FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[LGHistorian]

The Wabash AD and I had a short conversation before a basketball game several weeks ago. He wanted my opinion on how I thought Wabash was doing in general terms such as recruiting and so forth. I mentioned to him that I had heard of the possibility of some more athletic facility upgrades. I told him even though I was #1 a football and #2 a basketball guy I always felt it was long overdue for the baseball and soccer programs to get better facilities. The one thing he did tell me was that the baseball field NEEDS lights so that games do not have to be scheduled with the possibility of games called because of darkness. So, I would THINK that any baseball field plans will include lights.
That is all I know. The conversation went in another direction after that.

[wab64]

WABCO... I'm glad you are soliciting my advice--Raeburn it is. I also have some comments on your shopping list- for facilities:
          1. Football- I have always had my purist objections to artificial turf, but it seems I'm bucking the wave of the future. Everybody is doing it and it would be a point in recruiting to prospects who have played on cow pastures there entire careers. I have been given to understand that "field turf" has ameliorated the problem of torn up knees and sore toes, so that is a plus. So plastic grass it is, but RED grass would be an ABOMINATION! I'll allow your checkerboard end zones-they looked neat and VERY up- market.
          2. Soccer- I don't think artificial turf is appropriate for soccer. It changes the entire rythym of the game. Remember, in football the purpose is to keep the ball off the playing surface, where in soccer, the ball is on the ground most of the time and the pace and strategy of the game is based on that. I keep thinking of all the ground balls through shortstop that roll all the way to the wall for triples. I recall when the had the world cup in the US they had to tear up the Astroturf at The Meadowlands before the scheduled matches were played.
      I know nothing about the current state of the ground at Mud Hollow, but the sod at Hollett was just redone last year. Rather than throw it away when field turf is installed, they could cart it down to the soccer field and reinstall.
        3. Baseball- No problem, great suggestions, but unless you are thinking about a dome-stick with grass. Inter alia, grass gives you the opportunity to let it grow if your infielders don't have any range.

       I'm impressed with the thought put in your post-Onward & upward-- Wabash Always Fights!

[wally_wabash]

Being as how I'm 70 miles east of Duluth, I thought to contact Greg Carlson, almost legendary Wabash coach..

It's the offseason...why not spark a little debate.  I think Coach Carlson belongs in the Hall immediately.  His record speaks for itself.  He had an undefeated season.  He's one win shy of the all time wins record at Wabash (and did so in many fewer years than Pete Vaughan did), had just one sub-.500 season in almost 20 years.  Yes, he lost the last five Bells he coached but let's not forget that he held the Bell for the five years prior to that unfortunate streak.  On top of all of that, he was a really good man for the College, active in numerous committees and activities that were non-football related.  I hope Greg Carlson gets the call to the Wabash HoF sooner rather than later...I believe he's earned it.

[smedindy]

Carlson didn't have an undefeated season. His first year was 1983, and he went 5-4.

His best year was the 9-1 squad in 1998.

I don't know about Carlson. He was a good coach, yes. But I always had the feeling that many of his teams underachieved. There were games like the 1997 game at home against Benedictine, as well.

Whatever it was, to me, many of the teams under Carlson had talent, but for some reason were just a little bit short of achieving their total potential. Whereas, I think under CC Wabash did achieve their total potential, same with Wabash under Parrish.

[wabco]

Wally

Your request is the NAWM's command.  Coach Carlson will be inducted into the hofF at the Friday before the DePauw game HofF dinner.  So get your ticket ... it should be a great gathering. 

Also, letting the cat a little out of the bag ... our own BB16 will go in at the same time.  A factoid about BB 16 ... he was as dominant in baseball as he was in football.

Don't you just hate to see a guy like that go to seed.  He does throw a great tailgate though.  Of course anything goes well with cold beer.

Coach Carlson will be present to receive the award, as his new first season for his new first season team does not have a game on DePauw weekend.  It should be fun ... I suspect a lot of his old teamers will be there to celebrate the coach.

[smedindy]

Well, of course BB16 will be there! It'll be free! 

[wally_wabash]

Carlson didn't have an undefeated season. His first year was 1983, and he went 5-4.

I should have checked that...I thought he started in '82.  Serves me right for not fact checking.   

And that Benedictine game did stink.  The offense really laid an egg that day (of course, this was just two weeks removed from losing the starting QB and WR to knee injuries).  If memory serves, Benedictine scored TDs on two enormous plays (both were 80+ yard runs I think) and got pretty much nothing the rest of the game.  The offense just couldn't get anything going to overcome those two big plays.  '97 was a tough season...after the win at Albion things looked awesome.  Then they dropped a tough game to Hope (I think a missed PAT was the difference), then injuries wrecked the offense.  Then the freak blizzard game in Greencastle...strange year for sure. 

[smedindy]

See, there were some other 'freaky' years in Carlson's reign. I remember 1989, they seemed to have everything going for them: Brett Butler, Mike Funk, Tim Oliver and Steve Wallace on offense and some flake from Yountsville on defense  . They started out 5-0 and just went pfffffft.

[Li'l Giant]

Wally

Your request is the NAWM's command.  Coach Carlson will be inducted into the hofF at the Friday before the DePauw game HofF dinner.  So get your ticket ... it should be a great gathering. 

Also, letting the cat a little out of the bag ... our own BB16 will go in at the same time.  A factoid about BB 16 ... he was as dominant in baseball as he was in football.

Don't you just hate to see a guy like that go to seed.  He does throw a great tailgate though.  Of course anything goes well with cold beer.

Coach Carlson will be present to receive the award, as his new first season for his new first season team does not have a game on DePauw weekend.  It should be fun ... I suspect a lot of his old teamers will be there to celebrate the coach.

That's fantastic news. Add me to the list of those who think Coach Carlson deserves to be in the HOF. Congrats to BB16 as well.

[wab64]

 See what I started. No posts for 2 days, I tell my story, and the floods are unleashed. Great discussion of the Carlson years and my congratulations to the coach. I hate to tear myself away from my radio dial, but I should make the trip to see his newly minted team in action. Maybe they'll play a night game. (In Duluth!! In October!! Up here they start measuring wind chills after Labor Day) Kudos to Coach Carlson and BB16.

[bigwheels77]

Do you think they will mention BB16's proficient posting skills at his induction?
Congrats and thanks for keeping us informed

[gobash83]

As I mentioned when the photos of the Case suites were linked on this board, there was only one president of Wabash who would ever watch a Little Giant game in a suite.  Happily, he is now employed elsewhere.

I have a sinking feeling that the MC for that evening will work in a reference or two.....in fact, I would almost guarantee it. 

[joepieters]

Congratulations, BB16!

Reading Wally's statement for CC, I must agree that he deserves to be in the Wabash HOF.  I say that in spite of the fact that during the years I was on campus (85-89)  the team never seemed to achieve the success that the assembled talent appeared capable of achieving.

[the_mayne_event]

Gentlemen

This is no longer the time of Creighton.  It is now the Era Of Eric The Red.  While ping pong at Kenyon might be marginally interesting, I am more interested in what Reaburn is doing now to lead the Little Giants.  What recruits, what new O sets, D sets, new adds to coaching staffs, work with the players.

From the 2AC board:

If memory serves me correctly, I think Coe was a team that waited to make their offensive calls until they were lined up and could see what defense they would be facing on a particular down.  This made for some excellent play calls that I know torched BV's D for long plays/TDs.  I'm assuming they did this against every team and not just BV.  From what I've heard about Wabash, crowd noise may be louder than at your average IIAC game, so it will be interesting to see whether Raeburn is able to shout calls from the sidelines like he could at Coe.  If not, his playcalling and style of offense might be less aggressive due to the fact that he would have to guess which defense his team will face on a given down.

The idea of an audibled game in the fashion of Johnny Unitas is intriguing. Or the Jim Kelly "K-Gun" for that matter.  BeaverofYore seems to be of the impression that Raeburn made the audibles from the sideline, which I personally find hard to believe.

Kelly's background as a run n shoot quarterback in college mixed well with audibling from under center in the pass game.  This at the line mix is probably more conducive to routes optioned mid play on coverage as well. 

Personally am more a fan of the Unitas' under center audibled run game.  Blended the college T game well with the pro set and still nascent passing game.

This is one of the reasons am such a proponent of T systems as the QB learns to recognize fronts and acknowledges what weapons are in his arsenal, not for the sake of pass protection but weakest area to attack.  Recognition of the number 2, that is safety with potential for blitzing, is staple to most pass protections and is really where most quarterbacks pre snap reads end.

Red Faught, the legendary Franklin College coach, employed an audibled run game within his pass happy proprietary one back and feel this is a lost art in the one back that has differentiated into spread schools and run n shoot schools.  Of the three phases, line, backers and secondary Faught had a unique system from pre snap to drop back.

Have heard it rumored Creighton has a little pistol accumen as well.  Regardless, the trend in the conference has been toward a little more finesse on offense and bend don't break on defense, though there are some stalwart remnants. 

Should Coach Raeburn employ the cover two as advertised, think there should be some return to this all or nothing approach to defense.  With Tutsie having left Warren, were he to make himself available to the LG's the personnel might be eased in the transition as he is of the 4-4 cover 3 mold.

signed,
Gary Blackney

Thought i would give you Wabash guys a look at Reaburn:
The system ran at Coe changed 2 times over the 8 years taht Reaburn was there.  It went first from a pro-style I formation with some spread and shotgun using some double tight formations to a completly different offense in teh spread utilizing wide receviers (exactly the same as Urban Meyer's offense at Florida, some would say its modeled after it).  At times the offense would line up fake the snap and look over to the sideline.  Raeburn would not be yelling in the plays, rather it was signled in by the assistant coaches (two dummies, one hot).  This was great to get the defense either off sides, or see what the defense is running.  The whole team looks over (minus the line which is communicated to by the qb) to get the play.  He runs well out of the spread as well, usually in 1 back sets lined next to the qb.
He will gage his offense based on the talent he has.  He is not Rich Rodriguez of Michigan and only bringing his offense in.  He will decide what offense will work best, and create it. 
-- In the spread offense everything was called from the sidelines by a coach with a couple of dummy signlers as well.  The pro-style I (which is what MT Union runs, he was the O-Cord. there, so if you have seen them play it is the exact same thing pretty much) was a traditional huddle up offense.

Defense is a 4-3 tampa 2 (MLB reads the 3rd WR or TE and covers the middle of the field)with some cover 3, 4, and 0 mixed in.  He generally has a D-Coord. to call the D while he worries about the offense.  He didn't blitz a ton at Coe because he was able to recruit tough D-lines that could be used as the pash rushers, while LB's droped into coverage, but does blitz.  This is why Coe was able to create so many turnovers.

He knows how to recruit, but the one thing he lacks is his public relations as well as relationship building.  he had some shortcommings when dealing with admissions, but if the Wabash admissions is able to go the extra mile and help him out first it should be fine.  He has a problem developing good personal relationships with people other then his players (which can be dificult sometimes beceause he demands so much from players, some can tend to back down.) 
I know this was long, but I hope it helped all you.

[wally_wabash]

Defense is a 4-3 tampa 2 (MLB reads the 3rd WR or TE and covers the middle of the field)with some cover 3, 4, and 0 mixed in.  He generally has a D-Coord. to call the D while he worries about the offense.  He didn't blitz a ton at Coe because he was able to recruit tough D-lines that could be used as the pash rushers, while LB's droped into coverage, but does blitz.  This is why Coe was able to create so many turnovers.

This may be what I'm most excited to see.  If it's pass rushers he wants, it's pass rushers he's got.  Kennon and Lange are back as is Gangloff.  Matt Whyde had some good time last year on the DL as well.  I'm actually not expecting a ton of change in the offense (obviously it won't be identical to what CC ran, but I'm expecting a lot of shotgun, 4-WR sets with maybe tempered a bit more with some tight running formations than we saw from CC).  But the defense is going to be a completely different scheme than what Neathery had been running at Wabash over the last handful of years. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't CC and NN start at Wabash playing 4-3 cover 2-ish kind of thing?  Wheaton burned the LGs over and over and over again in the second game in 2001 and that defense was quickly replaced with what we've seen since then (with some natural evolution of course).  I think the pieces are in place to better run that sort of defense now than in 2001 when CC came aboard.  Time will tell....but if ER made it work at Coe I'm confident that he can make it work at Wabash.