After seeing Whitman and Whitworth this weekend when they came to Linfield I feel fairly comfortable in saying no team in the conference is all that dominant.  Whitman probably has the best overall talent.  No surprise that Whitworth lost to GF given how much Whitworth has to rely on its guards and GF has some good guards themselves.  Would not surprise me if Whitworth dropped the next two games against Whitman and L&C, but then again no one team is head and shoulders above the rest of the conference.  I can think of several teams that finished 2nd or 3rd in previous years that I could say would dominate the conference if they were in it this year.  Seems like talent overall is down, but maybe that is just me.  This I can say, there are very few quality bigs left and what are the chances that you see two good bigs on the same team anymore? Maybe Martin and Eisenhardt (when he returns) for Whitman?

Quote from: Gright on December 11, 2013, 12:53:49 AM
The process is anonymous, beyond personal influence and designed to be non-political.

Sorry, but if you know anything about the athletics on Linfield's campus then you know it is not beyond personal influence and is very political. There have been some efforts to get Doty into the Hall of Fame, but they have been shot down.  According to Rutschman, Doty lacks character.


On the topic of the Linfield basketball team I think it is a bit harsh to judge Coach Rosenberg's ability to recruit on the players he currently has.  Rosenberg was not hired until sometime in the middle of May and did not move to McMinnville until the end of June.  Most players are going to have committed by then and it probably does not help that his budget is less than 50,000 dollars.  This year he is also missing Andrew Batiuk, one of the better scorers in the NWC, but he will be back next year.  As for experience in the NWC, as someone else said, he was an assistant coach for LC with one of the better teams to ever play in the NWC.

Quote from: A Buc Forever on December 03, 2013, 06:13:57 PM
I agree with Rat.   Unless Colorado College is a lot better than I expect, I'm  a little concerned about WW.   Seems like their talent level is good, but something isn't right--no Gebbers on the team might be the problem.  Hopefully, they'll get it together before league.

Look like perhaps WW doesn't have the inside game they have had in the past.  The 6'6 kid for Colorado College had two good games against WW and Farnsworth only managed a total of 7 points.

Quote from: Walla Walla Wildcat on December 02, 2013, 05:57:22 PM
Again, if Coach Rutschman is the one guy keeping Doty out of the Linfield Hall of Fame then it must be for one heckuva reason.

I can answer that one for you.  Doty voted for a female swimming coach and instructor for tenure.  This swimming coach had brought a Title IX lawsuit against the school, which she ended up winning, and Rutschman tried to have her fired.  Rutschman got pissed enough to try and leverage Doty to be fired with the administration.  He submitted a letter of resignation from his AD position on the grounds that he would resign if the administration did not fire Doty.  The administration did not fire Doty and so the accepted Rutschman's resignation.  Rutshcman later tried to take back the resignation, but the school would not allow it and thats where it started.  Those that love Rutschman blame Doty for his ouster from the AD position.   Do not forget, Doty played for Rutschman for 4 years and Rutschman hired Doty to be the basketball coach, so I guess he did not always think he was a bad guy.  And for leverage that Doty has, I hear there could be a tell all book....

Quote from: Walla Walla Wildcat on December 02, 2013, 05:57:22 PM
The Oregon Small College athlete of the year is named after him for a reason.

Yes, and the Kentucky basketball arena is named after a racist.  Now clearly Rutschamn is not a racist, but the point is just because your name is on something doesn't mean you are the most benevolent person.

Quote from: Walla Walla Wildcat on November 26, 2013, 07:06:32 PM
If Coach Rutschman has/had an issue with a person it was most likely highly deserved.  I do not know of many alumni of Linfield, both students and football players, who after having dealings with Coach have nothing but respect and admiration for him. 

I took Rutschman's class they still let him teach at Linfield, wanted to kill myself out of shear boredom.  Nobody has used that teaching style since 1943 and there is a reason for that.  There is one man that has led the charge to keep Doty out of the Hall of Fame for his accomplishments on the field as a football player, many records he holds or did hold, and that is Ad Rutschman.  Classy?

Quote from: Walla Walla Wildcat on November 25, 2013, 08:59:30 PM
There are many more well heeled alumni who have waited out the prior staff and will be willing to contribute as long as the new coach is committed and patient.

Well I hope they stop holding back their donation money when they are winnning because extra money was not coming Coach Doty's way after he won two conference championships.  Although, stop holding out your donation money regardless of wins and losses, the more money Rosenberg has to work with the more successful he can be.

For those who have been asking questions about Coach Rosenberg at Linfield, I'll tell you that I have talked to him several times and I like him and his coaching philosophy and Linfield should be competitive.  I would anticipate that Linfield will be in most conference games with a chance to win.  That said, money supporting the program is going to continue to be an obstacle for him and one that I hope he can over come.  Found out a week ago from another NWC coach that Linfield basketball officially has the smallest budget in the conference, at the NWC coaches meeting they showed the budgets for all the schools.  Whitman, Willamette, and Whitworth on top, Linfield on the bottom.  The coach found it shocking and comical at how small our budget was and he isn't even a coach of one of those top 3 teams. 

Batiuk needed the year off, had surgery on both feet in the spring.  It was smart to give those dogs ample time to heal because bad feet can become a real problem for big men.  Also, getting the best scorer in the NWC back next year will make for a great addition to hopefully another solid recruiting class.  Saw LC blow out Portland Bible, sorry WWWildcat PB cannot pass or dribble. Linfield hung tough against Old Westbury a team that was way longer and more athletic then them and did surprisingly well on the boards given those disadvantages.

Quote from: A Buc Forever on April 24, 2013, 01:45:54 PM
Formercat, 

I didn't turn your comment around on you. I just don't get your issue that it is hard to get support/players/fans in a town of 30,000 surrounded by a metropolitan area of over 2.5 million (Spokane's metropolitan area population is less than half a million). 

Can you explain who Kushiyama is?

Yes I think it is going to be harder to get financial support from businesses from the other cities that make up the 2.5 million metropolitan when there are 4 other NWC schools in the different towns, 2 Division I schools and 3 NAIA schools in the area also (I am counting Salem too).  Is a business in Newberg going to provide financial support to Linfield instead of George Fox? How would that look to the residents in town? Are businesses in Portland more likely to sponsor Linfield or PSU, U of P, Lewis & Clark, Warner Pac., or Concordia?  Those businesses are trying to appeal to their publics, which are people who live in their cities.  The public of Spokane can support either Gonzage or Whitworth.  Maybe Eastern Washinton? See what I am saying? Do you still think that is not an advantage?  Not that Whitworth should not take an advantage of such an opportunity.

Kushiyama is Casey Kushiyama, an assistant on the Women's team at Whitman and played college ball at Linfield College. He is who Rat thinks I got my Bridgeland info from, but Rat does not know that Bridgeland has some friend in Eastern Washington that I also know.

Quote from: (509)Rat on April 17, 2013, 10:39:06 PM
Don't think you have good players near Linfield? Then why will two of your state's best d3 prospects be up in Spokane next fall to play basketball? The new Whitworth staff seems to like Portland just fine.

The Linfield football contract is weak too. They did what EVERY other NWC school has done (and for the record they were very late to the party as WC11 would probably tell you) which is get rid of non-d3 teams on the schedule. Ask the guys on the 2007 Whitworth team what losing to an NAIA team can do to your playoff hopes....even when you are the champ of one of the better conferences in the country. You HAVE to do whatever you can to schedule non-conference d-3 games which isn't easy in the NWC. So the $10k investment led to a playoff run and 80+ incoming freshman who may not have come to your school otherwise. 80 x $35k...I'm no mathematician but that's a butt load of money for the UNIVERSITY.

To address from your first comment, my comments made about Linfield near Portland were never made in relation to getting players from the area, Buc somehow turned it in to that.  My comment was in response to another made about Hayford's fundraising and how I feel it is more advantageous to get support in a city of 200,000 people as in compared to 30,000. Buc somehow read something else from that and then you ran with it.

Your second comment I agree with completely, but when the basketball team asked for money to travel, so they would not have to play NAIA teams Doty was denied. 

Oh, and I have more contacts in Eastern Washington than Kushiyama.   

Quote from: A Buc Forever on April 16, 2013, 12:33:40 PM
Maybe Bridgeland used Linfield for a little leverage.  Wouldn't be the first coach to use an interview at another school to get what he wants back home.

Had Linfield been able to give Bridgeland the equivelant of what he had at Whitman, I think he leaves Whitman.  Since Linfield did not, I do agree with your statement that he ended up using the opportunity for leverage.

Also, not sure with what Lewis and Clark and the Tacoma schools have to do with the population size of McMinnville. The larger the population the greater chance to pull sponsorship money from surrounding businesses was my point.

Quote from: (509)Rat on April 15, 2013, 11:57:22 PM
Before you guys go blaming the basketball budget on the University....I'm sure Doty set up and ran his own banquets, golf events, made his own business contacts and got a lot of his own sponsors all of which generated money just for the basketball program right?

Not to take away from anything Hayford did, but Whithworth is the only D3 school and only Gonzaga as the other 4 year institution in a city of 200,000 people. McMinnville is 30,000 people with 4 other schools in the greater Willamette area. Also, Linfield seemed to find 10,000 dollars very quickly when the football team wanted out of there contract with Western Oregon a couple of years ago.

So Bridgeland was offered the job at Linfield, but turned it down.  Makes ya wonder how being 40 minutes from Portland and having overall better facilities than Whitman that Linfield could lose out to them?  A birdy from eastern Washington told me Bridgeland would have had to take a substantial pay cut, the money for the program was much less than that at Linfield, and the amount of time he would have had to spend doing other duties that where not related to the program was much greater too. There is also some other juicy rumors out there, but I cannot divulge too much at once.

Eric Bridgeland will be interviewing for the Linfield job this week.

Quote from: D O.C. on March 20, 2013, 01:26:21 AM
567...the most glaring out of step program since the adjustment to DIII has been the basketball program.

Eh, its been messed up since NAIA days too. Like when AD Ad Rutschman would not give Doty another $2,000 in scholarship money to get a 6'10 kid because he said there was no money left.  Then turned in $50,000 dollars back to the college.  Seems to me the deck has been slightly stacked against him since he got on Rutsch's bad side.  So you can say what you want about him being a poor coach, but he did not exactly get to play the game on the same level as everyone else.  And you are part of the perpetuation of this kind of garbage, if Doty had won 5 conference championships in the last 10 years you still would not like him.  It's not about winning and losing its about an old mans grudge.