FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[BayernFan]

He was thinking of the 1982 10-0 team.  The one that beat Dayton 14-13.

And why is this MB game your last?  EDIT:  NVM I gotcha!!  You were feted at halftime today!! 

IIRC the undefeated team was '80.  '81 was my senior year and DP won the Bell.

[BayernFan]

Would it be fair to say, then, that the current administration's attitude toward the football program is light years different than the one that fired Coach Carlson in 2000 after 17 years as HC with only one losing season? 

As for this year, Wabash's likely 7-4 record begs the question:  Was this a good season by Wabash's standards of the last 20 years?

By the way....this was my 42nd straight MB game.  My first, of course, was in 1978 as a freshman.

Disappointing today.  I agree, bad call.  But not THE reason DPU won.  No, Wabash will not look for a new coach.  The powers that be at the College love the way Morel interacts with the Wabash community after being critical of the way two previous, highly successful, coaches interacted.  Morel will be here for more years unless he decides to step down.  This ain't the administration at Wabash that puts football wins among its highest priorities.  I'm not saying that the administration doesn't want football success, but 8 or more wins every season is not among their biggest targets.   

[Li'l Giant]

Will Wabash look at hiring a different Head Coach?  Should it?

Been thinking about this all of yesterday after the game and pretty much all of this morning. Starting with a couple of quotes.

This one:

I'm not saying that the administration doesn't want football success, but 8 or more wins every season is not among their biggest targets.   

And this one:

As for this year, Wabash's likely 7-4 record begs the question:  Was this a good season by Wabash's standards of the last 20 years?

Don't focus on the number of wins. The numbers tell the story but the story is not about the numbers.

Is 7-4 a good season by Wabash's standards in the last 20 years? That's an emphatic no. In fact, I'm going to give a hot take here that this is actually DM's worst season of the four, despite the playoff trip coming, because of the expectations. And those weren't just external. Go back to the summer and there were players on social media predicting a 10-0 season. Anyone could look at this team in August and think "this team should go 10-0".

So, the numbers tell the story here. Our first season with more than 2 losses in 15 years. Our first loss to Wooster in 15 years. Losing 2 of the last 4 Bell Games after a 7 game winning streak. Oh, and twice in four years we've now given up a last minute game winning drive to Depauw. And it was the second such game losing drive this season. Nice way to bookend the regular season, right?

But the story isn't about the numbers. It's about attitude. Every organization, football team or otherwise, takes on the personality of it's leader. The 2001-2007 teams took on CC's personality. The 2008-2015 teams took on ER's personality.

And what is our personality now? "Good enough is good enough". If you watch the Don Morel Show every week you will hear that come out of him every time we come up short of what we're capable of. I'm sure next week we'll hear something about "if you'd have told me before the season we'd win a share of the NCAC and go to the playoffs I'd take it".

You know how I know that? Because he's said stuff like that before. When the offense looked anemic last week against Hiram he said "if you'd have told me before the game we'd get out with a 24-0 win I'd have taken it".

When we lost to Wooster for the first time in a decade and a half he said on his show "It's hard to play good football four weeks in a row". Well, that's not good because the season is ten games long. It's his job to make sure the team stays motivated. And that's the issue here. I don't think he's motivating our team because he's not motivated to be great.

I'll admit right here that I've never met the man. What I know I only know from reading quotes in recaps and watching his show every week for the last four seasons. But he exudes an attitude of acceptable mediocrity. He's just happy to be here at a place where even without a top notch coaching staff a 7 win season can you get you in the playoffs and keep your job safe. If "good enough is good enough" why try harder?

Remember when Chris Creighton did all that "g2G" stuff? "good to GREAT"? Well, we're back to good. The numbers bear that out. You can look at the numbers and see the decline in Wabash football from 2015 to now.

But the real decline is coming from the top. The football coach is a steward. And the point of stewardship is to leave that with which you have been entrusted in better shape than you found it. Chris Creighton took us from good to great. Erik Raeburn made our great even greater. Don Morel has not only failed to improve our program, it has regressed.

And now we're back to good. That's the story of the Don Morel Era at Wabash: Good Enough is Good Enough.

I think Wabash made a mistake when it hired Don Morel. The last four seasons have shown that. And now each season the mistake isn't corrected is an additional mistake.

We took something great and made it worse. And if we're not willing to fix the obvious problem, then call it what it is: settling.

We're settling for a mediocre football program when we know that this program is capable of much more. We have some great talented players who are working their butts off. But they're being failed by the coaching staff and administration.

This is the real test for Matt Tanney. For all the re-branding and monetization we've seen in his tenure, it's time to figure out if he wants our teams to win. I think all of us do.

TL;DR Version: It's time for a change. Good enough isn't good enough.

[wabashcpa]

Lil Giant,

Well said and 100% agree, +1.

I said this summer anything short of the playoffs was a fail, so I guess by my summer standard, this was a successful season.  Never in my wildest imagination did I think a 7-3 team would be good enough for that prize.  I was thinking 10-0, 9-1 at worst.  This is a Pyrrhic victory.

[BayernFan]

Along those lines that Lil Giant laid out....

I laugh at the "period".

It's meaningless.  It's ridiculous.  It is settling for a gimmick.  A worthless, mockable stunt.

Apparently, however, it is extremely important to those who run things, and lets everyone know what is considered important and vital.  A weird branding contrivance.

Ultimately, it is pointless. 

[wally_wabash]

Along those lines that Lil Giant laid out....

I laugh at the "period".

It's meaningless.  It's ridiculous.  It is settling for a gimmick.  A worthless, mockable stunt.

Apparently, however, it is extremely important to those who run things, and lets everyone know what is considered important and vital.  A weird branding contrivance.

Ultimately, it is pointless.

There's a point to it.  Maybe you're not the audience for it. 

It's harmless.  I don't understand the vitriol over it and bringing that up today is piling on for the sake of piling on. 

For the record, I don't love it either, but it's not for me and it's not a big enough deal to spend the energy to get pissed about it. 

[BayernFan]

So Wabash @ North Central.  When will kickoff time be announced?  Do the LGs have a puncher's chance vs the #6 team in the country?

[Whitecarrera]

Li'l Giant - Just for the record, I disagree with you, but not I'm not getting into any debates here.

And I'm not going to bitch about a wrong call. Judgement calls get missed all the time, but when you end up in a one possession game, they're magnified a hundred fold.  What really jumped out at me was the similarity between yesterday's (non)catch and Tim Maguire's catch in the 1985 game. Watch yesterday's video if you have it, or see the pic (compliments to Jim Amidon I believe), and then go to the 1:09:00 mark of the video.  I'm glad they got it right in '85.



https://youtu.be/mc_ffTnlI7Y

[shepherd]

So Wabash @ North Central.  When will kickoff time be announced?  Do the LGs have a puncher's chance vs the #6 team in the country?

Kickoff for most central (playoff games) teams esp northern Il is usually noon CT.  Although that can change.

[matblake]

So Wabash @ North Central.  When will kickoff time be announced?  Do the LGs have a puncher's chance vs the #6 team in the country?

Over/under this week of Wally bringing up the last NC/Wabash playoff matchup?  I'm going with 75. 

[shepherd]

NCC vs  vs Wabash College at noon  Naperville, Ill. Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium
https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/football/schedule

[wally_wabash]

So Wabash @ North Central.  When will kickoff time be announced?  Do the LGs have a puncher's chance vs the #6 team in the country?

Kickoff for most central (playoff games) teams esp northern Il is usually noon CT.  Although that can change.

Kickoff for all tournament games through the QF is noon local.  Semis usually get staggered for broadcast and then the Stagg Bowl has been a Friday night lights situation for a long time now. 

[wabndy]

My hits
The W. - Its marketing. There are two reasons why colleges market: raise money and attract applicants. Given the demographics shifts and the cliff drop in the college bound population, I think I know what the college is most worried about right now. That said, I'll take the period any day over the "Gold Within" tag line. Even there, I'll just say I wouldn't presume my marketing team to tell me how to my job, and I won't tell them how to do theirs.


Morel - Almost from day one this guy has been taking hits for not being Creighton, Raeburn, or for that matter, BJ Hammer. However, the superstitious me says the football gods frown on running off a coach that gets you to the playoffs and a conference championship.


Playoffs- How did Wabash get sent to North Central and Hanover get sent to Mount Union? Hanover clearly would be a higher seeded team. Why would they get sent to the top seed in the region with no difference in travel costs or any issue regarding scheduling rematches?

[wally_wabash]

Playoffs- How did Wabash get sent to North Central and Hanover get sent to Mount Union? Hanover clearly would be a higher seeded team. Why would they get sent to the top seed in the region with no difference in travel costs or any issue regarding scheduling rematches?

Jim Catanzaro talks about this pretty directly on today's ATN podcast.

[MRMIKESMITH]

Playoffs- How did Wabash get sent to North Central and Hanover get sent to Mount Union? Hanover clearly would be a higher seeded team. Why would they get sent to the top seed in the region with no difference in travel costs or any issue regarding scheduling rematches?

Jim Catanzaro talks about this pretty directly on today's ATN podcast.

I did like Pat's take on the subject as some other things could have moved around and not added cost.