FB: American Rivers Conference

[Klopenhiemer]

Can anyone tell me why the burg take their Roster off the web so soon and does any of the other schools do that. 

Coach Willis always told us it is taken off right after the season is over and the final team meeting is done because this year is over with.  Time to look to next year.  There will be a banquet where the seniors and other players can be honored...but once the returners get back from break it's time for workouts and preparing to try and take back the IIAC title.

I just puked in my mouth a little while reading that. Don't tell me you actually fell for that garbage. Wartburg's roster removal is nothing but a recruiting ploy. You can't maintain a roster of 150 without it.

Thats what I was saying.  Why do teams like BV an Cornell have their rosters up all year long.  Wartburg wrestling does this as well.  Two great programs who you could argue are over recruited. 

[doolittledog]

I think high school teachers have a big influence in school selection as well.  Sounds like Warthog had a mother that taught and would steer kids towards DBQ at times.  There is a teacher...and tennis coach at La Porte that is a BV grad and most years 2 or 3 kids from LPC head over to BV.  While I was at UD we would get 3 or 4 kids every year from the same high school in Atlanta because there was a popular teacher there that was a UD grad.  Same thing for the New Orleans area.  There was a former UD basketball player that would tell New Oleans kids about UD...unfortunatly when coach Davison left and then ended up over at Clarke those New Orleans kids then started going to Clarke.  I guess the alums loyalties were more with Davison and not UD!!!

Anybody out there either choose or at least seriously consider a school because of a high school teacher???

[Klopenhiemer]

I think high school teachers have a big influence in school selection as well.  Sounds like Warthog had a mother that taught and would steer kids towards DBQ at times.  There is a teacher...and tennis coach at La Porte that is a BV grad and most years 2 or 3 kids from LPC head over to BV.  While I was at UD we would get 3 or 4 kids every year from the same high school in Atlanta because there was a popular teacher there that was a UD grad.  Same thing for the New Orleans area.  There was a former UD basketball player that would tell New Oleans kids about UD...unfortunatly when coach Davison left and then ended up over at Clarke those New Orleans kids then started going to Clarke.  I guess the alums loyalties were more with Davison and not UD!!!

Anybody out there either choose or at least seriously consider a school because of a high school teacher???

I wish I would have had a teacher steer me in a direction.  The only information I found out was on my own.  Everytime I entered the office to pick up information they wanted to cram Iowa, UNI, and ISU down your throat.  I remember at a junior year meeting they placed the enterance standards for the big three so everyone knew who to achieve this.  What about the kids who wanted nothing to do with it.  Oh wait, they had a Central College poster in the hallway.

[dutchfan1]

I've got an interesting question to pose to everyone:

Which IIAC school would have been your 2nd choice to attend, if you couldn't have went to the one you did?  Why was it your 2nd choice, and what was the factor that made you go where you did?  

I considered both Loras and UNI. I didn't go to Wartburg because it would have been like repeating high school for me -- there are too many West Delaware people there. Honestly, though, the minute I set foot on campus at Central, I knew that I wouldn't be going anywhere else -- so all other considerations ended during my Junior year of HS.

[DutchFan2004]

Not to nit pick Doolittle but you mean four peat dont you. 

Ok, you got me.  Four peat...or should it be quad peat???

How about this, just tell me there aren't any more little Connells out there ready to play at Central so Spartan Nation can rest a little easier at night.  Still having nightmares of 4th down completions sending the game into OT...the horror...the horror!!! 
[/quote]


Well I hate to break the news to you but in about 15-16 years from now there could be two more wear the Central Red.  I have two grandsons and they both love to play football with their dad and uncles.  Could spell trouble but there will be a few years of rest for the IIAC from Connells.  

[dutchfan1]

Ok, conference questions...since I don't really feel like doing anymore work today...

What will be the conference standings for next season?

Who will Luther hire for their new coach?

Who is your schools rival and why is your school better than them?

Any schools have a coach on the hot seat?

Which teams improve next year?

Which teams take a step back next year?

Which teams stay right where they were next year?

Conference Standings: Central - Wartburg - Luther - UD - Coe - BV - Loras - Simpson - Cornell

Luther's new coach could and should be one of the UWW staff members. (Good call by whoever had said that earlier!)

Central is better than Simpson because..... (man, this is going to take a while -- I may need to revisit this one....) 

Coaches in the hot seat -- I doubt it.

Improve -- probably Luther. They are on the cusp of greatness, and their coaching hire will be key. I don't think we will see immediate results, but within the next couple of years, I could see them being a force within the conference.

Step Back -- UD's coaching staff will be tested with graduation -- I still have them near the top, though. I think they will rebound quickly.

Staying right where they are -- CENTRAL. Go Dutch!

[Klopenhiemer]

200th Post!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HoosierinIowa]

Ok, conference questions...since I don't really feel like doing anymore work today...

What will be the conference standings for next season?

Who will Luther hire for their new coach?

Who is your schools rival and why is your school better than them?

Any schools have a coach on the hot seat?

Which teams improve next year?

Which teams take a step back next year?

Which teams stay right where they were next year?

1) Central,Wartburg, Coe are my top three after that I don't know.
2) Don't know.
3) Central's current rival is Wartburg. To us a wealth analogy Central football is old money like the Rockefellers'. Wartburg is new money like Donald Trump.
4) Wartburg's should be. Willis was a great coach. I'm just glad he wasn't coaching Wartburg this year.
5) Simpson. I think they have some potential. Maybe they just need to hear a different voice.
6) UD can't be as good as they were with all the talent they lost.
7) Luther, BV, Loras, Cornell.

[DutchFan2004]

200th Post!!!!!!!!!!!!

+k for the 200th and getting the power

[sportsknight]

I just puked in my mouth a little while reading that. Don't tell me you actually fell for that garbage. Wartburg's roster removal is nothing but a recruiting ploy. You can't maintain a roster of 150 without it.

Thats what I was saying.  Why do teams like BV an Cornell have their rosters up all year long.  Wartburg wrestling does this as well.  Two great programs who you could argue are over recruited. 

I thought all rosters were taken off the Go-Knights site at some point following the end of the season, but I see that the baseball and softball ones are still up from last year.  In the past, the football roster has come down for a couple days to get the seniors take off of it, and then went back up.  If they're keeping it down now, that's something that has changed within the past two years.

And lets take it easy on the conspiracy theories here fellas.  If there were recruits out there that would base their decision on what they see from a school's online roster, I doubt that recruit is really worth his salt anyway.  If it were me, I'd be looking for the kid that wants to beat out those 130 other guys for playing time.  I'd be looking for the kid that chooses a school because he wants to win a championship.  And I'd be looking for the kid that wants a school where he feels like he is in the right spot, even if he doesn't decide to stick with football down the road.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

I don't want to look at last year's rosters and I am ready for the 2008 schedules.  Since some one has probably checked them all already, are there any interesting non-conference games?

[TheOne89.1]

Can anyone tell me why the burg take their Roster off the web so soon and does any of the other schools do that. 

Coach Willis always told us it is taken off right after the season is over and the final team meeting is done because this year is over with.  Time to look to next year.  There will be a banquet where the seniors and other players can be honored...but once the returners get back from break it's time for workouts and preparing to try and take back the IIAC title.

I just puked in my mouth a little while reading that. Don't tell me you actually fell for that garbage. Wartburg's roster removal is nothing but a recruiting ploy. You can't maintain a roster of 150 without it.

Maybe it was a nice way of hiding the recruiting ploy to the returners, but as a player it was nice to know the staff wasn't looking back on the past.  Makes sense, those graduating seniors are just a part of the tradition now.  The captains for next year are selected and it's time to focus your workouts to next season...and avoid another breakdown like the loss to Augsburg.

[DBQ1965]

fannosaurus rex ...

Only Simpson and UD have 2008 schedules posted so far.  Simpson opens with Grand View and then plays Northwestern (Minnesota).  UD opens with Rockford and the next week is TBA.

[DutchFan2004]

Ok, conference questions...since I don't really feel like doing anymore work today...

What will be the conference standings for next season?

Who will Luther hire for their new coach?

Who is your schools rival and why is your school better than them?

Any schools have a coach on the hot seat?

Which teams improve next year?

Which teams take a step back next year?

Which teams stay right where they were next year?

1)  Wartburg has to be the favorite in my book with all the returning players.  Having said that it takes me to #4.  If any coach is on the hot seat IMO its Koehler.  Not that he is but would be the only one I can see.  Two near misses and two big let downs that cost him a spot in the playoffs.  I don't think he is on or will be on the hot seat I am just saying that he is as close of one that the IIAC has.  


2)  I am not in the loop on this and have no idea.

3) I think Simpson because of the proximity to Pella.  Why is Central better than Simpson I would guess it has something to do with the number of conference championships won and how many times we have been to the playoffs.  

5) I would look for Simpson to maybe improve in the IIAC standings and if Wartburg is the favorite I would look for them to improve their standing as well.  If Wartburg does claim an IIAC title by that fact Central will move down.  I think that Wartburg, Central, and Coe will be in the race for #1 same as in years past.  Coe did a great job of replacing key players they lost so I look for that trend to continue.  I also think that the Central coaches will replace their losses and compete for the top spot as well.  

6)  I echo the sentiment that UD may take a step back having to replace a huge amount of the offensive output that they lose to graduation.  

7) With the top three being the same I think it is a battle for the next 6 to find their spot.  I think Luther has the toughest time replacing the RB and Lineman they lost.  I the last two years Luther as well as UD now has the biggest holes to fill.  Not that Central does not have some huge ones to fill  I just think that the coaching change at Luther has something to do with that and UD has not proved it can reload yet.  

[dutchfan1]

I think it's interesting that Coe is consistently thought of as part of the top tier in the conference. Looking back, the last 5 years have shown that they are not quite at the "contender" level in my mind.  Check it out:

2003 - Coe went 5-5, losses to Simpson, Luther, Wartburg, BV and Loras
2004 - Coe went 7-3, losses to UD, Wartburg
2005 - Coe went 9-2, conf loss to Wartburg
2006 - Coe went 7-3, losses to Central, Wartburg and Loras
2007 - Coe went 7-3, losses to UD, Wartburg and Central

As I am looking at this, it strikes me that outside an outstanding 2005 season, which included a playoff appearance, Coe is consistently defeated by Wartburg and UD. I guess I'm wondering how people lump Coe in with the conference contenders every year when they continue to struggle with the same foes.

Thoughts?

Sorry -- not trying to offend any Coe fans here -- this is an honest question.