FB: American Rivers Conference

[KCDutch]

Waterloo Courier article on Durnin
http://wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/18/news/breaking_news/doc47673994c5280573974497.txt

Following up on the discussion of pay for Head FB coaches, Thompson (Luther's Prez) stated the average head football coach in the IIAC makes $65,000. 

[Norsedad]

thanks for the link Alfred   +k for you

To Heys and Thunderbolt...
If I have said anything to somehow piss you off, ie comments about DB play or the kids choice for coach, it was not my intention.  The 3 kids I talk to regularly get little if any PT and have worked hard to improve their skills and to help the team prepare for games.  All 3 will finish their careers at Luther, for many reasons but for 2 especially.  They all love Luther and all loved playing for Hefty.  And they took very seriously Hefty's parting comment of "Don't any of you transfer after I leave."  However, I know that some kids may choose to transfer....and until they do its just smoke being blown.....because they came to play for Hefty and may go to a school closer to home.  But whatever their reasons, they are their own.  Notice I referred to the players as kids....18 year olds to just barely legal drinking age.  They are kids...making decisions based on their own reasons.

I am a bit disturbed by an undercurrent of belief that the school administration does not value the FB program and sees itself as a music school.  Meaning they are not willing to spend more money of recruiting and coaches.  I know all too well about budgets..and the politics of how they are defined.  Let's hope that that will change if it is true.

As I have said...I did not play college ball...my son is the first in our family to do so.
He could have stayed closer to home and played on lesser teams in lesser conferences. 3 of his HS team mates did and started in in the first or second seasons.  But he choose to come to Luther because of the academics, the facilities, and because of Coach Hefty.  

Enough said.....lets hope that Durnin can whip these guys into shape and bring in some good recruits.  Go Norse!

[doolittledog]

I have two friends who's wives are 2nd and 1st grade teachers, with a master degree and about 15 years experiance.  They make in the neighborhood of 65K with I would imagine a lot less of a work schedule than an IIAC head coach...maybe not.  

I guess as a head coach maybe I could be satisfied with that kind of money but I would think it would be real hard to keep coordinators around for a lot less money.  I know the other coaches are part-timers but I thought the coordinators were usually full time university employees as well.  

[Norsedad]

Good point doolittle......exactly what I was thinking when I read the average salary of IIAC head coaches.  Key word average

[doolittledog]

In a post a few pages back someone said they heard Osterberger went from 45k to 65k when he left BV for Loras.  So assuming 45k is the low end and 65k is the middle ground I would guess 85k would be around the high water mark for a head coach in the IIAC.  Nobody has really been around all that long though so maybe almost all of them are in the 65k range.  Just a guess though. 

Now, can the school say they are paying the coach 65k but then pay him more for teaching a couple of classes during the year???  And can he make some more if he runs some camps???

[Norsedad]

I know Hefty taught classes but I am not sure about money for doing camps.

[Dsquared]

Any predictions for next year's Top 25?  With the Knights not making the post-season, will they get in?  With Central having such a large turnover, will they stay in the top 10 like they should?  Will Mt Union get the top spot even thought UWW pretty well dominated them and deserve at least preseason #1?

Alfred, you headed to CR at all this week?  It is SLOOOW here at Square D!

[Thunderbolt]

 Not in the least, Norsedad. I'm pretty much in agreement with everything you have said. From what I can tell, from a distance, it's a pretty tight knit group of kids that look out for each other. I know i'm very appreciative of how the upper classmen treated my son when he got there. As far as transfers go, there is always going to be some turnover, especially with a coaching change. I'm not so sure they haven't had more transfer in than out the past few years. That could very well be the case again this year. By in large, school becomes their second home, playing time and coaching changes don't change that.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Waterloo Courier article on Durnin
http://wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/18/news/breaking_news/doc47673994c5280573974497.txt

Following up on the discussion of pay for Head FB coaches, Thompson (Luther's Prez) stated the average head football coach in the IIAC makes $65,000. 

Didn't someone say that Miller at Wartburg made $85,000 for wrestling?  I can't imagine that any current IIAC football head coach is making as much as the great Knight grappler head man.  Perhaps Coe's Raeburn would be the closest in football since he has been around longer than others and has had success.

I only seem to hear budget issues related to being competitive with Luther Football and not some of the other Norse programs like wrestling, baseball, etc.  Why is that?  My sense is that the budget problems have been more with the salaries of the assistants rather than anything related to the head coach.  Decorah is also not near a larger metro area like Cedar Rapids/Iowa City to find part time assistants to take some of the position coach jobs.

The article mentioned facilities:

"During the past decade, Luther and the rest of the IIAC have been looking up at Central, Wartburg and Coe -- programs with bigger recruiting budgets, larger coaching staffs and better facilities. Durnin recognizes that."

I have no clue where the facility stuff comes in with this.  I would stack the Luther facilities for athletics or just football in this case against whatever the rest of the league has.  

The only real consistent negative I have heard about facilities for Luther Football is that the press box for the assistant coaches on game day isn't much.

Coe as an example has upgraded their football field with the fake stuff, but they had to since they don't have the facilities and space that the Luther campus has.  Coe has been better in football than Luther in recent years because they have had a better coaching staff overall.  The recruiting stuff may play into it as well, but Luther clearly has a facilities (weight room, practice fields, stadium) advantage on Coe.

It was interesting to see that Coach Durnin already listed what he planned to do on both sides of the ball.  Sometimes people publicly wait on that until they have hired assistants and see what kind of talent is on the roster.  Good article overall.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

I am a bit disturbed by an undercurrent of belief that the school administration does not value the FB program and sees itself as a music school.  Meaning they are not willing to spend more money of recruiting and coaches.  I know all too well about budgets..and the politics of how they are defined.  Let's hope that that will change if it is true.

Football is the only sport that I seem to hear this about on any sort of basis.  Some people think of St. Olaf as a music school, but don't tell that to the baseball or running teams at that school.  Football seems to be pretty strong as well right now up on Northfield.

Luther has a lot of strong sports programs.  Football and Men's Basketball are the main two sports that more success would help the image of the entire athletic department.  Men's Basketball has got a ways to go just to catch up to what Football has been doing.  Both programs could learn some things from the wrestlers.

This hire was very important as was the negotiations about what kind of budget the new coach would have.  Hopefully the school made good choices.

[Pat Coleman]

Did anyone else have a problem with the timing of the Luther announcement. It seemed a little A-Rodesque to me. Could it be that's why D-3 Football has kind of ignored it to this point, I wonder out loud?

We only got a photo, no release, and with D3hoops season in full swing (and my desire to get more than five and a half hours of sleep) tracking down a release was low on my priority list. Sorry.

[Alfredeneumann]

Norsedad,
I would put Luther wrestling above men's basketball. Wrestling has been top 5 nationally for several years. Also women's b-ball made elite 8 last year. But give the Wartburg man some time and b-ball will be top 1/2 of conference.

[Thunderbolt]

 One last thought on Hefty, then I'm ready to put the past behind me and support the new regime. Norsedad, you eluded to it earlier. He did a great job of making everyone on the roster an important part of the team. ( Don't quote my numbers )Of the 28 Seniors this year, roughly half were starting, several more contributed on special teams and several others never played on Saturdays. He never missed a chance to let those players and anyone else that would listen, know how valuable these kids were to the team. It not only speaks to the character of these players, but to Hefty also.

[Norsedad]

Floyd...I cant really say other than it is something I heard from the kids and many of the conversations I over heard while high atop Carlson Stadium in what I call the crow's nest.  Most of those people cared little about the football game or progam and that was reflected in what they were saying and talking about.  Mostly about the Music program.  It is true that those most interested in football were in the stands or at the south end of the field...but I can tell you some of the conversations were quite telling.  Homecoming was a real eye opener.  These people had no interest in the game.  When I go back to see a game at ISU Im there to see football...no matter how good or bad ISU is.  Sure I go and see the campus and see is any of my old Philosophy profs are there but I am there to see football.  That was not the agenda of those people at homecoming.  My point is that Luther is sooooooo close and if the kids have the impression ( founded or not) that they are not valued...whether by quality of coaches....or the money they need  for competition.  That needs to change.

I agree that Luther's facilities...space and weight room and otherwise are better than most in the IIAC.  I was on all the campus's except BV, Simpson and Central this year.  

As to the wrestlers...I played on HS football teams that included 5 players that were state champs in wrestling.  But the football team won only about 7 games in 4 years.  Different sport with different skills.  2 or 3 great wrestlers can make a team....not so in football.  Norse football fans know this to be painfully true from the past 2 years.

[Thunderbolt]

Did anyone else have a problem with the timing of the Luther announcement. It seemed a little A-Rodesque to me. Could it be that's why D-3 Football has kind of ignored it to this point, I wonder out loud?

We only got a photo, no release, and with D3hoops season in full swing (and my desire to get more than five and a half hours of sleep) tracking down a release was low on my priority list. Sorry.

That was a little tongue in cheek. Great job on the play-by-play Saturday, and thanks for bringing us another great season.