against Colgate as he had against the previous two Ivy League opponents. Colgate, who is perennially the class of the Patriot League, proved too formidable of an opponent for Georgetown. The Raiders cruised to a 31-14 win, in a game plagued by five Hoya turnovers.
“Last week [Bassuener] did some good things and some poor things,” Kelly says. “We need to make sure we hang on to the football and aren’t making silly mistakes. I expect him to be better this week [against Lehigh].”
Kelly says Bassuener’s on-field aggressiveness is both his greatest strength and potentially his greatest weakness, alluding to Bassuener’s two turnovers in the Colgate game.
“Matt tries to make the big play every time, that’s just his personality,” Kelly continues, “He wants to do well and he wants to win badly. He’s just got to settle in and try to stay within the framework of the offense.”
Miceli doesn’t think it’ll take Bassuener long to settle into his role. He lauds Bassuener’s diligence towards football.
“Matt is a student of the game,” Miceli says. “He’s a kid who really studies football.”
Bassuener, an International Affairs major, spent the summer in Vienna, Va., working as an intern for USA Football, an organization that promotes amateur football, and previewing what he hopes is a life-long involvement in the sport.
“In terms of my future, I’d love for it to involve football,” Bassuener says. “The international development of the game is the reason that I looked into USA Football.
“I can’t see myself in a few years having this addiction to football leave me.”
In the immediate future, though, Bassuener has just one thing on his mind.
“Right now, I’m completely focused on Lehigh,” he says. “I think everyone is trying to take things game by game and trying to improve.”
For now, as the Finnish would say, Bassuener just wants “voittaa” – to win.