FB: American Rivers Conference

[footballfan413]

I just want to congratulate the UD program and fans on a terrific hire.  I see from reading some of the posts that there is some concern for the previous staff and knowing nothing of the background I will only talk about what I do know.  Coach Z is one of the hardest working, enthusiastic, knowledgable, best recruiting coaches I know.  His talk about retaining players has to do with his strong and correct views that while recruiting a talented freshman with promise is the first step, the pay-off results from putting them on the field when they are 21-22 year old men.  He doesn't just get you to show up freshman year and move on.  He re-recuits every year, pays attention to the players parents and family understanding that at D-3 level, the fact is, these boys play for free.  They are free to move on at any time and in order to develop great players, you must keep them around.  I can attest to the fact that many, many of the players on the national championship teams at UWW the last 3 years were Z's boys.  Names like, Beaver, Kleppe, Stanley, Schmidt, Raebel, Sakallaris and Jacobs to name just a few.  He knows talent, puts the full court press on them and knows how keep them in a program.  With Coach Z, football is always fun!  He knows how to build a program and take it to the next level.  He didn't do it alone at UWW, of course, but was an absolute integral part of assembling the talent that took our program to an elite level.  The new facilities will give him the carrot and as a head coach, which is what I believe has been his goal for years,  and a supportive administration, the sky is the limit for the Spartans.  If you give him time and support, I see nothing but good things ahead for your program with Coach Z at the helm!    Good luck to him and the UD program.

[sportsknight]

According to weather radar, the storm has moved beyond Iowa ... but the snow is still coming down in Michigan ... and should stop by late this afternoon ... maybe.

Any snow totals from Dubuque, La Porte City, or elsewhere?

I have no idea how much snow we got.  I will have to look that up.  What I do know so far is there are areas of my driveway I can see gravel...and areas of my driveway with drifts over 6 ft high.  

KWWL's website says 9 inches in Waterloo and 13 in Cedar Falls.  I think we got about 12 at my place right along the border of the two cities.  Talked to my folks in Cascade earlier this morning and they said about 8 inches over that way.  Based on that, I'd guess Dubuque is somewhere in that 8-13 ballpark as well.

[doolittledog]

Meanwhile Purple Heys is in San Diego saying to himself "This hot tub I designed sure is cool, I think I'll try it out for a little bit.  Sure is nice that it's 75 degrees and sunny outside right now" 

[Willie University]

I just want to congratulate the UD program and fans on a terrific hire.  I see from reading some of the posts that there is some concern for the previous staff and knowing nothing of the background I will only talk about what I do know.  Coach Z is one of the hardest working, enthusiastic, knowledgable, best recruiting coaches I know.  His talk about retaining players has to do with his strong and correct views that while recruiting a talented freshman with promise is the first step, the pay-off results from putting them on the field when they are 21-22 year old men.  He doesn't just get you to show up freshman year and move on.  He re-recuits every year, pays attention to the players parents and family understanding that at D-3 level, the fact is, these boys play for free.  They are free to move on at any time and in order to develop great players, you must keep them around.  I can attest to the fact that many, many of the players on the national championship teams at UWW the last 3 years were Z's boys.  Names like, Beaver, Kleppe, Stanley, Schmidt, Raebel, Sakallaris and Jacobs to name just a few.  He knows talent, puts the full court press on them and knows how keep them in a program.  With Coach Z, football is always fun!  He knows how to build a program and take it to the next level.  He didn't do it alone at UWW, of course, but was an absolute integral part of assembling the talent that took our program to an elite level.  The new facilities will give him the carrot and as a head coach, which is what I believe has been his goal for years,  and a supportive administration, the sky is the limit for the Spartans.  If you give him time and support, I see nothing but good things ahead for your program with Coach Z at the helm!    Good luck to him and the UD program.

Thanks for the support. And everything I have read, researched, and heard has been nothing but positive about Coach Z. Hearing from people like yourself that know him well or played for him only supports the evidence I have seen. And you brought up a VERY good other point I was trying to make earlier. MANY of the athletes that took Whitewater to the national championship while he was there AND last year when they won it and this year again were student-athletes he was very instrumental in recruiting.

With the Spartan's new facilities being among the best in the nation now at the D3 level, he will be able to attract similar athletes as he did at Whitewater. If a kid plans 2 visits in one day to both UD and Loras, sees the facilities at both colleges and talks to both coaches, I believe UD will win the majority of those athletes unless they have devote catholic ties with closed minds.....

Willie U

[the_mayne_event]

CR got 4+ in. sleet/snow/rain

snow was so thick/heavy i could walk on the couple inches in my driveway and hardly make an imprint.

[footballfan413]

I just want to congratulate the UD program and fans on a terrific hire.  I see from reading some of the posts that there is some concern for the previous staff and knowing nothing of the background I will only talk about what I do know.  Coach Z is one of the hardest working, enthusiastic, knowledgable, best recruiting coaches I know.  His talk about retaining players has to do with his strong and correct views that while recruiting a talented freshman with promise is the first step, the pay-off results from putting them on the field when they are 21-22 year old men.  He doesn't just get you to show up freshman year and move on.  He re-recuits every year, pays attention to the players parents and family understanding that at D-3 level, the fact is, these boys play for free.  They are free to move on at any time and in order to develop great players, you must keep them around.  I can attest to the fact that many, many of the players on the national championship teams at UWW the last 3 years were Z's boys.  Names like, Beaver, Kleppe, Stanley, Schmidt, Raebel, Sakallaris and Jacobs to name just a few.  He knows talent, puts the full court press on them and knows how keep them in a program.  With Coach Z, football is always fun!  He knows how to build a program and take it to the next level.  He didn't do it alone at UWW, of course, but was an absolute integral part of assembling the talent that took our program to an elite level.  The new facilities will give him the carrot and as a head coach, which is what I believe has been his goal for years,  and a supportive administration, the sky is the limit for the Spartans.  If you give him time and support, I see nothing but good things ahead for your program with Coach Z at the helm!    Good luck to him and the UD program.

Thanks for the support. And everything I have read, researched, and heard has been nothing but positive about Coach Z. Hearing from people like yourself that know him well or played for him only supports the evidence I have seen. And you brought up a VERY good other point I was trying to make earlier. MANY of the athletes that took Whitewater to the national championship while he was there AND last year when they won it and this year again were student-athletes he was very instrumental in recruiting.

With the Spartan's new facilities being among the best in the nation now at the D3 level, he will be able to attract similar athletes as he did at Whitewater. If a kid plans 2 visits in one day to both UD and Loras, sees the facilities at both colleges and talks to both coaches, I believe UD will win the majority of those athletes unless they have devote catholic ties with closed minds.....

Willie U

Facilities play a huge role in recruiting and it seems to have had a big impact on UWW the last 5-7 years after they made great strides in improving theirs, thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of Coach Brez.  He was able to get the donated funds to build the student athletic facility at the stadium and combined with a new weight room and indoor track at the Williams center, UWW's facilities are second to none especially at the D3 level.  Combine great facilities with a coaching staff that you want to play for and well, that goes a long way to explains the rise in the athletics at UWW not just in football but in all sports across the board the last few years, IMHO. 
   I stated a few weeks ago on the WIAC boards when it was mentioned that those in the know believe that the sophmore class of this years football team is actually the most talented which implies that chances are good that the Warhawks will be at the top for a few years.  I noted that that class would be the last one that Z had a hand in bringing in as he would have been recruiting that class until January when the HC job was filled.  Coincidence......I'm not so sure.   

[sportsknight]

snow was so thick/heavy i could walk on the couple inches in my driveway and hardly make an imprint.

I just went outside to clean my car off and literally had to step down to get in the driver's side door.

[DBQ1965]

[/quote]

Facilities play a huge role in recruiting and it seems to have had a big impact on UWW the last 5-7 years after they made great strides in improving theirs, thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of Coach Brez.  He was able to get the donated funds to build the student athletic facility at the stadium and combined with a new weight room and indoor track at the Williams center, UWW's facilities are second to none especially at the D3 level.  Combine great facilities with a coaching staff that you want to play for and well, that goes a long way to explains the rise in the athletics at UWW not just in football but in all sports across the board the last few years, IMHO. 
   I stated a few weeks ago on the WIAC boards when it was mentioned that those in the know believe that the sophmore class of this years football team is actually the most talented which implies that chances are good that the Warhawks will be at the top for a few years.  I noted that that class would be the last one that Z had a hand in bringing in as he would have been recruiting that class until January when the HC job was filled.  Coincidence......I'm not so sure.   
[/quote]

Does that mean that in a couple of years UD and UWW will be playing each other for the West Region title?

[DBQ1965]

Time is running out to joing the IIAC Forever group on "College Bowl Mania."

So far we have 8 who have joined the group: 

two UD fans ... doolittledog and yours truly (signed on as UD Spartans)

one Luther fan ...Thunderbolt

one Coe fan ... The Mayne Event

and 4 Wartburg fans ... SportKnight, Mott, Knightlife06 and Orange and Black Attack.

To join the group, try this link ... http://games.espn.go.com/bowlmania/frontpage.  If that doesn't work, go to espn.com and click on College FB ... then look down the right-hand side of the page and click on "Bowl Mania." 

When you are at the sign-up page, if you haven't registered with ESPN before, you will have to do so now ... its free!

Once you are registered, click on "Join a Group" and search for IIAC Forever.  In order to join that group, you will need to use the password:  IIAC'08.

You have until the 11 a.m. opening kickoff of the EagleBank Bowl tomorrow (Saturday) to sign up ... after that, the groups are "locked" and no one gets in late.

Will fans from Cornell, Simpson, Central, BV and Loras get left out?

[sportsknight]

DBQ1965...
A few more snowfall totals for you from KCRG.com:
Platteville = 11.6"
Fayette = 10.4"
Dubuque = 10.0"
Cedar Falls = 10.0"
Waverly = 9.5"
Decorah = 9.0"
La Porte City = 8.0"
Independence = 7.8"
Galena = 7.3"
Strawberry Point = 7.0"
Elkader = 7.0"
Waterloo = 7.0"
Cassville = 6.0"
Monticello = 6.0"
Mt. Vernon = 4.5"
Cedar Rapids = 4.0"
Iowa City = 2.5" + 0.25" ice

[footballfan413]

Facilities play a huge role in recruiting and it seems to have had a big impact on UWW the last 5-7 years after they made great strides in improving theirs, thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of Coach Brez.  He was able to get the donated funds to build the student athletic facility at the stadium and combined with a new weight room and indoor track at the Williams center, UWW's facilities are second to none especially at the D3 level.  Combine great facilities with a coaching staff that you want to play for and well, that goes a long way to explains the rise in the athletics at UWW not just in football but in all sports across the board the last few years, IMHO. 
   I stated a few weeks ago on the WIAC boards when it was mentioned that those in the know believe that the sophmore class of this years football team is actually the most talented which implies that chances are good that the Warhawks will be at the top for a few years.  I noted that that class would be the last one that Z had a hand in bringing in as he would have been recruiting that class until January when the HC job was filled.  Coincidence......I'm not so sure.   


Does that mean that in a couple of years UD and UWW will be playing each other for the West Region title?

Already had this thought considering we have welcomed both Central and Wartburg to the Perk the last few play-off seasons.  Knowing Coach Z's competitive spirit, I know it is on his to-do list but knowing his heart, I suspect that coming back to coach at the Perk as a visiting coach would be a tough time for him.  But would be made easier if he ended up kicking our a$$! 

[Purple Heys]

DBQ1965...
A few more snowfall totals for you from KCRG.com:
Platteville = 11.6"
Fayette = 10.4"
Dubuque = 10.0"
Cedar Falls = 10.0"
Waverly = 9.5"
Decorah = 9.0"
La Porte City = 8.0"
Independence = 7.8"
Galena = 7.3"
Strawberry Point = 7.0"
Elkader = 7.0"
Waterloo = 7.0"
Cassville = 6.0"
Monticello = 6.0"
Mt. Vernon = 4.5"
Cedar Rapids = 4.0"
Iowa City = 2.5" + 0.25" ice

Oceanside = 0.00" + 0.000000000001" ice  (I dropped an ice cube)   8)

[Alfredeneumann]

With the recent head coach hirings the past couple of years, hopefully football in the IIAC will become what wrestling is, the best in the country- currently 5 in top 23. Of course in either sport, the Evil Empire on top.

[Purple Heys]

Meanwhile Purple Heys is in San Diego saying to himself "This hot tub I designed sure is cool, I think I'll try it out for a little bit.  Sure is nice that it's 75 degrees and sunny outside right now" 

While it is sunny...we haven't quite reached 75 yet.

And yes the Hot Tubs' designs are cool...I just got through looking at the pilot run models of the first '09's.

[Purple Heys]

Boy, I can't wait til football starts again!