FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[nike]

Wooster tries to have a diverse class of incoming freshmen(men and women) every year.  Met David Bowie and his son one year.  Yes, the son went there, but don't think he played ball.
And I think that the school accepts some students every year that they feel have potential, but whose grades are not top tier.  But students that would add to the class in some way.  And this applies to legacy admissions, too.  I would think that happens everywhere to some degree.  Not many, but some.  And I am sure that some of this helps in football and basketball.  The most important thing is that these kids graduate along with everyone else.  So Wooster does a good job of choosing who is admitted.  And if a kid chooses not to continue a sport, he or she still hits the books and graduates. My guess is that a Kenyon or Denison would make very few exceptions to their standards for incoming freshmen.  Don't know about a Hiram or even Wabash or Witt, for that matter.  Just a thought.  Have children, relatives and friends who have visited or attended all of these schools, except Wabash.
OWU could be a great place to be on fall Saturday afternoons if they hit a homer here.  Been down there with 6,000 on a Saturday night and with 700 or 800 on a Saturday afternoon.  We are all waiting to see what the Bishops do.
Was Hollway head coach there for 25 years?  So he and Oprah went out together.

[cave2bens]

To All, "Geseende Kersfees en 'n voorspoedige Nuwe Jaar.  Gesondheit!" from Botswana.  Safe travels, good health, and Merry Christmas.

Thanks for the entertainment this past year!

c2b - gen. mgr., Bev and Bob's Batswana Bed, Breakfast, and Beer Bordello 

[Li'l Giant]

Merry Christmas everyone. Safe travels and enjoy the time with your families.

[ADL70]

New Kenyon HC

http://athletics.kenyon.edu/x41461.xml

Grad of Davidson
Asst at his alma mater
HC at WRA
OC Lycoming last two years

[smedindy]

"We need to change the culture of the football program," Monfiletto said.

Lip service? Let's hope not!

[Pat Coleman]

"We need to change the culture of the football program," Monfiletto said.

Lip service? Let's hope not!

The administration is going to have to contribute to that.

[aueagle]

The new era in Ohio Wesleyan football, officially, starts today.
I would think the new coach will be in-place by early Feb.
The Prez & AD need to hit a home-run....and not a Kenyon-type
hire.

[formerd3db]

Pat:
Rigth on, sir.

aueagle:
I think I know what you mean, although if might expound on that i.e. Kenyon versus what you desire for your OWU, it would be helpful.  Thanks.

[DPU3619]

Very sad to hear about the passing of Tom Mont, DePauw's head coach from 1959-76 & athletic director from 72-87.   Mont loved DePauw and wanted to beat Wabash more than just about anybody else who's ever been a part of DePauw football.  DePauw went 67-94-4 under Mont, but he held a 12-5-1 record against Wabash.  A great leader, the funniest guy I've ever met, and somebody I was proud to know.  I think some of the... more seasoned.. Wabash posters around here probably played against Tommy Mont.

Here is DePauw's release.

[aueagle]

The Kenyon hire and to some extent, what has been said/and gone on behind the glitter is...
1) Kenyon goes 20-70 in 9 yrs and decides to wake-up with a cup of coffee....HELLO
2) Monfiletto was promoted to full-AD at Lycoming College on Dec 1, 2011 and would still retain his coaching for football....Mmmm
3) Finishes his master's at Ohio U (Athens is a lot closer to Gambier than to Lycoming)...odd...but OU has THE program for the study.
4) Kenyon touts the Monfiletto tenure at Hudson, Ohio's Western Reserve Academy (not really a football powerhouse)-but
smart/affluent kids go there...Experience?
5) Kenyon AD Peter Smith on the future of Lord football states, "Our goal of sustaining a COMPETITIVE presence in the NCAC"
6) If I had a coach or AD say to me...."Go out there and play...have some fun...just don't lose so much, you know..keep it close,
be competitive...so the alumni get off my back...OK?" I might get a little upset. What happened to "play to win"...CHAMPIONSHIPS.
7) I can hear Lombardi now..."Hey, Hornung..Taylor...That "Run to Daylight" thing. Just get a couple of yards and lay-down, will ya?
Just keep it competitive, OK?"
8) What is the philosophy of Lord swimming? Be competitive? They win National Championships...they tear your heart out at swim meets...they WIN....
Alright, so I took a few liberties at Kenyon...it's my off-season vent. Monfiletto has done some solid work... and to his credit, he said, he wants to "Change the Culture" of Kenyon football. I just think OWU needs a coach that has more top-level sseasoning (read: Head Coaching/Asst Coaching) experience at D3/D2...a proven winner or a Mount Union type disciple...he needs to be dynamic, because, like Kenyon..the culture at OWU needs to change...a new foundation needs to be laid. Spring Ball is just around the corner.....

[smedindy]

AU -

You gotta walk before you run. Kenyon's not really been competitive. First, they need to get to the Denison / Oberlin level where they're not embarrassed and they fight to the end. I think it's a fine goal at first for Kenyon to be .500 in the conference and overall. If the new regime at Kenyon said, "We're going to compete for the NCAC title!" I'd question their sanity.

The last U of M coach (Brewster) basically proclaimed a Rose Bowl was just around the corner when he was hired. The current one (Kill) has basically said, "we need a lot of help." I think Kenyon falls in the latter area and a goal of .500 would be a great start.

[nike]

Interesting posts, Smedindy and aueagle.
Don't think too much about Kenyon's situation, but do OWU's because I have been there a number of times and Selby is so big.  With lights! 
If they really do their homework, they could find someone who could have them competing for the NCAC championship in a few years.  Like a Raeburn.  Just do the work and find the right guy.  They have the facillities, a top tier school, rich alumni and one of the best QBs in the league coming  back.  Do not mean someone coming in screaming that "We are going to win it all next year!", but rather someone who has coached at winning programs, learned under a great head coach, i.e. a Kehres, or done great things somewhere else, like Paul Winters has done at Wayne State the last few years.
The NCAC right now is Wabash, Witt, then several mediocre teams year in and year out led by Alleghaney or Denison and finally,  Hiram and Kenyon.  The right coach could muscle in with Witt and Wabash and push past everyone else, within a couple years, I would think.  Heck, just recruit the Columbus area like crazy.
Know it would take great effort on a lot of folks' part, but it could be done.

[ExTartanPlayer]

You gotta walk before you run. Kenyon's not really been competitive. First, they need to get to the Denison / Oberlin level where they're not embarrassed and they fight to the end. I think it's a fine goal at first for Kenyon to be .500 in the conference and overall. If the new regime at Kenyon said, "We're going to compete for the NCAC title!" I'd question their sanity.

The last U of M coach (Brewster) basically proclaimed a Rose Bowl was just around the corner when he was hired. The current one (Kill) has basically said, "we need a lot of help." I think Kenyon falls in the latter area and a goal of .500 would be a great start.

Agreed.  I remember an interesting conversation with a couple of buddies about how the administration at some Division I programs just won't accept that they have a certain "ceiling" or that they should be happy with what they have achieved under a stable regime.  Continuing with the Minnesota example above, the Gophers fired Glen Mason in 2006 after going to five straight bowl games; for whatever reason, the administration couldn't accept that winning 7-8 games and going to a midlevel bowl was probably as good as it would get at Minnesota.  Yes, I know that Minny had an epic collapse to lose their bowl game in 2006, but considering the state of the program today, don't you think Gopher fans are pining for the days when going to a bowl game was possible?

Another example recently came at the University of Pittsburgh (full disclosure: although not a native Pittsburgher, I've lived here for almost eight years now and I've been a graduate student here for the last four years).  After a 7-5 season in 2010, Pitt fired Dave Wannstedt, which I thought was a terrible decision.  Pitt went 42-31 in Wanny's six years, went to bowl games in the last three years of his tenure, and was clearly a better program than it was when he took over.  Wannstedt was a Pitt alum with great ties throughout Western PA, and he was loyal to a fault; keeping him would likely guarantee sustained success on some level.  Maybe the program was not going to become a national-title contender, but realistically Pitt is (at best) a regional power that will probably never contend with the SEC's best.

Instead, tired of "only" winning 8 games a year and going to a midlevel bowl, the Pitt athletic director fired Wannstedt, permanently killing their relationship, and hired a man who was accused of domestic assault within two weeks of his hiring.  Now flustered, Pitt had to scramble and eventually hired Todd Graham from Tulsa.  Graham came in talking about "High Octane football" and winning national titles and a whole bunch of snazzy stuff that turned out to be smoke up everyone's ass.  He criticized players in the media, played games with the starting QB all year, didn't adjust his style to fit the team's talent, eventually went 6-6...and then he turned around and quit after the season to take the Arizona State job (although he had declared Pitt his "dream job" just eleven months earlier in his introductory press conference - direct quote, you can look it up).  Now Pitt has to scramble - again - for a new coach.  While it seems silly, I'd just as soon have the AD swallow his pride, admit that he screwed up, and rehire Wannstedt (who the players absolutely loved).  Maybe it means going 6-6, 7-5, 8-4 every year, but doesn't that beat the ridiculous circus that we just saw in 2011?

A new coach that suddenly boasts about winning NCAC titles is just going to be full of hot air; someone's got to come in with a level head and a plan to be competitive, like smedindy said.  Kenyon will need a couple seasons of competing in every game, winning some games against the Hirams, Oberlins, Denisons of the world, and getting an occasional close call against the league's elite before they start talking about NCAC titles.

[formerd3db]

aueagle, smedindy, nike and ExTartanPlayer:

All excellent posts, gentlemen.  Some very intuitive/insightful comments, opinions for both schools. +k for all of you .  Thanks for the further insignt for this "outsider".

[formerd3db]

Wes:

Sorry to hear about Tom Mont.  I remember his DePauw teams (well, at least the last ones as I/we played against - I'm revealing my age here , although I forgot that he was a former Univ. of Maryland player and Head Coach there.  I didn't realize he was almost 90 years old.  It is difficult to believe that some of the great former coaches at our DIII schools are "getting up there in age" and several have passed on in the last decade or so.  Time passes by all too quickly as that old saying goes.  Condolences to his family and the DePauw alums.