FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Desertraider]

UMHB did not develop the reputation in Texas that Mount Union has in Ohio. I have some relatives in Dallas and El Paso, the general feel down there is that UMHB bought their program and their players. They brought in a President that had a firm belief in building a united student body around athletics and had no qualms pursuing philanthropists to achieve that goal.

Kehres more or less built Mount from scratch, having to recruit his butt off for years before developing the sterling reputation he carried. UMHB does not have that reputation. A few JuCo kids, a slew of DII, DIFCS and FBS transfers, along with some kids that had trouble with clearinghouse.

I think that stigma has given them trouble finding teams to play them. That, plus the lack of DIII schools in Texas, plus having no reservations about dropping 84 on a team.

I wish they would have scheduled Mount - Delaware, OH is better than a trip to VA, WV, WI, MO, etc. anyday. I compare The Cru to Rowan in the days a Keeler  . Good teams with a ton of transfers from DII, FBS, JuCo, etc.

[HCAlum86]

I wish they would have scheduled Mount - Delaware, OH is better than a trip to VA, WV, WI, MO, etc. anyday. I compare The Cru to Rowan in the days a Keeler  . Good teams with a ton of transfers from DII, FBS, JuCo, etc.

Yeah I think Mount has the model of sustainability, whereas schools like Rowan, UMHB, etc have a win now mentality that is good in many respects; but usually leads to many off the field issues down the road.

[Pat Coleman]

Yeah I think Mount has the model of sustainability, whereas schools like Rowan, UMHB, etc have a win now mentality that is good in many respects; but usually leads to many off the field issues down the road.

How far down the road are you talking? Mary Hardin-Baylor has been good for a long time and it's actually with primarily four-year players. Not sure where you and desertraider are coming from.

2014 (4-0, 0-0 ASC)
2013 (13-1, 6-0 ASC)
2012 (13-1, 7-0 ASC)
2011 (12-1, 8-0 ASC)
2010 (12-1, 8-0 ASC)
2009 (10-2, 7-1 ASC)
2008 (12-2, 8-0 ASC)
2007 (12-2, 8-0 ASC)
2006 (10-3, 8-0 ASC)
2005 (9-2, 7-1 ASC)
2004 (13-2, 8-1 ASC)
2003 (9-1, 8-1 ASC)
2002 (10-1, 9-0 ASC)
2001 (8-2, 7-1 ASC)
2000 (9-1, 8-1 ASC)
1999 (4-6, 3-4 ASC)

1998 was the first year UMHB had football. If you're waiting for an implosion, you might be waiting a while.

[crufootball]

UMHB did not develop the reputation in Texas that Mount Union has in Ohio. I have some relatives in Dallas and El Paso, the general feel down there is that UMHB bought their program and their players. They brought in a President that had a firm belief in building a united student body around athletics and had no qualms pursuing philanthropists to achieve that goal.

Kehres more or less built Mount from scratch, having to recruit his butt off for years before developing the sterling reputation he carried. UMHB does not have that reputation. A few JuCo kids, a slew of DII, DIFCS and FBS transfers, along with some kids that had trouble with clearinghouse.

I think that stigma has given them trouble finding teams to play them. That, plus the lack of DIII schools in Texas, plus having no reservations about dropping 84 on a team.

Wow, as you can see from my handle I am a fan of UMHB, but I like to pretend I can be objective and I am blown away by these comments.

First off, Kehres may have more or less built Mount from scratch (he did it very well by the way) but Coach Pete literarily built the program from scratch. If you think he has not had to recruit hard in the state of Texas with more than 30+ scholarship level programs in the state you are wrong. I can't speak too much about his reputation but I wouldn't think if he had such a bad reputation they would let him on the AFCA Board of Trustees.

Second, while we have had some transfers into the program we in no way have a slew of them and never have. Looking at the travel roster this year, I count 6 people on the whole thing and only one of them is starting (our kicker).

Third, while we have had to work hard to fill our non-conference schedule it hasn't been that hard, we have always had a 10 game schedule and we haven't had to go out of D3 since 2010 something that UW-W, Wesley, Linfield and many others cannot say.

Lastly, Coach Pete actually has great reservations about dropping 84 on a team, so much so that we have never scored that many points in a game. Don't get me wrong we have been close and could have blown past that number on many occasions but one of the reasons we have been so good is our #2's and 3's see a lot of action when we get a comfortable lead.

[HCAlum86]

Pardon me if I was out of line crufootball... I was way off. I was referring to the 10/26, 11/2, 11/9 games from last year where you beat teams 63-7, 80-0, and 65-10 respectively.

And yeah, I should not have been so hasty with the win now analogy. Perhaps the way I should have phrased it is this, UMHB came into the formation of the football program and planned on having a proper financial backing. The stadium they built is absolutely beautiful and a recruiting dream. Needless to say that sort of money within a DIII program has attracted higher-caliber athletes.

[crufootball]

Pardon me if I was out of line crufootball... I was way off. I was referring to the 10/26, 11/2, 11/9 games from last year where you beat teams 63-7, 80-0, and 65-10 respectively.

And yeah, I should not have been so hasty with the win now analogy. Perhaps the way I should have phrased it is this, UMHB came into the formation of the football program and planned on having a proper financial backing. The stadium they built is absolutely beautiful and a recruiting dream. Needless to say that sort of money within a DIII program has attracted higher-caliber athletes.

Not going to say those are pretty scores but believe me in all of them it could have been much worse. And speaking of blow outs, how does 57-0, 52-0, 54-0, 66-0, 62-0, 51-0, 72-14 and 72-17 sound? Those were scores of games in Coach Kehres last season as head coach of Mount Union.

And while yes we have a stadium now that is beautiful and a recruiting dream, for the first 15 years of our program we played at a high school and had a field house that was built for a team half of our size.

[Desertraider]

UMHB did not develop the reputation in Texas that Mount Union has in Ohio. I have some relatives in Dallas and El Paso, the general feel down there is that UMHB bought their program and their players. They brought in a President that had a firm belief in building a united student body around athletics and had no qualms pursuing philanthropists to achieve that goal.

Kehres more or less built Mount from scratch, having to recruit his butt off for years before developing the sterling reputation he carried. UMHB does not have that reputation. A few JuCo kids, a slew of DII, DIFCS and FBS transfers, along with some kids that had trouble with clearinghouse.

I think that stigma has given them trouble finding teams to play them. That, plus the lack of DIII schools in Texas, plus having no reservations about dropping 84 on a team.

Wow, as you can see from my handle I am a fan of UMHB, but I like to pretend I can be objective and I am blown away by these comments.

First off, Kehres may have more or less built Mount from scratch (he did it very well by the way) but Coach Pete literarily built the program from scratch. If you think he has not had to recruit hard in the state of Texas with more than 30+ scholarship level programs in the state you are wrong. I can't speak too much about his reputation but I wouldn't think if he had such a bad reputation they would let him on the AFCA Board of Trustees.

Second, while we have had some transfers into the program we in no way have a slew of them and never have. Looking at the travel roster this year, I count 6 people on the whole thing and only one of them is starting (our kicker).

Third, while we have had to work hard to fill our non-conference schedule it hasn't been that hard, we have always had a 10 game schedule and we haven't had to go out of D3 since 2010 something that UW-W, Wesley, Linfield and many others cannot say.

Lastly, Coach Pete actually has great reservations about dropping 84 on a team, so much so that we have never scored that many points in a game. Don't get me wrong we have been close and could have blown past that number on many occasions but one of the reasons we have been so good is our #2's and 3's see a lot of action when we get a comfortable lead.

My only comment was that I compare UMHB to Rowan yada yada yada. Didn't say anything about a bad rep or whatever. I also didn't say anything about them being a short term success. Coach Pete has built the program from the ground up - no doubt about it - and has done one hell of a job. I will never question the success of the Cru (see my previous posts in the OAC on the Cru - nothing but respect). But UMHB gets the same knock that Mount, UWW, and the others have gotten...they gotta be getting transfers from other levels etc. Can I verify it? Nope - looking at the rosters all I see are schools (I have no idea which ones are colleges). I don't dig for Cru info but I do see some from time-to-time (http://kdhnews.com/sports/college/umhb/jackson-reared-to-lead-a-team/article_3725d018-9e3c-53f3-87c1-7a17e20adb7c.html). I know he is not starting, but he is a higher level transfer even though the roster has his HS listed. Same thing with the K listed as Deer Park (HS) though he is a transfer from Texas Tech (?).
On the score issue. Believe me I know it is hard to keep the score down on some teams and would never pull a Gregg Easterbrook and bash a team like UMHB for hanging 80. But don't act like it doesn't happen: 81 on Texas Luth. and 76 on Sul Ross in 2010; 77 on Sul Ross in 2011; 68 on Howard payne and 76 on Sul Ross in 2012; 80 on Howard payne in 2013 and 73 on Kean 2 weeks ago. I have seen Mount do some weird stuff to avoid scoring on teams (saw a RB step out at the 5 with no one near him in a blow-out) and I am sure UMHB has had to do the same. Even with all of that, and #2s and #3s in for half the game, it is hard for teams like Mount, UWW, UMHB and Wesley to keep scores down. It is what it is.

[Pat Coleman]

My only comment was that I compare UMHB to Rowan yada yada yada. Didn't say anything about a bad rep or whatever.

Sprained my eyes from rolling them so hard there.

[Desertraider]

My only comment was that I compare UMHB to Rowan yada yada yada. Didn't say anything about a bad rep or whatever.

Sprained my eyes from rolling them so hard there.

Roll them all you want Pat but I said nothing of a 'bad reputation'. My exact statement was: "I compare The Cru to Rowan in the days a Keeler  . Good teams with a ton of transfers from DII, FBS, JuCo, etc."

[HCAlum86]

Game day! Let's Go Hiram!

[wally_wabash]

Having your RB step out on purpose to avoid scoring is more disrespectful than just scoring the TD, isn't it?

[smedindy]

Why should we disparage transfers, etc. except to confirm your own prejudices...

[smedindy]

Third, while we have had to work hard to fill our non-conference schedule it hasn't been that hard, we have always had a 10 game schedule and we haven't had to go out of D3 since 2010 something that UW-W, Wesley, Linfield and many others cannot say.

I admire your passion, but it IS harder for UMHB to fill their schedule than most in D-3. Your examples have qualifiers as well.

The West Coast teams in the SCIAC and NWC are on 'islands', so it's harder for Linfield to find games. The SCIAC plays nine games, by choice. (Chapman played 10 in 2002 and 2003, but they were an independent then). Many NWC play just nine. Some waver between nine and ten. I can't say I'm an expert on Linfield but I've never heard of them NOT playing just a nine-game regular season schedule.

Wesley is an independent, so the end of the season is tough because a lot of good teams are in conference play. There's no holes in the schedule for teams to fit them in after week four or so.

Whitewater and the Wisconsin schools  seem to struggle a bit to fill a docket. Teams from the IIAC and MIAC will play them but there's only so many non-conference games and teams to go around that want that challenge, and I can't see Whitewater playing a UMAC team, and other schools have plenty of choices (do I play Wisconsin-Platteville or Ripon? Hmmm...) The MWC split into divisions and some teams decided to play other MWC schools in non-conference if they were in the other division. I can see that - you don't want to lose a game against a long-time rival just because the conference got bloated.

Teams in the East, Midwest and the Southeast have more teams to choose from than UMHB and many of those schools don't have the travel budget to get to Texas for a return on the home-and-home.

[smedindy]

Pardon me if I was out of line crufootball... I was way off. I was referring to the 10/26, 11/2, 11/9 games from last year where you beat teams 63-7, 80-0, and 65-10 respectively.

And yeah, I should not have been so hasty with the win now analogy. Perhaps the way I should have phrased it is this, UMHB came into the formation of the football program and planned on having a proper financial backing. The stadium they built is absolutely beautiful and a recruiting dream. Needless to say that sort of money within a DIII program has attracted higher-caliber athletes.

Do the kids go to class, stay four years, and graduate? If so, no one, not relatives, friends, jealous folks, should voice any complaint. They should look to that as a way to build up an entire INSTITUTION, in this era of declining male enrollment, it's a way to survive and thrive as a college. The rest of the innuendo, conjecture, etc. is just petty envy.

Any disparagement of transfers, donors spending on athletics program facilities, etc. need to remember:

1. Do the incoming students graduate?
2. Are they following the D-3 rules?
3. Is the team a reflection of the student body in some way?

All of those semi-bashing Rowan back in the day need to think about the makeup of a school like that. Does the student body have a lot of transfers anyway? Inclusive state schools do have more transfers in as a rule, as students go from a community college program into a four year institution. Even some privates have a lot of transfers, and encourage them, as they need the tuition dollars.

Some state schools have programs especially for the junior college transfer students (2-3 years...). All three of my student workers at CWU spent their freshmen year at community college before transferring to CWU. Two of them were music majors and a third engineering.

Football teams attract students, and male students. Tuition and endowment make the college world go around. Donors build the latter; students pay the former. Otherwise, the doors close.

[smedindy]

And now to football:

Wooster 14-0 over Allegheny after a quarter of play.

Hiram 7-2 over Kenyon late in the first.

DPU up 21-0 over Oberlin in the first with 4:25 to go.