FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hazzben]

And for the record, I think Eichorst did a great job explaining it all today. Agree with the assessment this article. I want Nebraska to land a great coach (obviously), but I also want to see Eichorst succeed. I really like him as our AD.

[WarhawkDad]

Thinking about it is about as far as it would likely have gone.  I don't see anyway in God's creation that a program like Nebraska hires a DIII coach regardless of how successfull they may have been or how qualified they may be.

Why not?  Notre Dame hired a high school coach...

That's right.  Although that didn't turn out so great, the point is people, especially the competitive type, don't put restrictions on what they can accomplish. 
The logical side of Lance surely would have said there's no chance Nebraska would hire him now, but we are emotional beings. 

Anyway, I think the recent days must have been one heck of an emotional roller coaster for Lance.  I'm thrilled for him and his family to have a new challenge and opportunity. 
   

Absolutely...being a fan of Northern Ill, I'm going to have a hard time rooting for them when they play Buffalo now

Being a graduate of NIU, I agree, however, I am going to root for Buffalo in every other MAC game!    I am very happy for Lance and Kelly and family.  Having had the opportunity to be around them for 5 years made me realize how driven Lance is and how supportive Kelly and the entire family including their parents and in-laws are.   We are fortunate that we have had Lance at the helm for as long as we have.   I also feel confident that we are going to be in good shape post Lance due to the foundation built and the fact that I believe we will have a majority of our coaches stay.   It will be interesting to see who ends up being Head Coach and how the sorting occurs.   

Congratulations to Lance, now on to discussing Wartburg.

WHD

[Mr. Ypsi]

LL may eventually run out of teams that people will root for him against!  "Against everyone but Toledo" - several OAC posters.  "Against everyone but EMU" - me.  And now "against everyone but NIU".  Pretty sure we have MIAA posters with loyalties also to Western Michigan and Central Michigan, and surely there must be some OAC guys with loyalties to other Ohio MAC teams.  (Ball State may be a d3 orphan. )

I'll root for Chris Creighton to avenge that 2007 playoff loss to Lance Leipold.  (And he just might - Buffalo is one of the few teams EMU has been able to beat in recent years.)

[footballfan413]

There is no way Nebraska hires a DIII coach, regardless of how celebrated. The fan base would lose their minds...

That'll be his next position.

Buffalo is a very hard assignment. If he succeeds there he will be on the shortlist for a lot of positions. The MAC East was positively putrid this year and Buffalo didn't crawl above .500.

Turner Gil got the program turned around from the bottom of FBS a few years ago, but even he couldn't get the Nebraska job at the time. And Gil had 10 years worth of ties to Nebraska. Instead a failed stint at Kansas has Gil at FCS Liberty. Gil is a very good coach, and has Liberty aiming the right direction now, but it shows how hard it can be to make it at that Power 5 level.

LL will get his chance. It will be interesting to see how he does.

I hope the fans in Buffalo don't confuse Lance winning championships in Whitewater with Lance building championships in Whitewater. What I mean by that is, as we already know Lance took over a program that was already built to win...it just needed someone to put them over the top. The situation is a little different in Buffalo. I'm not sure if the Bulls are built to win right away, I'm guessing they are not looking at their record last season.

So, I hope their fan base/alumni don't lose patience with him if he's not winning national championships in his first few years....because that would insane to think that. Hopefully they don't turn on him too soon if everything he touches doesn't turn to gold right away, like the ESPN piece portrays. It may take a little time for Buffalo to get to where Lance envisions.

Lance will definitely have a huge (new) challenge ahead of him building a contending team.

Bingo!   The WARHAWKS had already burst onto the national scene and were two-time national champion runner-ups when he was handed the keys to a Ferrari!   He just had to keep it between the ditches.   He stood tall on the shoulders of many that came before him!  I still contend that our first championship was much more about, finally, winning the line of scrimmage and a new QB and offensive coordinator, that gave The Mount new looks and challenges, more than a new HC.   Now, having said that, he did WAY MORE than, "keep it between the ditches," under his watch!  I give full and extensive credit to him for spearheading this program into becoming a national powerhouse with multiple championships and cementing us at the top of Division 3 for the last EIGHT seasons.   The WARHAWKS have had a rediculous run under his watch and, of course, with that kind of success, opportunity will follow.   I am thrilled for Lance and Kelly and their family, and hope this new opportunity becomes everything they hope for and they are happy and successful in their new venture in New York.  I will be watching and rooting Coach on and am grateful for all he has done for the UWW program.

We were an elite program before he arrived, have thrived under his watch, and with a solid foundation and history of success and continued administrative support, I trust, (and hope,)  that the WARHAWKS can hand those keys off, once again, and continue to run like an elite, well oiled machine. 

Best of luck to the Liepold family!  Thank you, again, for all you did during your time at Whitewater! 

"Tradition never graduates!"   (Or takes a new coaching job.).   .  GO BULLS!! 

[BoBo]

Just got back from my trip and whoa nelly, a lot has happened.  From the emma brouhaha (no need to reopen that, though I'd like to!!  ) to the Lance thing.  But, though I'm really tired from a lot of flying hours, I wanted to just leave this little tidbit until I can rest up. I'm surprised no one lavished praise on me since I did post this over a month ago to warn you guys that this day was coming - just didn't think during the season:

BTW saw this tweet from Bruce Feldman, Columnist/commentator, FOX Sports on Saturday:

Bruce Feldman @BruceFeldmanCFB     ·  13h 13 hours ago   
Coach who makes a lot of sense for #Buffalo vacancy: Lance Leipold. 8th yr at WISC-Whitewater. Has won 5 D3 national titles & lost 6 games.

With that said, Buffalo AD Danny White lists his search criteria HERE

Does Lance fit the bill?  I think this off-season is going to get real interesting around Warhawk nation...lots of people on pins and needles.  I sort of doubt anything will come of it, since that AD is a Ole Miss guy, but  interesting nonetheless. Feldman seems like another in a long line of national commentators jumping on the Warhawk bandwagon recently.

Feldman knows his ****.  So, I wasn't surprised that this materialized as soon as it did. And obviously with the school being UB, I wasn't  surprise either. What a great opportunity for LL professionally and for his family. After listening to his introductory press conference a few minutes ago, I have no doubt that he has his ducks in a row, has a sound plan and will do so really big things there.  The biggest question mark I have is will all that snow in Buffalo be melted by his first spring practice?  As for his successor?  I read where someone thought the coach at Wabash would be a good fit. Pleeze!! Never heard anything so stupid (the idea not the messenger!! Let's make that crystal clear)...nearly made me vomit. No offense to their guy since I don't know him - but they can keep him - UWW needs to do much better (has nothing to do with being elite - so don't even go down that road) and should do much better than that. Have to go forward in a selection - that would be backward, IMO.  Picking someone on that level would be a major, I mean, major mistake. Wabash style of play doesn't in the slightest way excite me and if they reflect his coaching, which I'm sure they do, doesn't make me feel excited about him. Just the thought of that makes me sicker than eating airplane food for the past two days. But I'm certain that will never happen, so my illness should be short lived. One guy who I always thought might be a good fit is Jeff Jagodzinski, the former Warhawk fullback from West Allis Central HS, HC at Boston College (2 ACC Atlantic Division Championships; coached Matt Ryan; fired for interviewing for the Jets HC position when told not too by his AD), veteran NFL coach including OC with Packers in '06 and current OC at Georgia State University.  He's probably made a boatload of cash in his career, so a bit of a pay cut (OK, a large pay cut) might not be too hard to swallow. His Warhawk career overlapped with Lance, so I'm sure they know each other. Thinking that maybe he'd might want to come home and help out his alma mater. Just my 2 pennies...

[retagent]

Gee BoBo, do you really think that saying "No offense" then proceeding to basically call the guy a bum, who's dumber than a box of rocks, means that no offense will be taken? I know you would not take offense if I said "No offense, BoBo, but you're a moron." Which is what you kinda did.

I get a kick out of this fairly recent phenomenon of beginning a slam with "no offense." Please don't take offense at this, I'm just highlighting something I find amusing. I hope you read your post again, and get a chuckle out of it as well.

Good luck to UWW in their upcoming search. I have no doubt the outcome will keep UWW "betwenn the ditches."

[02 Warhawk]

Just got back from my trip and whoa nelly, a lot has happened.  From the emma brouhaha (no need to reopen that, though I'd like to!!  ) to the Lance thing.  But, though I'm really tired from a lot of flying hours, I wanted to just leave this little tidbit until I can rest up. I'm surprised no one lavished praise on me since I did post this over a month ago to warn you guys that this day was coming - just didn't think during the season:

BTW saw this tweet from Bruce Feldman, Columnist/commentator, FOX Sports on Saturday:

Bruce Feldman @BruceFeldmanCFB     ·  13h 13 hours ago   
Coach who makes a lot of sense for #Buffalo vacancy: Lance Leipold. 8th yr at WISC-Whitewater. Has won 5 D3 national titles & lost 6 games.

With that said, Buffalo AD Danny White lists his search criteria HERE

Does Lance fit the bill?  I think this off-season is going to get real interesting around Warhawk nation...lots of people on pins and needles.  I sort of doubt anything will come of it, since that AD is a Ole Miss guy, but  interesting nonetheless. Feldman seems like another in a long line of national commentators jumping on the Warhawk bandwagon recently.

Feldman knows his ****.  So, I wasn't surprised that this materialized as soon as it did. And obviously with the school being UB, I wasn't  surprise either. What a great opportunity for LL professionally and for his family. After listening to his introductory press conference a few minutes ago, I have no doubt that he has his ducks in a row, has a sound plan and will do so really big things there.  The biggest question mark I have is will all that snow in Buffalo be melted by his first spring practice?  As for his successor?  I read where someone thought the coach at Wabash would be a good fit. Pleeze!! Never heard anything so stupid (the idea not the messenger!! Let's make that crystal clear)...nearly made me vomit. No offense to their guy since I don't know him - but they can keep him - UWW needs to do much better (has nothing to do with being elite - so don't even go down that road) and should do much better than that. Have to go forward in a selection - that would be backward, IMO.  Picking someone on that level would be a major, I mean, major mistake. Wabash style of play doesn't in the slightest way excite me and if they reflect his coaching, which I'm sure they do, doesn't make me feel excited about him. Just the thought of that makes me sicker than eating airplane food for the past two days. But I'm certain that will never happen, so my illness should be short lived. One guy who I always thought might be a good fit is Jeff Jagodzinski, the former Warhawk fullback from West Allis Central HS, HC at Boston College (2 ACC Atlantic Division Championships; coached Matt Ryan; fired for interviewing for the Jets HC position when told not too by his AD), veteran NFL coach including OC with Packers in '06 and current OC at Georgia State University.  He's probably made a boatload of cash in his career, so a bit of a pay cut (OK, a large pay cut) might not be too hard to swallow. His Warhawk career overlapped with Lance, so I'm sure they know each other. Thinking that maybe he'd might want to come home and help out his alma mater. Just my 2 pennies...

Obviously Jagodzinski has NFL coaching aspirations, and it appears he's on the door step of it. So I'm not sure if he's willing to take a big step back and run a DIII program, even if it is UWW.

That would be a GREAT hire for UWW...but I just don't see Jeff seeking it out.

[emma17]

Bobo
Plus 1 on the original heads up with UB. I remembered someone had posted about it but didn't go back far enough to see it was you.

Thinking about filling the HC job w a current D3 HC - is there one that has appeal?
Cerroni?
Leonard from Franklin?

One of Lance's greatest strengths is his attention to detail.  It shows up when things don't show up (like any number of self inflicted errors that are common in a game).

I hope UWW can find a guy with that quality amongst the other important qualities.

[wally_wabash]

Maybe you guys can trade for Harbaugh.  Rex Ryan is going to be available.  Maybe Tom Coughlin?  He coached in college once. 

Some of your Warhawk guys spent a lot of the last week basically telling us Wabash folk to know our place (rightly or wrongly).  Now you're spewing out names of pro coaches that you think are going to reach back to D3?  Who do you think you are?  Honestly.  Jagodzinski...please.  That's more outlandish and without sense of place than anything any Wabash guy said in the last week*. 

Prediction: whoever is next isn't winning 100 in 106 games. 

*One exception...the guy who said Holton Walker > Kumerow was out of his mind.  Kumerow was the superior player...on one leg.  That statement was just silly. 

[emma17]

Maybe you guys can trade for Harbaugh.  Rex Ryan is going to be available.  Maybe Tom Coughlin?  He coached in college once. 

Some of your Warhawk guys spent a lot of the last week basically telling us Wabash folk to know our place (rightly or wrongly).  Now you're spewing out names of pro coaches that you think are going to reach back to D3?  Who do you think you are?  Honestly.  Jagodzinski...please.  That's more outlandish and without sense of place than anything any Wabash guy said in the last week*. 

Prediction: whoever is next isn't winning 100 in 106 games. 

*One exception...the guy who said Holton Walker > Kumerow was out of his mind.  Kumerow was the superior player...on one leg.  That statement was just silly. 

You're embellishing again. What's with that?  You seem like such a smart guy and one I'd love to have a beer with. But you seem incapable of discussing what was actually said.

[02 Warhawk]

Maybe you guys can trade for Harbaugh.  Rex Ryan is going to be available.  Maybe Tom Coughlin?  He coached in college once. 

Some of your Warhawk guys spent a lot of the last week basically telling us Wabash folk to know our place (rightly or wrongly).  Now you're spewing out names of pro coaches that you think are going to reach back to D3?  Who do you think you are?  Honestly.  Jagodzinski...please.  That's more outlandish and without sense of place than anything any Wabash guy said in the last week*. 

Prediction: whoever is next isn't winning 100 in 106 games. 

*One exception...the guy who said Holton Walker > Kumerow was out of his mind.  Kumerow was the superior player...on one leg.  That statement was just silly. 

You're embellishing again. What's with that?  You seem like such a smart guy and one I'd love to have a beer with. But you seem incapable of discussing what was actually said.

I get Wally's point and I agree with it...no way a guy trying to get his foot into the nfl coaching door is going to take a d3 job.

Then again, it's a bit of an exaggeration comparing getting Jeff with some of the NFL coaches Wally listed.

[wally_wabash]

Maybe you guys can trade for Harbaugh.  Rex Ryan is going to be available.  Maybe Tom Coughlin?  He coached in college once. 

Some of your Warhawk guys spent a lot of the last week basically telling us Wabash folk to know our place (rightly or wrongly).  Now you're spewing out names of pro coaches that you think are going to reach back to D3?  Who do you think you are?  Honestly.  Jagodzinski...please.  That's more outlandish and without sense of place than anything any Wabash guy said in the last week*. 

Prediction: whoever is next isn't winning 100 in 106 games. 

*One exception...the guy who said Holton Walker > Kumerow was out of his mind.  Kumerow was the superior player...on one leg.  That statement was just silly. 

You're embellishing again. What's with that?  You seem like such a smart guy and one I'd love to have a beer with. But you seem incapable of discussing what was actually said.

What was actually said was:

His Warhawk career overlapped with Lance, so I'm sure they know each other. Thinking that maybe he'd might want to come home and help out his alma mater. Just my 2 pennies...

And the answer is no.  No he doesn't want to come home and help his alma mater.  This isn't a charity and UWW can't afford Jeff Jagodzinski.   Find out which coordinator isn't going to Buffalo and that's your guy. 

[joelmama]

Just got back from my trip and whoa nelly, a lot has happened.  From the emma brouhaha (no need to reopen that, though I'd like to!!  ) to the Lance thing.  But, though I'm really tired from a lot of flying hours, I wanted to just leave this little tidbit until I can rest up. I'm surprised no one lavished praise on me since I did post this over a month ago to warn you guys that this day was coming - just didn't think during the season:

BTW saw this tweet from Bruce Feldman, Columnist/commentator, FOX Sports on Saturday:

Bruce Feldman @BruceFeldmanCFB     ·  13h 13 hours ago   
Coach who makes a lot of sense for #Buffalo vacancy: Lance Leipold. 8th yr at WISC-Whitewater. Has won 5 D3 national titles & lost 6 games.

With that said, Buffalo AD Danny White lists his search criteria HERE

Does Lance fit the bill?  I think this off-season is going to get real interesting around Warhawk nation...lots of people on pins and needles.  I sort of doubt anything will come of it, since that AD is a Ole Miss guy, but  interesting nonetheless. Feldman seems like another in a long line of national commentators jumping on the Warhawk bandwagon recently.

Feldman knows his ****.  So, I wasn't surprised that this materialized as soon as it did. And obviously with the school being UB, I wasn't  surprise either. What a great opportunity for LL professionally and for his family. After listening to his introductory press conference a few minutes ago, I have no doubt that he has his ducks in a row, has a sound plan and will do so really big things there.  The biggest question mark I have is will all that snow in Buffalo be melted by his first spring practice?  As for his successor?  I read where someone thought the coach at Wabash would be a good fit. Pleeze!! Never heard anything so stupid (the idea not the messenger!! Let's make that crystal clear)...nearly made me vomit. No offense to their guy since I don't know him - but they can keep him - UWW needs to do much better (has nothing to do with being elite - so don't even go down that road) and should do much better than that. Have to go forward in a selection - that would be backward, IMO.  Picking someone on that level would be a major, I mean, major mistake. Wabash style of play doesn't in the slightest way excite me and if they reflect his coaching, which I'm sure they do, doesn't make me feel excited about him. Just the thought of that makes me sicker than eating airplane food for the past two days. But I'm certain that will never happen, so my illness should be short lived. One guy who I always thought might be a good fit is Jeff Jagodzinski, the former Warhawk fullback from West Allis Central HS, HC at Boston College (2 ACC Atlantic Division Championships; coached Matt Ryan; fired for interviewing for the Jets HC position when told not too by his AD), veteran NFL coach including OC with Packers in '06 and current OC at Georgia State University.  He's probably made a boatload of cash in his career, so a bit of a pay cut (OK, a large pay cut) might not be too hard to swallow. His Warhawk career overlapped with Lance, so I'm sure they know each other. Thinking that maybe he'd might want to come home and help out his alma mater. Just my 2 pennies...

"Never heard anything so stupid" as to think someone would take a HUGE cut in pay as well as move down a couple of notch's in College levels to take a job at UWW.  UWW is a great job for d3, but still it is d3.  No matter how much money he has made job progressions for college coachs do not usually go in this direction for a rising star kind of a guy.

[emma17]

Maybe you guys can trade for Harbaugh.  Rex Ryan is going to be available.  Maybe Tom Coughlin?  He coached in college once. 

Some of your Warhawk guys spent a lot of the last week basically telling us Wabash folk to know our place (rightly or wrongly).  Now you're spewing out names of pro coaches that you think are going to reach back to D3?  Who do you think you are?  Honestly.  Jagodzinski...please.  That's more outlandish and without sense of place than anything any Wabash guy said in the last week*. 

Prediction: whoever is next isn't winning 100 in 106 games. 

*One exception...the guy who said Holton Walker > Kumerow was out of his mind.  Kumerow was the superior player...on one leg.  That statement was just silly. 

You're embellishing again. What's with that?  You seem like such a smart guy and one I'd love to have a beer with. But you seem incapable of discussing what was actually said.

What was actually said was:

His Warhawk career overlapped with Lance, so I'm sure they know each other. Thinking that maybe he'd might want to come home and help out his alma mater. Just my 2 pennies...

And the answer is no.  No he doesn't want to come home and help his alma mater.  This isn't a charity and UWW can't afford Jeff Jagodzinski.   Find out which coordinator isn't going to Buffalo and that's your guy.

I insist on liking you no matter how much you refuse to simply acknowledge every once in a while that you get carried away in trying to make a point.
Although not a single person "spewed out names of Pro coaches that would take the UWW job"- the point I think Bobo was raising was for casual discussion.  Would a guy like Jago (he and Lance played on the same team for two or three years), who has a year of pro experience but is in the college ranks, have such a strong connection to his alma mater that he'd consider moving down to D3? 
You are all probably right in that Jago would not actually do it, but it was just a question.  Again, it's more about the emotional reaction of the guy.  I mentioned Nebraska and Lance yesterday and people were in such a hurry to stress how Nebraska would never do that.  Not the point.  Isn't it possible Jago could find something intriguing about coming back to coach his alma mater and try to succeed in keeping the program at an elite level, recognizing full well it might be the death of any advancement dreams he has?

[badgerwarhawk]

I don't think BoBo was doing much more than wishful thinking so relax.  No one actually believes Jeff J will be an applicant.  Now Bill Belichick that's a different story.  If you want to talk serious talk Belichick.   

     

I included winking and smiling guys so you'd realize I wasn't serious when I said Bill Belichick.  Because, you know, it's so hard to tell a person's intention from reading only the words.