FB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[formerd3db]

Here is the video link for those wondering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3IKjYV40hMQ

He seems like a solid man. Anyone replacing Pries will obviously be a downgrade in the faith/leadership/personal aspect. What I am hoping for is that he will bring an aspect of football knowledge that Pries did not necessarily have.

Finally, I pray that the team will unite around this man, and most importantly for the team, still unite with each other.

CUC football HC position . . . something's going on . . .

There's a You Tube clip, posted January 12 (only featured in a small interview box on the CUC baseball page) showing Randy Awrey speaking to an unnamed group (assuming from the questions fielded that they are players/prospective players) titled "Concordia-Chicago's new head football coach Randy Awrey speaks about his new position and the future of Cougar football".

Here is a bio from his most recent position:
"Randy Awrey joins the Marietta College football staff as the defensive coordinator in 2012. Awrey comes to Marietta from Northern Michigan University where he served in the same capacity since 2007.

Awrey brings over 30 years of football coaching experience to the Pioneer program, including 18 as a collegiate head coach. His career record as a head coach is 124-68-1.

Prior to his stint at Northern Michigan, Awrey was the head coach at Saginaw Valley State University for nine seasons (1999-2007) where he led the Cardinals to a 76-27 overall record. He left Saginaw Valley as the all-time winningest coach in school history."

I know of him from his days at SVSU where he followed Jerry Kill, and then  . . . 

Commence discussion.

Thanks for the info and the link guys.  Not surprising that he returns more "north" although only after one year at Marietta.  Also, perhaps not so surprising that his second (and last) son would give up his senior year at Marietta to go play for his dad again at CUC.  His other son (who is coaching at Olivet (MI) College in the MIAA) apparently did the same thing, playing at DII Saginaw Valley State when Awrey was head coach there, then following his dad to his dad's alma mater DII Northern Michigan and finishing there, according to what I recall and also his bio on the Marietta website.

Finally, it is somewhat strange that as of early this evening, CUC had not posted any info on him on their football website.  I assume they will do so tomorrow or very soon?

I'm guessing something will be up Monday.

As to him being at Marietta only one year, I'm chalking that up to his being not retained at Northern for the 2012 season when they had a new head coach named a year ago (not surprising to have a head coach bring in his own coordinators) and his wanting to get back into a head coaching position. 

Stay tuned.

I think you are right.  My only question is (and this is no big deal) is why he switched to DIII after spending the majority of his career in DII as both a player and a coach?  Perhaps it was just because those were the job positions available, especially the HC job.  I would think he would have tried to get an assistants position at one of the other DII GLIAC schools that were closer, such as Findlay, Lake Erie, etc.  Anyway, yes, I will stay tuned. Thanks.

[RFMichigan]

Finally, it is somewhat strange that as of early this evening, CUC had not posted any info on him on their football website.  I assume they will do so tomorrow or very soon?

I'm guessing something will be up Monday.   

Or not.

[WisIllMich]

I think you are right.  My only question is (and this is no big deal) is why he switched to DIII after spending the majority of his career in DII as both a player and a coach?  Perhaps it was just because those were the job positions available, especially the HC job.  I would think he would have tried to get an assistants position at one of the other DII GLIAC schools that were closer, such as Findlay, Lake Erie, etc.  Anyway, yes, I will stay tuned. Thanks.

If you listen/watch the video, he says that he made the move to this school at this point in his career because he wants to be in an atmosphere where he can be open about his faith.

[RFMichigan]

Okay, the Concordia website now has the announcement of the hiring of Randy Awrey as head coach.

Link: http://www.cucougars.com/news/2013/1/15/FB_0115135827.aspx

I had forgotten that Awrey had come from Lakeland before going to SVSU. I'm pretty sure that former Concordia coach and current VP, Jeff Hynes, coached at Lakeland shortly after Awrey left there.

I'm glad that Coach Awrey has dIII ties, as in many ways is a different philosophy than scholarship programs, so he has some background in this arena.

Welcome Coach Awrey!

[formerd3db]

Okay, the Concordia website now has the announcement of the hiring of Randy Awrey as head coach.

Link: http://www.cucougars.com/news/2013/1/15/FB_0115135827.aspx

I had forgotten that Awrey had come from Lakeland before going to SVSU. I'm pretty sure that former Concordia coach and current VP, Jeff Hynes, coached at Lakeland shortly after Awrey left there.

I'm glad that Coach Awrey has dIII ties, as in many ways is a different philosophy than scholarship programs, so he has some background in this arena.

Welcome Coach Awrey!

RFMichigan:

Sounds like you got a good coach there.  Hopefully, he will be able to continue to progress to the next tier that Pries started.

[RFMichigan]

Okay, the Concordia website now has the announcement of the hiring of Randy Awrey as head coach.

Link: http://www.cucougars.com/news/2013/1/15/FB_0115135827.aspx

I had forgotten that Awrey had come from Lakeland before going to SVSU. I'm pretty sure that former Concordia coach and current VP, Jeff Hynes, coached at Lakeland shortly after Awrey left there.

I'm glad that Coach Awrey has dIII ties, as in many ways is a different philosophy than scholarship programs, so he has some background in this arena.

Welcome Coach Awrey!

RFMichigan:

Sounds like you got a good coach there.  Hopefully, he will be able to continue to progress to the next tier that Pries started.

Yes, thank you, I hope so too. I noticed that Awrey's OC will be Jim Kiernan, the former HC at Gannon (a DII school in Erie, PA) where he had success, and was also Awrey's OC at SVSU. I will say these coaches have some credentials.

[Captain_Joe08]

Wisconsin Lutheran tabs the former CUC offensive coordinator Erich Janousky to the same position.

http://wlcsports.com/article.asp?articleID=2985

I like this hire. Wonder if the offense will mix things up going forward.

[WisIllMich]

Wisconsin Lutheran tabs the former CUC offensive coordinator Erich Janousky to the same position.

http://wlcsports.com/article.asp?articleID=2985

I like this hire. Wonder if the offense will mix things up going forward.

And WLC instantly becomes my pick for conference champions...

1. WLC
2. CUW
3. CUC
4. Benny

[Captain_Joe08]

Wisconsin Lutheran tabs the former CUC offensive coordinator Erich Janousky to the same position.

http://wlcsports.com/article.asp?articleID=2985

I like this hire. Wonder if the offense will mix things up going forward.

And WLC instantly becomes my pick for conference champions...

1. WLC
2. CUW
3. CUC
4. Benny

It will be interesting if there are any changes to the offense over their at WLC. They lose Shaw ( had his ups and downs throughout his career) but bring back quite a few contributors on the offensive side of the ball.

Overall my way too early looks

1. WLC
2. CUC
3. CUW
4. BU
5. AU
6. LC
7. RC

[irisheagle]

Thats gonna begood for wlc
I wouldnt put bu so far down though, yeah they lost there star running back and star d lineman, but some of the transfers ive seen them pick up, several former d1 and d2 players and alot of oline which was clearly the eagles weakest link
My picks for the upcoming season
Wlc
Bu
Cuc
Au
Cuw
Lakland
Rockford

[Captain_Joe08]

I think there is not a whole lot of separation between 1st and 4th going into next year. It will be interesting to see how things shake out next year.

[d3fan1515]

Heard word that John Borsellino really impressed scouts at Northwestern Universities pro-day! I am not aware of his numbers, but his bother had posted that he did 28 reps at 225... He was also invited back for the individual drill work portion of the Pro Day... 75% of the other participants were sent home.  Good for John and I hope it works out for him!

[irisheagle]

I also know Lockton and some CUC players were at this pro day, does anyone know how they did? I also saw locktons name on the roster for a international scout bowl in alabama and it looked like he was the only d-3 player that is going .. Mainly d2 with a handfull of d-1 guys. Ive also heard that cuc has greatly dropped in size with the new coaching change getting rid of troubled players. As well as ive heard there are some BIG kids coming in to BU next year so hopefully they can fix there o-line struggles they were having next year.

[Captain_Joe08]

I see that Maranatha is still on the schedule for WLC, CUC, Rockford, and Aurora. I'm guessing that the other Nath-Con schools also have the Crusaders on the schedule as well.

[RFMichigan]

Ive also heard that cuc has greatly dropped in size with the new coaching change getting rid of troubled players.

Yeah, I looked at their "2012" roster a few weeks ago and noticed a few underclassmen who were big contributors last year are no longer on the roster - most noticeably Andrew Maddox (RB) and Sherman Jones (WR) on offense - where they had five seniors on offense that they need to replace anyway to go along with graduating seven seniors on defense in addition to not having Andrew Gleason (LB) on the roster. (He had a season-ending broken leg at the end of 2012, and I'm not sure if that has to do with his status.) Bottom line: the Cougars have to replace a LOT of contributors from last year.

Truthfully, there is so much turnover at the dIII level that I'm not terribly surprised to see a lot of freshmen and sophomores no longer on a roster, but it saddens me a little bit that among those who give up football, leave the school, etc. there are probably quite a few who could contribute in their upperclass years and benefit from being on the team.

In addition, there is usually extra turnover when there is a coaching change such as CUC just went through. I think "rebuilding" may be a word thrown around River Forest this fall, but we'll just have to put our trust, as CUC fans, in Coach Awrey. You never know what will happen in the NAC.