FB: American Rivers Conference

[Norsedad]

Did he scare some people in the hiring committee by how intense and football driven he seemed to be?  I was hearing crappy questions about whether he would be a "good fit for the school."  As long as he was going to win within the rules and be professional in how he dealt with people, he was a good enough of a fit for me!



what other crappy questions did you hear???

[doolittledog]

I wonder if over the top meant telling players he would be bringing in recruits that were better than them???  It's one thing to tell players no starting spots are secure and you have to win your starting spot because he will be bringing in some good talent.  It's another to tell the returning players you will bring in better players.  That's not respecting the talent that is currently there.  

Another thing about Zweifel, he was the heir apparent at Whitewater and the administration found reason not to hire him last year.  It makes you wonder why they didn't hire him when he had been there forever.  

[Norsedad]

good point doolittledog

[Thunderbolt]

 I think this is a nice fit for the Norse. The Norse always get a few players from sw. Wi.- se. Minn- and n. Ill, hopefully he can expand on that. Not the splash they would have gotten with coach Z. But still an excellent hire. It will be interesting to see if he brings in a new O. Cordinater and what other changes might be coming.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Norsedad,

There was a lot of unnerved stuff I was hearing related to the assistants.  Would they be back next year?  How hard would they have to work in the film room and in recruiting?

I can understand being very concerned about keeping your job, but it bothers me if some of the assistants went for Durnin more than Zweifel because they didn't want to "break down film like a scholarship program."

Everyone involved with Norse Football should want what is best for the program even if it not always completely in their own best interest.  A structured environment in which an experienced successful coach is demanding hard work should be what athletes and assistant coaches want when they sign up to be a part of college football.

[Klopenhiemer]

Norsedad,

There was a lot of unnerved stuff I was hearing related to the assistants.  Would they be back next year?  How hard would they have to work in the film room and in recruiting?

I can understand being very concerned about keeping your job, but it bothers me if some of the assistants went for Durnin more than Zweifel because they didn't want to "break down film like a scholarship program."

Everyone involved with Norse Football should want what is best for the program even if it not always completely in their own best interest.  A structured environment in which an experienced successful coach is demanding hard work should be what athletes and assistant coaches want when they sign up to be a part of college football.

This is something that seperates the men from the boys.  Now if he did seem the hier apperant to UWW and did not get hired then I do quesiton why they found a reason not to hire him. 
Telling a current player that you want a coach who will go out and recruit talent that is better than you can be taken two ways.  One better talent makes you a better player because you get pushed.  It also can ruffle feathers and loose a coach points in a vote off.  Might have been what happend. 

[Klopenhiemer]

any news on luther? How about the staff at simpson?

My sources report that Lounsberry is out, the new head coach brought an OC with him.  Don't know his name.
At this point, all other coaches still on staff (as far as we know, they've been out recruiting....)

Whats the deal with Lounsberry, wasnt this a high profile deal when he came back to Simpson?  Does the majority not like him, or what is the deal with him.  I know this might be a question that might require 8 pages of explanation so the cliff notes version would be outstanding if you can give any information. 

I don't know for sure what actually happened - whether it was just a case of the head coach bringing in his own guy or if there was more to it.  My personal opinion - now that he's gone and my kids are done I'll speak a little more freely - he was very arrogant and even though he had an impressive resume on paper, if you dig deeper it was deceiving.  Game in and game out his play calling was bad.  The kids also did not like or (more importantly) respect him - regardless of whether they played offense or defense.  I think it would have been a bad situation if he had gotten the head job and from what I heard, the returning players voiced that.   Niemann was a class act but in my opinion Lounsberry does not fall in that category.  I will never bad mouth Simpson football as my kids both had a great experience there but a change was needed and from the sounds of it, the new staff will be a positive thing. 

Didnt Lounsberry leave South Carolina for the Simpson coordinator job?  If he did not leave there then please clarify.  If he did that seems very fishy. 

[Thunderbolt]

 Floyd, I will admit to hoping it was Z. also. Having said that, I certainly was not privy to anything related to the hiring process, including who interviewed better. I do know that in this day and age of political correctness, there would be kids that would have problems dealing with his intensity. My son was fortunate enough to play for an (old school) coach, who you could fry an egg on his forehead, for two hours before and after practice. Again, I have no way of knowing if that even entereed into the equation.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

I wonder if over the top meant telling players he would be bringing in recruits that were better than them???  It's one thing to tell players no starting spots are secure and you have to win your starting spot because he will be bringing in some good talent.  It's another to tell the returning players you will bring in better players.  That's not respecting the talent that is currently there.  

Another thing about Zweifel, he was the heir apparent at Whitewater and the administration found reason not to hire him last year.  It makes you wonder why they didn't hire him when he had been there forever.  

From what I heard he wasn't trying to tell them that they weren't good enough to play for him but rather that he was going to try and upgrade the depth and try to find the best football players he could.

It is a legit question about why he didn't get the Whitewater job!  The current Whitewater coach was a UW-W alum who played football for the retired coach.  Before getting the job, he was coordinator as a very successful Nebraska-Omaha program, but Zweifel had head coaching experience and lots of North Central Conference experience as a coordinator at Northern Colorado and Mankato.

Durnin worked under Zweifel at Mankato and at Yankton College.  A current member of the Whitewater staff not only worked with Zweifel at Whitewater but also worked under him at UM-Morris.

We went with the guy who has never been a head coach and was at a successful program instead of the guy who has been a head coach, was at a more successful program, and used to be the boss of the man we hired!

I hope the final selection was wise and for the right reasons.  It shouldn't be about the splash but rather how good the coach is.

[doolittledog]

Good post Floyd.

It is interesting how the Luther hire was working under the guy who finished in second place for a good part of their careers.  In the end, we weren't a part of the hiring process.  I guess we just have to assume the Luther search committee found the man that will be the best fit for the school.  Luther is successfull in many sports, no reason to assume they can't be at the top of the conference for football as well. 

[Klopenhiemer]

I wonder if over the top meant telling players he would be bringing in recruits that were better than them???  It's one thing to tell players no starting spots are secure and you have to win your starting spot because he will be bringing in some good talent.  It's another to tell the returning players you will bring in better players.  That's not respecting the talent that is currently there.  

Another thing about Zweifel, he was the heir apparent at Whitewater and the administration found reason not to hire him last year.  It makes you wonder why they didn't hire him when he had been there forever.  

From what I heard he wasn't trying to tell them that they weren't good enough to play for him but rather that he was going to try and upgrade the depth and try to find the best football players he could.

It is a legit question about why he didn't get the Whitewater job!  The current Whitewater coach was a UW-W alum who played football for the retired coach.  Before getting the job, he was coordinator as a very successful Nebraska-Omaha program, but Zweifel had head coaching experience and lots of North Central Conference experience as a coordinator at Northern Colorado and Mankato.

Durnin worked under Zweifel at Mankato and at Yankton College.  A current member of the Whitewater staff not only worked with Zweifel at Whitewater but also worked under him at UM-Morris.

We went with the guy who has never been a head coach and was at a successful program instead of the guy who has been a head coach, was at a more successful program, and used to be the boss of the man we hired!

I hope the final selection was wise and for the right reasons.  It shouldn't be about the splash but rather how good the coach is.

FIC..Nice post.  I think you brought up some great points. 

Think about this.  He leaves UWW and they win a national title.  Just something to chew on and keep the board moving

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Floyd, I will admit to hoping it was Z. also. Having said that, I certainly was not privy to anything related to the hiring process, including who interviewed better. I do know that in this day and age of political correctness, there would be kids that would have problems dealing with his intensity. My son was fortunate enough to play for an (old school) coach, who you could fry an egg on his forehead, for two hours before and after practice. Again, I have no way of knowing if that even entereed into the equation.

Nothing wrong with an old school coach, especially someone that everyone respects.  I hear guys like Tom Brands say that both Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz are very old school even though most fans would never know it.

I will let this go eventually, but this was not the clear decision that I was thinking it would have been about a week ago or so.

I also liked someone else better when they hired the baseball coach several years ago, but that has worked out better than most would have thought at the time.  Interestingly, in that hiring process they selected an alumni in Gillogly with previous head coaching experience over someone that was a great Norse player who was a 7th round draft choice and also had been an assistant coach at Luther, the University of Minnesota, and one of the Dakota schools.

Hopefully Coach Durnin brings in a very good staff and is able to recruit and get the program moving forward again.  There is still talent there, but we need to see the program moving closer to making the most of what they have ala the Dutch.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Good post Floyd.

It is interesting how the Luther hire was working under the guy who finished in second place for a good part of their careers.  In the end, we weren't a part of the hiring process.  I guess we just have to assume the Luther search committee found the man that will be the best fit for the school.  Luther is successfull in many sports, no reason to assume they can't be at the top of the conference for football as well. 

I also think it shows in both a positive and negative way that Zweifel and Durnin perhaps weren't as different as they may have interviewed.  Both played college football on the offensive side, and they must have worked together well enough for a time that Durnin was willing to follow Zweifel from Mankato to Yankton before the college closed.

Both have lots of experience, although Zweifel was older and had more head experience.  Durnin has experience on both sides of the ball but wasn't a head man.  He also got out of coaching for some years before getting back in.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

I wonder if over the top meant telling players he would be bringing in recruits that were better than them???  It's one thing to tell players no starting spots are secure and you have to win your starting spot because he will be bringing in some good talent.  It's another to tell the returning players you will bring in better players.  That's not respecting the talent that is currently there.  

Another thing about Zweifel, he was the heir apparent at Whitewater and the administration found reason not to hire him last year.  It makes you wonder why they didn't hire him when he had been there forever.  

It is a legit question about why he didn't get the Whitewater job!  The current Whitewater coach was a UW-W alum who played football for the retired coach.  Before getting the job, he was coordinator as a very successful Nebraska-Omaha program, but Zweifel had head coaching experience and lots of North Central Conference experience as a coordinator at Northern Colorado and Mankato.

Durnin worked under Zweifel at Mankato and at Yankton College.  A current member of the Whitewater staff not only worked with Zweifel at Whitewater but also worked under him at UM-Morris.

FIC..Nice post.  I think you brought up some great points. 

Think about this.  He leaves UWW and they win a national title.  Just something to chew on and keep the board moving

Jim Zalesky won three national team titles after Dan Gable retired in 1997.  Sometimes it takes a few years before knowing how good of a coach someone is.

Jim Zalesky is a good man and a good wrestling coach, but those three national titles had a lot to do with Dan Gable and the work Jimmy Z did as an assistant under Dan.  I like what I have been seeing lately under Tom Brands.

[Klopenhiemer]

One thing to think about is the level of shake up that this might cause.  The UWW guy might have cleaned house on the assistants and brought in all new blood.  Might have been the way to go.  Maybe the UWLC man will retain assistants and work with them.  Maybe he feels like he needs to honor their committment to the program thus far.  
I have seen this before when the administration gets all jelly ankled on making a big decision.  They make the decision that will cause the least about of turmoil and transition.  This isnt always the road that you want to head down.  Just another point of view.  Oh wait I forgott, they always spin this in a way that it looks to be the best move for the program.