FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[aueagle]

I hear ya wally...and by no means would the program sacrifice the academic quality of
the school. And, no, OWU is not a big transfer school. But, the football program has,
in the past, taken transfers. I met one at Selby a few years ago. He spent one year as
a Texas Longhorn and then played a few seasons at DE for the Bishops. He graduated and gives back to Wesleyan. A good "Win-Win" in that respect. Without lowering the bar of quality at OWU....I'm just saying, put everything on the table to get this program where it needs to be. With the quantity of college football, and to luvncac's point, the Ohio football scene....there will be movement between the ranks. The transfer number will never be large, but, if OWU can grab a
Grand Valley, Ohio U/BG or E. Kentucky kid every now & then.....great.

[smedindy]

You have to make sure it's a right fit. Some residential liberal arts schools are really hard for transfers to fit in academically and socially. A college like North Central is easier to transfer into socially and academically (not to say North Central is a cake walk...but they encourage transfers and it may be due to how their academic programs are structured).

I also think transfers are more difficult to integrate into a football program than soccer or basketball.

[Lawrence Oliver]

Wow  Thanks for the info.  I am curious who these guys are or at least where they are from?  It sound like OWU is trying to build something special.

[ExTartanPlayer]

The transfer number will never be large, but, if OWU can grab a Grand Valley, Ohio U/BG or E. Kentucky kid every now & then.....great.

I know this is just a good-natured discussion, but IMHO, even a couple of impact transfers won't change the program direction standpoint.  I think that happens when you start to bring in bigger recruiting classes, improving depth and increasing the competition for starting spots.

One transformation that I witnessed first-hand, as a conference rival, was CWRU's transformation from "below-average" to "consistently good" (whatever you think of their schedule, going 47-3 in the regular season over a five-year period is impressive)...and that didn't happen just because of one or two guys.  It happened because CWRU started to bring in large recruiting classes and improved the overall depth of the program.  My first couple years at CMU, I remember that CWRU only had 60-70 guys on the sideline (or so it seemed).  Now they have over 100. 

I know that one might argue a couple of really good transfers could turn a 4-6 OWU team into a 6-4 one, and that might have some domino effect on recruiting...but I'm not sure that I really buy it.

All hypotheticals, of course.

[wabco]

Of course ... if you can figure out a way to get 20 or so transfers on your team, a la North Central, then that is another story.  And ... is that North Central-esk plan such a good thing? Doesn't this fly a little in the face of the underlying focus of Division III? 

I think being accepting and supporting transfer student(s) who transfer because of a miriad of good reasons is fine and good.  But the "rent - a - player atmosphere" where you broadcast 20 or so transfers on your website as a recruiting tool (what ... for more transfers?) ... a wholly different kettle of fish.  That can't help freshman recruiting, can it?  Just a thought.

[smedindy]

To be fair to North Central, it's on their academic page and seems to be an institutional priority, not solely for athletics.

I don't think it's against the D-3 philosophy because transfer students and juco students need a place to continue their education. Plenty of the state schools in D-3 have transfers all through their institution.

[aueagle]

Gee...I can now see that  1 or 2 transfers would turn OWU into a SMU-type problem....
but, just to be safe, maybe the new Bishop coach should produce a birth certificate..
Just in case he may have been born in Indonesia....I'm quite sure the integrity of
Ohio Wesleyan and it's football program will not be compromised by the transfer
of a couple of student-athletes, if in fact it did exist.

[wabco]

You know ... Smedindy ... "to be fair" to the facts ... NCC touts the transfers on its folotball sportspage ... go to sports/football/roster ... you will see a specific column devoted to "Transfers" ... 18 transfers are listed along with the college transferred from  ... not many juco listed (I don't think any ... but look for yourself) schools, so that blanket comment goes nowhere.  Is that the "academic page" to which you refer?  To me ... that is advertising for /recruiting for transfers. My interpetatoion of D-3 phiosophy is that it is not to troll for transfers.  As to "plenty of state schools in D-3 have transfers all through their institution" ... my question is:  On their sports/football/roster web page?

[formerd3db]

Very interesting discussion, guys.  As a tangent to this, I just happened to read this morning about Janoris Jenkins comments about his experience in going from Florida to Div II North Alabama for his senior season this past fall as he gets ready for the NFL combine.  As you recall, he was dismissed from Florida last spring because of his second NCAA drug violation, so he transfers to North Alabama.  He did well there this year (although perhaps not quite the "superstar" he was supposed to be as compared to his DI 3 years - he was only 2nd in the nation in punt returns in DII and didn't have that many INTs, despite covering some of the best receivers in DII, according to the article).  However, what struck me was his comments of how humbled he was in going from 95,000 student school to the 3,500 at North Alabama and playing front of smaller crowds and how he only was given one pair of Nike cleats there instead of the 4 he (and his teammates) got per year at Florida.  He said he is humbled and changed, after making some poor decisions/mistakes.  I hope that is truly so and wish him the best in his goal to get to the NFL.  Yet, while this is an example of what some of you have talked about in providing an opportunity for transfers (from whatever level they come from to continue/complete their college football careers), I'll bet (if I were a betting man, of which I am not ) that we can safely say that Jenkins did not transfer to North Alabama for the educational experience - his ultimate goal was obviously and simply football and making the NFL - not quite the more preferred reasons for transferring for anyone, although those are legit within the "whole package".  Again, I'm not saying that is not a good thing, however, I think we would all agree that the opportunities/reasons, for the most part, that are for DIII transfers is a little more focused on the educational aspects as opposed to just the football venue (for whatever the reasons are for the latter for that particular student), although again, the latter I think is legit also as long as it is kept within that perspective.  Just MO on this; anyway, I thought that was interesting when I read about it this AM. 

[Pat Coleman]

Of course ... if you can figure out a way to get 20 or so transfers on your team, a la North Central, then that is another story.  And ... is that North Central-esk plan such a good thing? Doesn't this fly a little in the face of the underlying focus of Division III? 

North Central-esque.

Not sure why we should discourage people from finishing in Division III if they made the mistake of not starting here.

[smedindy]

North Central and transfers:

http://northcentralcollege.edu/admission/transfer

It's about their academic program, Wabco, not just football.

[formerd3db]

Pat, good point.

[aueagle]

On the "new" OWU football site, the old coach has been taken off and
Pat Delaney is listed as the "Interim HC"....Big week on-campus for Bishop football.....

[Lawrence Oliver]

The week is over. Does anyone have an idea about who the finalists for  OWU are? 

[aueagle]

Yes, I do....But, I think the OWU brass will make the call this week.....Though I still retain my original Feb 14th target date.