FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wabco]

Wally

Thanks for the report.  Just a couple of thoughts which may mean nothing.  You will recall, in the dim past ... when last we played Albion in the early first game of the season, they sent down an assistant coach to Wabash to sit in the stands during a weekday practice and scout us.  He was caught and escorted from the stands. This was enough of a mess that our coach complained.  That attitude of cutting the corners of propriety in Div III may still hold sway there (not saying it does) and may lend itself to the more vanilla play calling.

Also, O always takes longer to get the mo going than D.  Here you have an outstanding D to work against and a RB coming back from injury and new RBs along with the need to gel the O line.  Maybe that is the reason for mostly running plays.

Finally, we have a senior left handed tall QB who has demonstrated he can throw the ball and can run ... along with seasoned receivers all coming back.  Maybe nothing is really helped by running "new" schemes ... for the Albion scouts who are obviously in the stands ... and this unit gets plenty of hard game time practice against the LG first team D.

In any event, good to hear the D "IS BACK"!

If you recall, who did Wabash use to run the ball and how did the newbees  on the first team period who ran the ball look?  Any Frosh who made the #1 team cut?  Any Sophs ... who did not play much last year on the first team roster/period?

Good to see the kicking game and centers are there.  (Especially true after the HS game I saw last Friday when a ranked Michigan HS team puked at center and kicker.  So important and so overlooked sometimes.)

Again, thanks for the report.  And I think that was during the Carlson days when the Albion coach ran the scouting impropriety.  Hmmm, Crooked Bishops.

[wally_wabash]

Good recall, but I'm not sure anybody from 1997 Albion is still around to be sneaking around at Wabash camp.  Certainly, none of Wabash's current coaching staff was around at that time- would they even have awareness that that ever happened? 

If you recall, who did Wabash use to run the ball and how did the newbees  on the first team period who ran the ball look?  Any Frosh who made the #1 team cut?  Any Sophs ... who did not play much last year on the first team roster/period?

Penola and Downing did all of the running with the 1st team offense.  I thought they did fine, but again, Wabash wasn't doing anything particularly exotic so I don't know how much more could be expected.  I didn't notice any freshmen with the 1s (doesn't mean there wasn't one or two, I just didn't notice), but I did notice Artie Equihua (sp?...I'm sure I'll know how to spell this young man's name soon enough...he'll be good) playing safety with the second team as well as Jacob Macaluso on the DL with the 2nd team.  I think Isaac Avant got some run in the return game as well.  This is a pretty tough group to crack as a freshman.  Red Squad should be a lot of fun though. 

[wabco]

Thanks.  1997 ... huh.  Seems like yesterday.  Remember it was quite a brouhaha.  How would you like to be some young assistant coach just doing what his head coach asked ... sneak into a Wabash practice and see what they are doing.  Both Albion and Hope had good teams then and the Albion coach was a little full if himself ... if I remember correctly.

By the way ... Wabash was not without come back.  Again from recollection, the Wabash cheer against Albion that year was:

ALBION ... ALBION ...
I'LL BE ON YOUR GIRLFRIEND

May the tailgates begin ....

[wabndy]

This was obviously helped by building their own on-campus ice arena which was essentially financed by two huge donations and is thus paid for.  By renting this out also for public skating time, this brings in additional revenue.

Interesting.  I've had the occasional "gee wouldn't it be nice" dream about what it would look like if a rink were built in Crawfordsville.  Even thought one step further to wonder if you could operate a joint Wabash/DePauw facility south of town.  D3 hockey would be a neat thing to see in Indiana. 

Thanks.  1997 ... huh.  Seems like yesterday.  Remember it was quite a brouhaha.  How would you like to be some young assistant coach just doing what his head coach asked ... sneak into a Wabash practice and see what they are doing.  Both Albion and Hope had good teams then and the Albion coach was a little full if himself ... if I remember correctly.

Carlson seemed to take a lot personally.  Carlson's rivalries with Mourouzis and the Albion program (plenty of complaints about MIAA referee home cooking too) got very personal.  I'm not saying whether or not he was justified, but we haven't had nearly the level of shenanigans in the Creighton/Raeburn era.  Also remember that Albion at least thought well enough of Wabash to hire Mauri Ditzler (Wabash '75) as their president in 2014.

[Joe Wally]

Thanks.  1997 ... huh.  Seems like yesterday.  Remember it was quite a brouhaha.  How would you like to be some young assistant coach just doing what his head coach asked ... sneak into a Wabash practice and see what they are doing.  Both Albion and Hope had good teams then and the Albion coach was a little full if himself ... if I remember correctly.

By the way ... Wabash was not without come back.  Again from recollection, the Wabash cheer against Albion that year was:

ALBION ... ALBION ...
I'LL BE ON YOUR GIRLFRIEND

May the tailgates begin ....

The Big Cookie Says....Proctoscope Hope.

Sorry, db.  It's what he said.

[HCAlum86]

Did some digging after the inquiries I've received on here regarding Hiram's financial troubles. Of note:

1. The football program, by itself, is in very healthy financial standing and has received more alumni donations in the last year than it had the previous five years combined.

2. The school did not hit its target number for incoming students this year, which it relies upon heavily for its operating budget. That amplified the issues that had already plagued the budget office. The previous administration had expanded student services in a way the budget was not prepared for, and that saw money being allocated to services that had previously been saved.

3. Hiram will do just fine coming out of this. There are several alumni with sizable bequests to the school upon death. However, I do believe it would be in poor taste for Hiram to encourage them to have a quick death in order to collect. According to people I've talked to, one particular bequest would be enough to cover the school's operating budget as it stands for 37 semesters.

It seems that the school has work to do in appropriating funds and attracting new students. Their new focus has been on the Cleveland, Columbus, and Pittsburgh suburbs, which I believe will serve them well. Hopefully they get their finances in order before these bequests, otherwise it may be a house built on sand. We shall see.

[old wabash]

Anyone know about albion's streaming of Saturday's game? I am still debating about driving to the game!

[wally_wabash]

Anyone know about albion's streaming of Saturday's game? I am still debating about driving to the game!

There is a video link up on the D3Football.com scoreboard. 

[old wabash]

Thanks, Wally! I saw the link but was asking more about quality! It seems quality is widely variable in NCAC, but I know nothing about Albion stream!

[wally_wabash]

Ah, gotcha.  I watched some of their streams last season and they were good.  You can search for archived footage from last season if you want a test drive. 

[wally_wabash]

We're two days out, fans.  Any bold predicitons?  Wild guesses at order of finish?  Talk to me, Goose. 

[HCAlum86]

I have a BOLD prediction. NCAC wins all out-of-conference games opening weekend, save OWU @MHB

(No hard feelings, Bishops! I think OWU will have a successful season, but the Cru has some serious firepower this year; add that to the trip to TX and it's a tough test.)

[sigma one]

The BJ Hammer era begins at Allegheny.  Game notes for the Gators  vs. Thiel are up.  Perhaps not surprisingly,  the 2-deep line up (48 players, including kicker and punter) includes 27 sophomores and freshmen.  Among these, five are #!'s on offense:  3 linemen and 2 wide receivers.  Two senior starters on defense, and one on offense + a senior #1 kicker.  BJ is sweeping the decks  and going with a youth movement.  I don't know whether I want to jump in with the bold prediction that this team will beat Thiel (at Allegheny).  But I might roll the dice and give the Gators a nod.  Maybe.   

[DPU3619]

We've got ourselves a mini Monon Bell game on Indy's north side tonight.

DePauw '01 Pat Echeverria's 6th-ranked Zionsville Eagles play at Wabash '98 Jake Gilbert's 3rd-ranked Westfield Shamrocks.

[WooClone15]

I have a BOLD prediction. NCAC wins all out-of-conference games opening weekend, save OWU @MHB

(No hard feelings, Bishops! I think OWU will have a successful season, but the Cru has some serious firepower this year; add that to the trip to TX and it's a tough test.)

That is bold. I'd probably have mine be Wooster winning, but I really don't see that happening