FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[MasterJedi]

For those that didn't DVR them, the last two Stagg Bowls are online!

2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_czPqfH-eo
2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QssiJNS9odk

[footballfan413]

Congrats to the 2014 National Champions WARHARKS, and, especially, the outgoing seniors!  You were stellar!   I admit to being a little nervous about this game but you all showed the heart of a champion with your incredible composure, terrific play and grit and determination to not be denied!  The way the team withstood Mounts comeback run the second half was incredibly impressive!  Now the program faces a new look with the 2015 coaching staff and its future success is a little more up in the air than it has been since 07. A reminder to myself and all that we broke through to the national level a full 2 years before LL took over the reins of, an already, terrific, high achieving and accomplished program and I fully expect it to continue after he is gone.  Frankly, I am more nervous about replacing Brian!      "Tradition never graduates," and the staff that we are losing is leaving behind a program whose success is bigger than any one individual!  Thanks to the Lance, Brian and Co., for everything you have done for WARHAWK football and best of luck as you move on to new challenges and adventures!  You all will be missed!  GO BULLS!   

[NewHawk]

We just got back from Salem late last night and I just got to my computer.  I have to say since it was our first time over, the people of Salem are great hosts.  Everywhere we went people were gracious and seemed to be excited to have the game there.  During the game the locals who came just to see a football game really got into it and joined the U-dub-dub cheers.  Several stopped us to thank us for coming to Salem.  I have been to D1 bowl games and I can truly say that Salem is a much better fan host. 
That being said, the game was great and I cannot say enough about Marcus McLin, I really think he was the MVP.  The whole defense really stood up and played awesome.  The offense was on target and played well, Behrendt played like the champion he is and I am glad he went out a winner.  Even when they got behind it never felt like they were going to lose.  I was to focused on the players celebration to keep up with Curly and the handshake.  I can't wait until next year!

[emma17]

Congrats to Whitewater. What a great game. You guys just showed tons of championship poise over the stretch run. Every time you were down or the opponent took momentum, your guys didn't blink. Very impressive.

And LL, wow, so impressed. His coaching, preparation, motivation of the players, in game adjustments, the quality/loyalty of his staff, were all just really impressive. And everything I've seen in terms of interviews just leaves me highly impressed by him as a man. Seems to have great character and integrity. Hope he does well and makes a Kelley type progression all the way to a  top Power 5 program.

As for the VK non-handshake and Burke not at the press conference.

None of us have any idea what was going through VK's head. When LL ran over to him, he didn't seem at all hesitant in shaking his hand and offering congrats. I'm gonna give him the benefit of a doubt and assume he was just giving LL and the Warhawks room to celebrate together.

As for Kevin Burke, I don't hold it against him one bit that he wasn't at the presser. Watching him on the bench at the end of the game, you could see he was just crushed. He threw 4 picks and had what he'd probably consider the worst game of his career. And it was the last game of his career. He's never going to put on a uniform again. Any former D3 player can relate to that. It's especially hard when it happens in the playoffs. It hurts so much. So the guy doesn't go to the press conference. Big deal, he's not a pro player getting millions, with a requirement to do his media time.

I get that the journalists want to get comments and accentuate their coverage, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't take anything away from Burke's no-show. To be honest, anyone seriously peeved at him has probably never competed at a high level or experienced heartbreak after pouring your soul into the pursuit of something, only to fall short.

One of my all time favorite quotes by Teddy Roosevelt seems apropos here:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

HB, that TR quote has been my favorite for a long time.  I don't however, think it applies here.
Kevin Burke is a great competitor and proved to be a tremendous leader for Mt.  Of course there is no doubt he was crushed by the loss.

Although I've never QB'd a team to the Stagg Bowl 3 times, as a man I do know about regret.  Unfortunately for Kevin, I believe in due time he will regret his decision to not attend the presser.  I don't think any less of him, but the right thing to do was to attend the presser, and I'm sad for him that he'll likely regret that decision.   

[BoBo]

Nice emma +k

At least one person understands...

[BoBo]

 Jake Kummerow on NFL.com

[footballfan413]

I have a question and maybe Pat can answer it.   Why was Burke, the losing QB, suppose to appear at the presser anyway?   Is this new because in 05-07, I believe, only the winning players were interviewed after the game.  I confirmed that with one of the interviewees from the 07 game. 

[gren]

I have a question and maybe Pat can answer it.   Why was Burke, the losing QB, suppose to appear at the presser anyway?   Is this new because in 05-07, I believe, only the winning players were interviewed after the game.  I confirmed that with one of the interviewees from the 07 game. 

Sometimes we have to look heartache in the face and man up as much as this country wants to make us all a winner life does not work that way.

[bulk19]

RE - postgame press conference:

I happen to live in a WIAC school city (not Whitewater), which ran a recap about Friday's game; it was a lengthy 24-paragraph AP story - probably more than the little blurbs most papers serving D3 cities ran. The AP story, however, did not contain a single quote from any coach or player who participated in that game, win or lose, so the blurbs that ran across the country didn't either...

Thus, although perhaps the Mount Union fans would have liked to have heard from Kevin Burke, I doubt anything he would have said would have made it into any printed stories, but for the one filed by the Mount Union reporter...

Probably 99% of D3 fans would not have known Burke did not attend the press conference either, but for the silly tweet from the MJS reporter, which was then posted here. I'd be willing to bet the majority of D3 fans cut Burke some slack, and don't feel we needed to hear from him...

So, I question as to why the MJS reporter needed to call Burke out? He quoted the two head coaches, and his story had plenty of quotes from Warharks players, who are the ones MJS readers more than likely wanted to hear from, since that coverage was geared for Warhawks fans...

To not hear from Burke (yeah, right, Mr. MJS reporter. Like you were really going to use a quote from Burke in the limited amount of space you had for your story, right? Sorry, I'm calling your bluff. *) and then tweet about it is pretty classless. Burke's two Gagliardi Trophies trump any petty complaint from an MJS reporter who is whining about being snubbed...

D3 Football may have a different take on this situation; that would be understandable... As might ESPN, which probably had the press conference live, and wanted to put Burke under the spotlight after a tough loss... But, and this further proves my point - I didn't watch the game - didn't even have access to it - and probably wouldn't have watched the presser afterwards, even if I would have tuned in for the game...

*MJS reporter? Why don't you tweet out the questions you wanted to ask Burke that you feel would have added vital information to your story?

[02 Warhawk]

Frankly, I don't really care that he didn't come out. I wouldn't want to talk to the media either if I was him. answering dumb questions like: what he feals like losing his last game. What he could have done differently, etc...

[Pat Coleman]

I have a question and maybe Pat can answer it.   Why was Burke, the losing QB, suppose to appear at the presser anyway?   Is this new because in 05-07, I believe, only the winning players were interviewed after the game.  I confirmed that with one of the interviewees from the 07 game. 

Sometimes we have to look heartache in the face and man up as much as this country wants to make us all a winner life does not work that way.

Players from both teams are slated to appear if requested by the media. I don't have my audio archives from 2005-07 handy but I would be very surprised if no players were at the news conference.

For example, Keith McMillan quotes Micheli, Kmic and Kostelink in this 2007 story (although he could have gotten some of this from the locker room):
http://www.d3football.com/playoffs/2007/mount-union-reign-washed-out

Trying to track down any of our audio archives from the old server.

[BoBo]

I knew it was a controversial thing to bring up when I saw it.  But, it's awful to see how a simple question has inspired such negativity in so many of you.  I'm not talking about those man or women enough to post a comment. But the DOZENS of you who simply dish out the -K without commenting. But, I'd do it again because it is important.

bulk19 it's not about getting your quote in the paper or not - that has nothing to do with it, dude, you just don't get it. Why are they streaming the news conference online? Are they doing all reporters around the globe a favor? It's for the fans watching/listening to hear directly from the combatants. I haven't seen the article the MJS reporter wrote, if he wrote one and I'm not going out of my way to see it either. Plus, I watched the game and can watch the replay, why do I have to read an AP story written by someone who wasn't even at the game to tell me what happened? I assume you watched the game to? Why would you waste your precious time reading something you didn't have to?

02 Warhawk, it has nothing to do with answering a bunch of dumb questions - the questions are just as dumb if you win (sometimes dumb, dumber, dumbest) - and he would've been there if that had happened. Now if the coach didn't show up, I couldn't care - how many times did he have to say I'm proud of my team to realize he's proud of his team? I personally want to hear from the players - what is so wrong with that? Did any of you hear Jake Kummerow after the game talking with the D3 guy on the field? That was the kind of stuff that is neat to hear - and complimentary...and if players don't speak, or get a chance to speak and we fans don't listen, we miss out on the rest of the story.

Only emma17 seems to get it!!   

[bulk19]

Jeesh, Bobo... not only are you an expert on football, but I guess you're an expert on journalism and reporting, too. Who would have thought???
PS... I didn't waste my time watching the game; had you been able to comprehend what I posted, you would have read that...
Carry on...

[@d3jason]

Did anyone else catch the comment by LL directed towards Mike Drass at Wesley?  Is there any context to it? 

I'm going to assume it had something to do with Coach Drass saying Whitewater couldn't beat MUC this season?  Anyone?

Missed that comment but Drass said whoever played Mount would get their asses kicked. If Wesley wants to get to the next level they need to get rid of him, team panicked and imploded after getting behind.

Don't want to dump on Wesley on a celebration day, but it's easy dumping on them because they are such a dumpster fire. The most over-hyped team in the D3 landscape. I hope the D3football.com staff begin to realize this and stop their man crush on them.

Hey there -- I know you only pay attention when Wesley plays UWW but I think you still need to look at the last two Wesley trips to Alliance before this year and understand where the rest of Division III's recent respect for Wesley comes from. Wesley plays other games, too.

Wrong...but...

If you know Mike, it was probably a joke. The guy has taken his team to the final four six times in 10 years and lost to UWW and UMU just like everyone else in DIII. If you compare the advantages UWW (and just about every other TopDIII program) has over Wesley in facilities, what he's done there is amazing.

I think the bad blood may go back to UWW's visit to Dover in 2010 when LL spent most of his time bitching about said facilities.

[MasterJedi]

Did anyone else catch the comment by LL directed towards Mike Drass at Wesley?  Is there any context to it? 

I'm going to assume it had something to do with Coach Drass saying Whitewater couldn't beat MUC this season?  Anyone?

Missed that comment but Drass said whoever played Mount would get their asses kicked. If Wesley wants to get to the next level they need to get rid of him, team panicked and imploded after getting behind.

Don't want to dump on Wesley on a celebration day, but it's easy dumping on them because they are such a dumpster fire. The most over-hyped team in the D3 landscape. I hope the D3football.com staff begin to realize this and stop their man crush on them.

Hey there -- I know you only pay attention when Wesley plays UWW but I think you still need to look at the last two Wesley trips to Alliance before this year and understand where the rest of Division III's recent respect for Wesley comes from. Wesley plays other games, too.

Wrong...but...

If you know Mike, it was probably a joke. The guy has taken his team to the final four six times in 10 years and lost to UWW and UMU just like everyone else in DIII. If you compare the advantages UWW (and just about every other TopDIII program) has over Wesley in facilities, what he's done there is amazing.

I think the bad blood may go back to UWW's visit to Dover in 2010 when LL spent most of his time bitching about said facilities.

Probably goes back to 05/06. In 05 supposedly UWW told Wesley to use the wrong shoes before the game started and then came out in different shoes for the game after testing the turf. Then after 06 Wesley complained about the cannon and got it banned from postseason play after hearing to way too much for their liking the last two years. Then UWW having to go to Wesley for the semifinals doesn't help lol