Wow, I'm not sure what to say other than thank you very much, former Commish. That means a lot coming from someone with as much experience as a coach and administrator as you do. I certainly don't take those comments lightly as they are high praise indeed.

It's things like this that allow me to hold my head up high when thinking about what I accomplished at Eureka. It is sad that so many people at other schools appreciated what I did, while some closest to me had little idea.

Unfortunately, the decision to get rid of me it just the most recent of Eureka's many missteps in recent years and I'm afraid it will get worse before it gets better. If Eureka doesn't land on its feet, it won't be because I'm not there. It will be the culmination of a lot of poor decisions, most having to do with personnel.

Thanks again Former Commish. Your support over the years has meant a lot and I appreciate the opportunities you gave me to "stretch my wings" while you were commissioner.

Yes, I'm afraid to say this will be one of my last posts, at least while using this screen name. I was fired from Eureka on May 15. If any of my friends on this board would like to know from me personally exactly what happened, feel free to send me a P.M. and I'll tell you all about it. The only opinion I will offer at this time is that I believe Eureka has a lot of potential, but its administration is holding it back. Decisions are being made based too much on personal preference by people who are supposed to have the overall department or college in mind.

Here are some facts that back up my position:

-- I was hired at Eureka in August of 2005. Every head and assistant coach of every sport that was coaching at the time of my hiring is no longer coaching at Eureka.

-- At the time of my firing, I had been at Eureka the 2nd longest of any of the 24 head coaches, assistant coaches or staff members associated with the athletics department. I was 26 years old at the time.

-- 9 of the 17 sports at Eureka have seen a head coaching change since the current AD took over in May of 2008, including 3 sports that have had 2 changes.

-- In 2008-09, Eureka had an overall win-loss record from all sports that keep records of 68-155 for a .305 winning percentage...the worst mark in my 4 years at Eureka by a significant amount.

--By comparison, all but one of Greenville's 14 sports is coached by someone that has been there at least 5 years. Eureka was 1-15 vs. Greenville in conference play in 2008-09.


I want to thank all of our readers and fans out there that have made following the SLIAC so much fun over the years. I hope I was able to add some entertainment value for you with my reports on Eureka athletics. I did it mostly as a service to the fans as far as this board goes, but it was nice to promote some fine student-athletes as well. It was great to meet new people and make new friends, some of whom I will to stay in contact with in the years to come. I hope everyone continues to support their favorite teams and players. They deserve as much attention and encouragement as we as fans can give them.

I'm not sure what is next for me professionally. I will likely reappear on this board under a new name and keep you posted that way. If someone knows if I can change my name and keep my posts and karma, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll just go for a fresh start.

Thanks especially to FC, Hopefan and Y_jak for your kind words. You are all true gentlemen of the game of life.

I can answer the question about Spalding, which is spelled without a "u" just like the sporting goods company. Spalding is eligible for everything as it relates to the SLIAC except for the conference tournament for the next 3 years.  This is because they are not eligible for NCAA Postseason play, I think, due to the provisional period for new members. Spalding can win regular season championships, postseason awards, ect.

If i had to pick a favorite now without knowing who's coming or going, I would pick Westminster. They have the most talent eligible to return of anyone.

As for Eureka, the Red Devils should be competitive next year. I used to think the lack of post play would be a problem, but that was because we used to play in a different conference.  I'm not knocking the SLIAC necessarily...it's just a different style of play than in the old NIIC.  EC had strong post defenders McCoy and Beecher wasting away on the bench last season because hardly anyone in the SLIAC had threatening post offense.  Really, if EC can find a nice off guard to hit a few open 3-pointers off the bench and guard the other team's 3rd best perimeter player, we'll be at least as good as last season, if not better.

Coach Dubb, a wise man once said, an intelligent person can see both sides. I think we both can see both sides.

I hope we end up with a competitive game Saturday. Other SLIAC teams have been able to play Maryville close more often than I thought they would at the beginning of the season and Fontbonne has been the team that's done it twice.

Quote from: hopefan on February 26, 2009, 12:03:26 PM
Incidently - thanks to EC for giving us his forecast of All conference on the women's side - I'll not attempt that task, as I simply am not that familiar with several of the teams - teams that evidently have some of the best players in the league....

HOWEVER - my opinion is that Fontbonne is going to feel grossly unappreciated when they review EC's prognostications.   Here's a team tied for 2nd, who played Maryville to margins of 7 and 3...  Having seen them a number of times this year, I've got to think that Calli Collier, and possibly Mallory Ludwig deserve some kind of recognition..... If there was an all frosh team, Kendra Shilli would be a leading candidate..

I would like to take all the credit for Fontbonne's win as my post obviously fired up the Griffins to the point they became an irresistible force tonight.

But seriously folks, I just couldn't bring myself to put a 2nd Griffin on the my list. Collier seems to have the most support from others on this board, but the facts are she shot 34% from the field and 31% on threes in a gym with by far the friendliest rims I've ever seen. And she had to get hot at the end of the year just to get that high. She didn't exactly make a great first impression on me with her 2-12 showing at Eureka either. She deserves a lot of credit for the Griffins great end to the year, though, and her reward is getting to continue her season. Many that are on my Unofficial All-Conference Team, as awesome of an honor as it may be  , would gladly trade it in for a chance to keep playing. It was a tough call, and she was the next to last player I eliminated.

At the end of the day, one of the top reasons I would have put Collier on my list would have been that her teammates were better. That doesn't seem like a good reason to put someone on an all-conference team to me.

Who was the last person eliminated? Kendra Schilli. The more I think about it, the more I wish I would have put her on my team. If I was starting a team for next year using only returning players from the conference, she would be one of them. Maybe the fact that Collier, Schilli and Ludwig all had similar seasons will actually hurt each of their individual chances of landing on the all-conference team. If there ends up being 2 or 3 Griffins on the all-conference team, I won't argue (unless it's at the expense of a Red Devil  ). Fontbonne had, and is still having, a good season.

But, if you want to compare stats, take a look at the 3 Griffins compared to someone from Eureka (frosh Lisa Byard) that also did not make my all-conference team:

Collier: 32.4 min, 34.4 FG%, 30.8 3FG% (36-117), 85.9 FT%, 14.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.1 apg, 16 stl, 3 blk

Ludwig: 19.6 min, 60.2 FG%, 0-0 3FG, 71.9 FT%, 11.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 0.6 apg, 9 stl, 17 blk

Schilli: 28.6 min, 50.0 FG%, 28.6 3FG% (2-7), 75.6 FT%, 10.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.9 apg, 37 stl, 4 blk

Byard: 29.6 min, 45.0 FG%, 0-0 3FG, 63.7 FT%, 13.1 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 0.4 apg, 10 stl, 6 blk.

Quote from: coachdubb on February 26, 2009, 02:35:30 PM
Hey Eureka SID, please explain to me how Vollmer (top 3 in conference in points and rebounds) not be 1st team all conference. Secondly, how can Hawkey not be 1st Team?

1. I'll start with Vollmer. The reason she isn't any higher has much to do with her 36.8 field goal percentage. For someone that took 250 of her 280 shots from inside the arc, that is below average to put it nicely.  Now, she did average a double-double, which is impressive (and why she made my list over some from Fontbonne...more on them in a minute). But, only 1 player on my list had a lower FG%, that being her teammate Lowe. The reason Lowe was higher is she shot more from the outside and, quite frankly, when most teams start game-planning against Mac, they start the discussion with Lowe, then worry about Vollmer 2nd, which tells me Lowe was facing better defenders.

Mac deserves credit for out-performing the preseason predictions, but 4-12 really isn't that great. Plus, Mac didn't play the best defense, seeing as how Eureka had its 2 highest scoring games of the season against them.

2. On to Hawkey. As with any all-conference team, if you want to move someone up, someone has to come down. I'm guessing you wouldn't be moving down Speer of Shipley. Despite your claim that Hawkey is the best all-around player in the league, for my money, Wemlinger is better in most areas. Plus, she brings more of a veteran presence and calmness to the floor as she is a senior. Similarly, Wilhelm would also have much better stats if she played more than 22 minutes/game. When you extrapolate her stats out to the 34 minutes that Hawkey played, it's no contest. Maryville ran the table this year and Wemlinger and Wilhelm were their 2 top guns. They should be recognized as such.

Kirby gets the nod over Hawkey because her percentages are much better. She was the best 3-point shooter in the league, led the nation in FT%, and was the best player on the 2nd place team in the conference. Hawkey's 2 extra points per game have more to do with her taking 50 more shots and playing 4 more minutes than with her being a better player. In head to head match ups, Fontbonne took both games as well.

I thought I was doing Hawkey a favor by putting her as Newcomer of the Year. One could make the argument someone much more dear to me, Lindsey Crum of Eureka, had better stats:

Hawkey: 40.1 FG%, 39.3 3FG% (33-84), 73.5 FT%, 15.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.0 apg, 16 stl, 4 blk.

Crum: 45.7 FG%, 39.1 3FG% (34-87), 73.8 FT%, 18.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.1 apg, 18 stl, 9 blk.

Here are my unofficial picks for the SLIAC awards this season:

1st Team
Fogerty (FU) - Player of the Year
Turk (WU)
Forrest (FU) - Newcomer of the Year
Zasada (EC)
S. Crawford (WC)

2nd Team
Ellis (GC)
McCoy (FU)
Gruenewald (MU)
Warncke (WC)
Sykes (BC)

HM
Millard (WC)
Coleman (MC)
Bell (EC)
Zimmerman (PC)
Niebrugge (WU)

Coach of the Year - Mitchell (WC)

*Sorry hotshot, this isn't a Lifetime Achievement award. Westminster lost 4 starters (if I remember correctly) off last year's team and was picked 5th by the coaches in the preseason poll only to tie for 1st place at the end.

Disappointing end to the Eureka season with an 80-70 loss to MacMurray Tuesday. EC never got much going in this game. The game got off to a incredibly slow start with both teams taking forever to score. Eureka settled for too many outside shots when when they weren't falling instead of attacking the smallish-Mac defense like in the first game. Eureka was bad from 3-point land in the first game too (8-27 in the win vs. 8-33 in the loss). The difference was EC did not attack the basket the 2nd go-round. And the few times they did, Fred Miller did a nice job protecting the basket and grabbing missed shots.

Eureka's biggest lead was 47-43 early in the 2nd half. Mac went on a 10-0 run to take a 59-52 lead with 9 minutes to go and never gave it up. Eureka got as close as 5 on 3 occasions. It was 74-68 with 30 seconds left, but Darnall missed an open three from the corner that would have made things very interesting.

It's sad to see the career end for 7 seniors. For 5 of them, they were freshmen in 2005-06 when the team went 4-22. Then their sophomore year, they made it to the SLIAC championship game and were the most improved team in NCAA Division III. They can certainly say they left the EC program in better shape than they found it. Thanks guys!

I will never agree with the idea of only letting 4 teams in the conference tournament. Teams like Eureka and Mac put in months of preparation before the first practice even begins. They may not have as much talent or depth as other teams in the conference, which hurts them over the course of a long season, but I think everyone that sticks it out to the bitter end should have a shot the conference tournament.

By the way, my unofficial picks for the SLIAC end of season awards are as follows:

1st Team
Speer (PC) - Player of the Year
Wemlinger (MU)
Wilhelm (MU)
Shipley (BC)
Kirby (FU)

2nd Team
Lowe (MC)
Hawkey (BC) - Newcomer of the Year
Backes (WC)
Stanfill (WC)
Crum (EC)

HM
Bergheger (MU)
Banal (GC)
Reilly (WU)
Meyer (WU)
Vollmer (MC)

Coach of the Year - Braden (WC)

Eureka ended the season with a 76-55 over MacMurray Tuesday to sweep the season series. Mac was up 51-49 with about 7:30, but Eureka finished the game on a 27-4 run. Lindsey Crum scored 15 points in the last 6 minutes. It was a nice way to send off EC senior Kim Downs, who hopefully will see her name on the All Defensive team. Eureka finished the season with just 5 wins, but 3 came in the last 5 games, so maybe something can be taken into the offseason and we'll have a better year in 2009-10.

Quote from: hopefan on February 20, 2009, 07:36:06 AM
I had originally planned on going to Westmin Eureka, but the Webster Gville game becomes even more crucial to BOTH teams, so Iwill attend that game...

why crucial to BOTH teams....    while the Winner of Webster Greenville is not guaranteed a spot in the tourney,   The LOSER of the Webster Greenville game is definitely OUT.   BOTH teams are playing to stay alive for next weekend - the winner still has to watch the scoreboard

If Webster wins, they are in unless Westmin loses to both Fontbonne and Eureka.

If Greenville wins, they are in unless Eureka beats Westmin

Greenville will know its playoff fate by the end of Saturday afternoon (EECSID please send your score ASAP)    Webster may have to wait until Tuesday night

Will do, Hopefan. I was hoping to see you at our game Saturday and I do believe you are passing up the best game on the schedule for the day, but I can understand the draw of the Greenville/Webster match up.

And yes, I always read your posts with a fine tooth comb. Because A) I value your opinion and recaps and B) know you are prone to errors  .

Eureka stayed hot, winning game # 10 out of 12 Thursday night, 87-70 over Lincoln Christian.  This was a much better win than it sounds. LCC came in 16-11 overall, 9-1 at home and on a school record 13-game winning streak.

There was a great crowd on hand as well for senior night in Lincoln.  The entire side opposite the benches was packed.

The 1st half was very even with 6 points being the largest lead. There were 9 lead changes and 7 ties. Fittingly, the game was 43-43 at halftime.

Eureka took charge in the 2nd half, holding LCC to 27 points, while putting 44 on the board. EC did not trail in the half, opening up as large as a 20 point lead.

Four Red Devil starters scored in double figures: Wildenradt 19, Bell 18, Zasada 15, Kindred 15. EC sank 13 three-pointers, but had plenty of turnovers (23). EC held LCC to 25 percent shooting in 2nd half. Lots of free throws both ways. EC was 18-27, LCC 19-32.

This hopefully will be a good game to get Eureka ready for Saturday. It was a loud, supportive crowd against a confident team. Lincoln plays a different style than Westminster, however.

Good luck to the Preachers in the NCCAA playoffs. They should to well in those.

Hopefan, I think I've spotted some inaccuracies in your scenarios...

In (4), Westminster would be 12-4, but I believe you have the tie-breaker correct.

In (7), I think Westminster would wind up 3rd and Maryville 4th based on WC's better road record.

In (8), all 3 tied teams would be 2-2, unlike how you have them. From there, I think Eureka would win the tiebreaker as the only squad to have beaten Fontbonne. We then have the same situation as in (7), with Westminster winning out as long as my better road record theory holds true.

Looks like we've found 2 teams in Blackburn and Mac that haven't packed it in yet. Nice effort, boys but we REALLY coulda used 5 more points tonight.

Furbug, Murphy has not shown up at any Eureka games lately, but he seems to be running the out-of-town scoreboard. The Red Devils have gotten NO help over the last 3 weeks and will need to win at Westminster and beat Mac (thus winning 11 out of 13 to end the SLIAC season) to get in the tournament unless the bottom 3 teams pull off an upset over someone else.

I have several rants I could go on right now, but I'll spare you all. Hopefan, get ready for Saturday. I hope you decide to go to Fulton because I have some choice words for you!

Quote from: fcnews on February 15, 2009, 10:33:25 PM
Just saw where BC's Rod Sykes did not appear in the boxscore. Any news. Great player.

Brian Fogerty moved into 5th all time in scoring. Passing BC's Chris Parker (great player).

Read earlier this week where MC's Miller tied the single game rebounding record off 22. Tied with WC's Jason White, who did it in '96.

We give alot of attention to scoring. How about the other parts of the game.

Which of the following will stand the longest:
22 rebounds, Jason White - '96 / Frederick Miller - '09
11 steals, PC's Tucker Fendon - '05
20 assists, FU's Stacey Ross - '94
15 blocks, FU's Roy Woods - '95

These are all conference single game marks. Must happen during a conference game, only.

Food for thought!!!

Sykes was ejected very late in the game against Eureka on Wednesday for making contact with an official. I'm not sure if he sat out because of an NCAA suspension or Blackburn suspension, but I'm pretty sure one of those two is why he didn't play against Webster. I don't think it was because of an injury or something else.