FB: American Rivers Conference

[Alfredeneumann]

Good Luck this weekend Walston.

[the_mayne_event]

Huge Football weekend ahead in the state of Iowa.
tOSU and Mizzou come in.
State Championship football
and Wartburg hosting a playoff game.

Will be curiouse to see combined attendance of those football games this weekend.
Iowa-75
ISU-45

8-Man/A 7,000
4A-10,000

1A, 2A, 3A- 15,000 +

Wartburg/Bethel 4500

Probably over 150,000 will watch a live football game in Iowa this weekend
I know several of us that will be watching 2, maybe 3 if I can get down to Ames in time after the Wartburg game

Unless they can magically add 5000 seats to Kinnick before the game saturday i think only 70k will be watching that one live.

[BB]

Walston,

Good luck Friday! 

Good luck to the Knights as well.  Great season so far and it should be a great game in Waverly this weekend. 

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Anyone have the number to the Warrenville Hyatt?

www.hyattplacechicagowarrenville.com - 27576 Maecliff Drive, Warrenville - (630) 836-9800

Thanks!

[sportsknight]

Anybody hear anything about a possible coaching change at Loras?  I heard a rumor...

[doolittledog]

Anybody hear anything about a possible coaching change at Loras?  I heard a rumor...

Oh come on, it's the off season...well, for 7 of us IIAC schools

Please tell us what you have heard!!!

[doolittledog]

From the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=302455

Steve Osterberger steps down at school request.

2006 : 4-6  4-4
2007 : 2-8  1-7
2008 : 6-4  5-3
2009 : 2-8  2-6
2010 : 5-5  4-4

Those aren't horrible numbers...at least not considerably different than what was going on at Loras the previous few years before Osterberger came to town.  

Loras went 16-24 in conference play in the 5 years under Osterberger.  Loras went 18-24 in conference play in the 5 years prior to Osterberger. 

[doolittledog]

Conference records during the 5 years Osterberger has been at Loras...

34-6   Central...3 conference titles, 3 playoff appearances
33-7   Wartburg...2 conference titles, 2 playoff appearances
28-12  Coe...2 playoff appearances
18-22  Dubuque...takes tiebreaker over BVU by going 3-2 head to head with the Beavers
18-22  Buena Vista
17-23  Luther
16-24  Loras
15-25  Simpson
1-39    Cornell

While Loras was 7th best in the conference over the past 5 years...they were also only 2 wins away from being the 4th best team in the conference over the past 5 years. 

[Pat Coleman]

Hey, folks -- our friends at d3photography.com (not part of the network, but a partner) is hosting D3football.com's bracket challenge this season. Go sign up and fill out a bracket at:
http://www.d3photography.com/pickem/

As usual no prizes, which protects student-athletes and coaches from NCAA issues.

This season, one sign-up gets you access to all bracket challenges -- no more signing back up for D3hoops.com brackets in the spring.

[sportsknight]

Had gotten wind of the Osterberger thing a couple hours before that article, but couldn't get anything confirmed until the TH posted something.  Part of that was due to being in Cedar Falls at the semifinals today.

Whoever takes over at Loras will be their 4th coach in eight seasons.  Not exactly a real stable situation, considering they went 26 seasons with just one head coach.

I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say that Loras took a step back with Osterberger, but they sure didn't move forward.  He seemed like a no-brainer to bring in back in 2006, and I've never heard anything but good things about him on a personal level.  But his teams just weren't getting it done on the field.

Considering how many students Loras draws from the Chicago Catholic Leagues, there really isn't any reason they couldn't compete for the IIAC title year in and year out.  I would expect Loras to get some good candidates for the gig.

[doolittledog]

Considering how many students Loras draws from the Chicago Catholic Leagues, there really isn't any reason they couldn't compete for the IIAC title year in and year out.  I would expect Loras to get some good candidates for the gig.

Considering Loras has never won an IIAC football title between the years 1926-1954 and 1986-2010  If the beloved Bob Berie couldn't have Loras fighting for titles every year it's kind of odd they shoved Osterberger out the door.  BB had pretty similar numbers to Osterberger.  I agree with you, there is no reason Loras can't be competing for titles every year...look at their soccer teams loaded with Chicago Catholic League kids...but really, every school in the IIAC could be fighting for titles every year, it just doesn't work out that way. 

[Phred]

Does anyone know whether Wartburg or Wheaton will have a video stream for the playoff game?

[Mugsy]

Does anyone know whether Wartburg or Wheaton will have a video stream for the playoff game?

Wheaton typically does for all home games, along with LiveStats.  I'll look up the url when I get out of my next meeting at work.

[Purple Heys]

GO IIAC!  Make some noise in the playoffs!

[Purple Heys]

My opinion on Osterberger...

In 2007 I worked the chains in a game I felt Cornell could have won.  I overheard the sideline comments of Osterberger during the game (not so nice) and lost some respect for him.  But upon reflection, I could imagine me as head coach flinging the same invectives if my team were on the verge of losing to Cornell.

In 2009 I witnessed Cornell's victory over Loras.  I thought back to 2007, and  about what might be going on over on the Loras sideline.  Then I witnessed the class and dignity with which Osterberger's coaches and team (except 1 a-hole kid) congratulated the Cornell team.  I spoke further to my son about what the opponents said (except for the 1 a-hole kid) and he told me they were totally classy about the whole thing.

So in summary, one can be defined by how they act in their darkest or lowest points...my opinion is that Osterberger is a class act and I wish him good luck in his future opportunities.