FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bashbrother]

Having had a family member recruited by and him having played for CC for 4 years.  I can say that while it might be a miracle, as some have mentioned, to get the program competitive,  CC will leave Ypsilanti and the program better off then when he found it.   Maybe without a championship,  maybe without even a winning season.... but better off.   CC is a specialist at taking kids and making them Men...if that means "W's" on the field of play then great.... if it doesn't....  it is still a big win for EMU.

[smedindy]

IF Coach Creighton can achieve the miraculous and bring EMU up to at least mediocrity, attendance will improve somewhat (I've attended games with 10,000+ in years past), but it will never be all that good (or fill the 30,000 stadium).  Too overshadowed by Michigan, too few students on campus on Saturdays, and too little community support.

Every few years EMU plays a game at the Big House; when Charlie Batch was their qb, EMU even scored for the first time in four tries!   I haven't seen a UM or EMU schedule far enough out to know if they'll play again, but probably.

Wow, I had totally forgotten that Charlie Batch played for EMU.

[formerd3db]

Interesting and maybe telling that EMU's scout.com page doesn't even mention the coaching change.

http://easternmichigan.scout.com/

It is, however, posted on the official Eastern Michigan athletics website.  Nice article on him and the press conference.  Nice photo also.

In addition, agree with your later post about CC also.  I can say that about a number of coaches at the DIII level as well (unfortunately, even at our DIII level, that is not always true). 

[formerd3db]

IF Coach Creighton can achieve the miraculous and bring EMU up to at least mediocrity, attendance will improve somewhat (I've attended games with 10,000+ in years past), but it will never be all that good (or fill the 30,000 stadium).  Too overshadowed by Michigan, too few students on campus on Saturdays, and too little community support.

Every few years EMU plays a game at the Big House; when Charlie Batch was their qb, EMU even scored for the first time in four tries!   I haven't seen a UM or EMU schedule far enough out to know if they'll play again, but probably.

Thanks for chiming in, Mr. Ypsi.  Yes, if that happens, hopefully it will translate into non-inflated numbers AND "paying" attendees and not those "freebes"/"give-aways" that you have noted EMU has done in the past.

[BashDad]

Boom.

http://youtu.be/B-UBXAWdFTk

[Mr. Ypsi]

IF Coach Creighton can achieve the miraculous and bring EMU up to at least mediocrity, attendance will improve somewhat (I've attended games with 10,000+ in years past), but it will never be all that good (or fill the 30,000 stadium).  Too overshadowed by Michigan, too few students on campus on Saturdays, and too little community support.

Every few years EMU plays a game at the Big House; when Charlie Batch was their qb, EMU even scored for the first time in four tries!   I haven't seen a UM or EMU schedule far enough out to know if they'll play again, but probably.

Thanks for chiming in, Mr. Ypsi.  Yes, if that happens, hopefully it will translate into non-inflated numbers AND "paying" attendees and not those "freebes"/"give-aways" that you have noted EMU has done in the past.

I'm not sure anyone would dare cheat (significantly, at least ) on attendance numbers again - there was quite a stink about that!  What has been really embarrassing is that a majority of those 'freebies' given out don't even get used - they've become so 'toxic' they can't even get people to attend for free!

As your chart of attendance in the MIAA room showed, the first game is usually fairly well attended, but as the hope accompanying any new season dies and the weather turns colder, attendance plummets.  I've been at games with probably less than 1,000 - in a stadium built for 30,000, THAT is depressing!

[Li'l Giant]

Boom.

http://youtu.be/B-UBXAWdFTk

Wow. Just, wow.

I'll always be a fan of, and believer in, Chris Creighton. I'll be rooting for him to turn that ship around.

[wally_wabash]

Boom.

http://youtu.be/B-UBXAWdFTk

No microphones needed when CC gets rolling on his message. Glad to see that hasn't changed.

He's 44 now. Which means he was 31 when he came to Wabash. I knew he was young but I don't think I remembered him being that young. It'll be fun to see that team bloom over the next few years.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Boom.

http://youtu.be/B-UBXAWdFTk

Wow. Just, wow.

I'll always be a fan of, and believer in, Chris Creighton. I'll be rooting for him to turn that ship around.

I concur.  I'm now a big fan of Chris Creighton.

I'm not entirely certain that anyone can turn this ship around.  But he certainly seems like the captain to give it a shot!

[sigma one]

Short Story.   One that I think I can safely tell now that so much time has passed. I was one of the three reps from Wabash who flew to Kansas City to interview CC; we found him late in the search process after other candidates had visited campus.  Wabash had pretty much already decided on whom they would offer the job.  Then, we had a long dinner with CC and called the president to tell him to hold off on the job offer because we had just met someone we thought was really special.  Fortunately, the president trusted us enough (I think he heard the excitement in our voices) to agree to change his schedule around to meet the guy.  On the return, the three of us got caught in a snow storm and were stranded in the St. Louis airport long enough to make immediate arrangements for Creighton to visit Wabash. CC got to campus shortly before Christmas; we had to get team members back to campus to meet him.  Enough to say, that he blew the doors off.  Result:  job offer and acceptance.  The rest is, as they say, history.
   

[DPU3619]

Just watched the presser. He can do lots of things very well, including sell. My goodness.

[bashgiant]

What a great speaker CC is, he could make a boat load of money as a motivational speaker. I'm an old man and I'm ready to suit up! Some very fortunate young men that have played, and will play for him as I am sure they learned a lot about winning at life, and oh yea, football. Any former Wabash players that played for CC on this board? It would be interesting to hear some stories about playing for this man.

[bashbrother]

Question:   Do you think the skills developed in recruiting at a Div. III non-scholarship level...would help a coach once they find themselves recruiting at a scholarship level school? 

[formerd3db]

Question:   Do you think the skills developed in recruiting at a Div. III non-scholarship level...would help a coach once they find themselves recruiting at a scholarship level school?

I certainly do believe it does and that was one of the aspects I was alluding to in my posts about Coach CC.  Aside from his true concern and mission for the overall mentoring and guidance of young men not just for football, but life beyond the game when their careers are over, IMO, it is a somewhat different challenge altogether in trying to sell the idea of "big [ger] time" football atmosphere at a non-scholarship mid-major school.  Being able to do that and successful as he has been at it, I can't imagine that wouldn't be anything but a great advantage for him at a school like Eastern - especially one with the program in the current state/situation they are in.  In one sense, Eastern is like some of those non-scholarship FCS schools. 

[old wabash]

is anybody watching incredible game in alliance?