FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[sigma one]

AlleghenyAlum:  I grew up in southwestern Pa.  When I was a kid, too many years ago to matter with now, Allegheny was THE place to go to play "small college"  football.   A QB from my hometown  became a Gator.  You will know the name, I think:  Stoner "Boots"
Tracey.  (Is there an e in his last name; can't recall?)
     All this is to say I care about Allegheny. I attend every Wabash game there and have for the past 16 years (8 games?).  I know the history.  The NCAC is so much better when every team can compete.
     Thanks for your words about Coach Matlak.  Understand, please, that I, was attempting to analyze
Allegheny's  current situation.  And so, I was looking at all the elements that make up a team.  I'm glad to know about his influence on his players, maybe on other students as well.  In your mind that matters more than his team's record; in mine, too.  I hope in Allegheny's, too.           
     If 'gheny finishes 0-10 evey year and Malak has a positive influence, wonderful.    Also, I'm glad that Emigh is back. He's not "my boy."  I don't know a thing about him other than last year he helped the team on the field.  Whether he was gone because of injury or discipline, as far as I care should remain private.  Niklaus, yes, I like him as a receiver.  I have no intention of going down the lineup and trying to evaluate individuals; I don't know enough to do that.  In a strangely abnormal year, as contributors and friends (even when we disagree) we are just spilling ink.   
     Except when they play Wabash, I wish all the teams good luck.  Who wins and who loses--that's decided every week to the dismay or delight of us all.  Then we spill more ink.

[AlleghenyAlum]

AlleghenyAlum:  I grew up in southwestern Pa.  When I was a kid, too many years ago to matter with now, Allegheny was THE place to go to play "small college"  football.   A QB from my hometown  became a Gator.  You will know the name, I think:  Stoner "Boots"
Tracey.  (Is there an e in his last name; can't recall?)
     All this is to say I care about Allegheny. I attend every Wabash game there and have for the past 16 years (8 games?).  I know the history.  The NCAC is so much better when every team can compete.
     Thanks for your words about Coach Matlak.  Understand, please, that I, was attempting to analyze
Allegheny's  current situation.  And so, I was looking at all the elements that make up a team.  I'm glad to know about his influence on his players, maybe on other students as well.  In your mind that matters more than his team's record; in mine, too.  I hope in Allegheny's, too.           
     If 'gheny finishes 0-10 evey year and Malak has a positive influence, wonderful.    Also, I'm glad that Emigh is back. He's not "my boy."  I don't know a thing about him other than last year he helped the team on the field.  Whether he was gone because of injury or discipline, as far as I care should remain private.  Niklaus, yes, I like him as a receiver.  I have no intention of going down the lineup and trying to evaluate individuals; I don't know enough to do that.  In a strangely abnormal year, as contributors and friends (even when we disagree) we are just spilling ink.   
     Except when they play Wabash, I wish all the teams good luck.  Who wins and who loses--that's decided every week to the dismay or delight of us all.  Then we spill more ink.

I think you misinterpreted how I meant that post, as i'm sure most others will.  I just wanted to point out a few things and thinking about 0-10 is about the last thing I want to think about! 

I called Emigh your boy because I had seen you mention him as a good player previously, nothing more.

Again, my bad on the tone of my last post! 

[sigma one]

AlleghenyAlum:  everything's cool.  Looking at the arc of the Allegheny program over a long period, I too scratch my head.  When Wabash joined the conference, the Gators were one of the three teams the coaches and players believed they had to beat consistently if they were to be successful.  After the LGs first defeated Allegheny in Meadville, representatives of the student body and the Administration greeted the team when it got to C'ville after midnight.  That's how big that win was, in how much regard the Gators were held.  And still are.  Four times in my memory the Gators have beaten Wabash.   The first one was a shootout 50+ to 40+  Two victories have been in overtime games.  The fourth was in the Swamp on as bad a field as I can recall after two weeks of heavy rain and a game the week before on the same surface (and no chance for the field to be cleaned up because of the monsoon).  And, yes, I was at the Whitewater snow bowl.
     No other team but Wittenberg has so many NCAC wins v. the LGs.  (DPU does not count.)  If I know the new AD as well as I think I do, there will be a return to competitiveness or she will think she has failed at an important oversight task.  (I don't for a minute buy the thinking that the Allegheny administration is trying to sink football.)   

       

[firstdown]

Allegheny Alum: Years like this one are tough.  Allegheny has a good program, and this is one of those times when a program with a lot of younger players is in a rebuilding mode, and has had to play a schedule with a number of other programs a little further down the rebuilding path.  Plus there is a lot of competition for good players in your area, and recruiting players for an institution with a rigorous academic program and standards isn't easy, but it can be done.

There are some schools out there were the football program is treated with hostility from the institution.  The relationship between the football coach and the AD needs to be a good partnership.  There are schools where this isn't the case for whatever reason.  There are schools where the football program does not receive adequate financial support, and the football coach has to rely on a lot of younger, less experienced coaches and GA's.  A program with all three of these elements being negative isn't going to do well on the field no matter how hard the coaches and the players work.

Looking from afar, I don't think Allegheny has these systemic problems.  I will leave it for you to judge.  No doubt there is hard work ahead to bring the program to its long term standards.

[bashbrother]

I have been following the interesting Allegheny discussion.   

I will add:

Most times when a program drops, it is multiple reasons coming together at the same time.   I think we take for granted how hard it is to keep a program at a winning level at any division.   I will contend that at the Div. III, it may be even harder.   

If you look at programs like Capital.... in 2005 they lost to Mount Union in the playoffs 34-31..... to 2013....  they get beat by Heidelberg - 73-17.   Now, I will admit,  the drop that Allegheny has experienced has been much more abrupt and thus, many more questions about what the heck happened.

Again,  I believe there are multiple forces at play.   The Gators will be fine and just need to learn to win again as a team.   Heck, look at the New York Giants -  0-6 this year... they won the Super Bowl in 2011.   It happens.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Most times when a program drops, it is multiple reasons coming together at the same time.   I think we take for granted how hard it is to keep a program at a winning level at any division.   I will contend that at the Div. III, it may be even harder.   

Bingo.  Not sure if any of you are wrestling fans, but Dan Gable has a great discussion of this in the book "A Season On The Mat" (which follows his final season as head coach at Iowa).  Iowa had won a bunch of national titles in a row when the streak ended at 9 (I think, might be off on that) in 1987; when asked about it later, he mentions that the incoming recruiting classes in 1983 and 1984 (who would make up the bulk of the team in 1987) were not quite as talented as the classes he had brought in before, and they didn't work hard enough to make up for the slight drop in talent, so really the team was getting "worse" as early as 1983-84 although they didn't actually "lose" a national title until 1987.

Which makes a run like Kehres' at Mount Union (and, to a lesser extent, Raeburn at Wabash) all the more impressive.

[smedindy]

When Wabash's run started with their first appearance at Mt. Union, I wondered in the back of my mind if this was a flash-in-the-pan convergence of talent all coming together at once and we'd be back to the good-but-not-great teams we were used to. We've all seen teams rise up, make a run, then fall behind - Capital's a good example.

Silly me. But now, I feel that Wabash is going to be fine in re-loading. They hired the right coach AFTER hiring the right coach before, and now have an entire pipeline working where we get kids that can cut in the classroom as well as on the field. Wabash doesn't have to make the choice between one or the other.

It takes a real concerted effort to keep any program at an elite level. The NCAC is blessed to have some great programs that compete nationally year over year in most all sports (Wooster men's hoops, DPU's women's programs, Kenyon and Denison swimming, Wabash in CC, OWU in soccer, Witt in hoops and football, and the list can go on because I know I'm forgetting some). It takes hard work and dedication to the program and the student athletes but it's a yearly commitment.

OWU's soccer program has won 82% of its matches since 1977. That's not only building a legacy but maintaining it year over year. That's hard, as we know. Not every sport at every school can be a consistent winner (though it does seem that way at some schools) and realistically, you're a couple three bum classes from penthouse to outhouse.

[nike]

CP Porter may not start or have many carries this year, but even from a Scots fan, his perseverance is remarkable.  I remember him as a freshman.  I know he missed a year of school, then came back, played well, got hurt, missed most of that year and is back again.  You think he has experienced things that will prepare him for life after college?  My guess is yes.  And I notice that most all the Wabash posters have said positive things about him over the last few years.
Cool!

[wally_wabash]

I noted this earlier, but Allegheny lost a LOT of seniors from a 5-5 team that couldn't score points in 2012.  While I think some of the margins have been a little unexpected, I don't know that 0-6 really is if we had paid closer attention to what Allegheny was bringing back this season.  The only surprising W/L result so far is probably the Hiram game, but part of that stems from us not realizing that Hiram was going to perk up considerably this year (and good for them). 

Very recently, we've seen the sky fall in three places that most of us would consider the "better" programs in the NCAC.  Ohio Wesleyan bottomed out in 2010 with a 2-8 year.  2011 wasn't a ton better...they finished 4-6 but started that season 1-6 and finished up with Kenyon/Hiram/Oberlin trifecta which wasn't particularly challenging.  Ohio Wesleyan made some changes and shared a league title last year. 

In 2010 DePauw hosted a playoff game and participated in their second NCAA football championship in a row.  11 games later they fired a head coach in the middle of a season (which never happens in D3) and scuffled through a 2-8 season.  I don't know if DePauw is going to do much better than 2-8 this year, but I kind of think that it's hard to look at how they are playing and not see that they are getting better.  Significantly better than they were 12 months ago. 

Wooster cratered out last year at 2-8 having only beaten two teams that won a grand total of zero games.  Despite a shorter roster and radical changes to the way that team operates, Wooster seems to be back on a positive track. 

We've seen this kind of bottoming out around the league recently.  Certainly, I think there is probably a deep evaluation at Allegheny about football forthcoming and what needs to happen in order to put Allegheny on the path to being competitive again.  A dozen different things have been brought up in here about what makes good small college programs tick.  I'm sure a lot of those things will be looked at this winter and beyond.  I don't expect Allegheny to be down for long. 

[BashBacker#16]

Nike,

Great to see your post on CP.  If I am ever in a position to hire that guy, I'm all over it!  He'll be super successful in whatever he chooses to pursue.  I have a feeling he'll make an impact late in the season!

Some Little Giant! 

BB16

[sigma one]

I think that many of us long believed that OWU had talent.  It was apparently a combination of several factors which kept that talent from achieving at a high level.  Times change.  I also think that it's harder to turn the corner than many believe---thanks for the reminder on this several contributors.  But it can happen.  At least for a few years:  staying on top is the challenge.  It's also true that at many schools it just does not matter; it's not that important (sorry fans).
          Wabash and Wittenberg are examples of programs where a combination of visible institutional support, superior coaching, consistently good recruiting, and tradition come together to manufacture good teams year in and year out.  They can both recruit on proud traditions.  Both recruit well in their home states.  They have a supportive fan base.  They hired the right Head Coach--and those coaches have an eye for good assistants.  The players themselves are aware of what is expected and strive hard to maintain the program.  I don't think one can ignore this last point.  Teams, players, coaches say they work hard and prepare; it's relative.
         
         

[HCAlum86]

It's hard to go to any campus in our conference and say "Wow! It is going to be very tough to recruit here." The most isolated school in our conference (Kenyon) has perhaps the best rec center of any college in the country on a "per-student" basis. We are very blessed with great academics and beautiful campuses in that regard.

[Wabash Hokie]

Below is the link to Wabash's game notes for this weekend's game versus Kenyon.

http://sports.wabash.edu/documents/2013/10/16/ReleaseOctober162013.pdf?id=213

While I expect Wabash to win this game, the atmosphere will definitely be different with the students on fall break.   Kenyon is going to be in for a long day. Their running game is going up against the strength of the Wabash defense. 

If the score allows, it will be interesting to see the guy who is third on the RB depth chart.

[bashbrother]

Interesting note from Kenyon's roster......

Their starting QB, Jake Bates (SO/5-11/185) is from Noblesville, IN  (Noblesville HS)....   Me thinks it's going to be a tough one for him.

[sigma one]

The Wabash two-deep for this week shows 6 seniors, 2 of them as #1 at their position  (Scola and Diaz-Aguilar).     And 2 of the seniors share a #2 place (DL)--the only spot where Wabash lists an either or on defense.  The list also shows 10 sophomores or freshmen.  The LG defense is young