FB: American Rivers Conference

[DutchFan2004]

 short career MNBeev? only one hit?

[DutchFan2004]

sportsknight,

The title is the Coe reply but has not been updated on the site yet.  Is there another problem.  Have you been taking naps when you should be working?   

[Purple Heys]

It also takes finding the right kid.  Not all kids from California or Florida will be all that impressed with Iowa come wintertime.  Something I think Cornell will take into account and probably better than Dubuque did for many years.  That had been the problem at Dubuque for quite awhile.  Somewhat like what Cornell finds now in their recruiting is with a losing team most local Iowa kids will gravitate towards the winning programs.  Dubuque had to broaden their recruiting nets.  They often had rosters filled with Florida and California kids and as soon as the season was over they were gone.  It didn't matter how talented they were.  As freshmen they weren't going to compete very well against teams with veteran players.  

Also, another point I was trying to make is speed alone doesn't make you a good football player.  Dubuque had a wr that ran a 4.3 but couldn't catch a ball to save his life.  That is where the talent comment from me came in.  There are those on here that say you have to recruit Iowa kids...there are those on here saying you have to recruit Florida and California kids.  I think you just need to get kids that can play football...no matter where they come from.  Plus you need to recruit kids with a good head on their shoulders that will stick around for 4 or 5 years.  

Dooey,

I was referring to football players that ran track, not tracksters that tried football...and we are in agreement for the most part...give me a kid kid with desire and willingness to work, but he's got to have some minimum ability level.

Hoops coach Abe Lemons said the following about his recruiting philosophy:  Quick guys get tired, tall guys don't get short.

An approximation of this by John Madden:  There are 3 things you don't want to be in football: short, slow and friendly.

[sportsknight]

sportsknight,

The title is the Coe reply but has not been updated on the site yet.  Is there another problem.  Have you been taking naps when you should be working?   

How'd you know?  I'll mention something to our internet guy tomorrow.  Hopefully we can get thing straightened out.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to RB Tyler Sherden of the Norse for being named IIAC Football Player of the Week.

http://www.iowaconference.com/men/football/2007-08/pow.htm

Breaking the school single game rushing record in a tough win would usually be enough to be player of the week, but I wanted to see if a Dubuque player won.   A Ram player has also won the award this year in addition to the three Ram opponents that have won.

[Willie University]

Just doing some pregame research for the big match up this saturday at Chalmers Field and saw on the central website that they have had some big injuries already this season and a friend of mine who was at the game on saturday in pella said I believe 3 more central starters went down with injuries....#2, 3, & 6? Anyone confirm this? Sounds like the spartans after the wartburg game 

Good luck to all the teams this week! Go Spartans!!!

Willie U

[Klopenhiemer]

Talent is talent.  Everyone is exactally right.  Being that there is moe talent in CA, FL, and TX coaches will gravitate towards those regions. 

One thing to consider is that if you have to come all the way from CA to play D3 football in Iowa, how good are you to begin with.  Now please do not start throwing out names of conference MVP's of the past 15 years who didnt come from close to IA.  I know there are a few.  My point is I played on team that had 55 guys from 1000 miles away or more.  These guys were from AZ, CA, FL, and TX.  When you mixed there personalities with 55 guys from SD, MN, IA, and WI things did not go well.  There was a lack of appreciation for these players because they brought something to the table that was not football related.  They were thugs, poor grades, just there because it was there last hope. 

Let me get back on the NSIC for a second.  Take a look at Bemidji State and Winnona State.  You will see those rosters are flooded with MN and WI kids.  Take a look at SMSU.  Flooded with southern kids.  Whos winning and who isnt. 

Talen is talent and franky there is more talent down there.  The facts are after all of the d1,d1aa,and d2 teams get done picking at that talent.  Who is left?

[Charlie Kohawk]

Congrats to the Coe volleyball team for a hard-fought win over Wartburg tonight in Waverly. Could it be a predictor of Saturday's result on the football field? We shall see.

[Old Dutch]

Talent is talent and most coaches take it where they can get it.  the one thing that those FLA and CA guys don't bring to the table is fans.  With the parents and long time IA HS football fans dropping in on Central, Wartburg, Coe(?) and so on these schools get a following, and putting butts in the seats to cheer the fellows on does create an advantage. Who wants to play in front of just a dozen parents and a few drunken school buddies?  Not knocking Coe here but I thought their following in Pella was kind of thin for a conference contender on Saturday??

[Charlie Kohawk]

Talent is talent and most coaches take it where they can get it.  the one thing that those FLA and CA guys don't bring to the table is fans.  With the parents and long time IA HS football fans dropping in on Central, Wartburg, Coe(?) and so on these schools get a following, and putting butts in the seats to cheer the fellows on does create an advantage. Who wants to play in front of just a dozen parents and a few drunken school buddies?  Not knocking Coe here but I thought their following in Pella was kind of thin for a conference contender on Saturday??

Sorry to hear about the thin Coe crowd in Pella, but fall break was Monday and Tuesday, so many students probably went home. (I have my nephew to blame for my absence.) I'm sure there'll be a sizable Kohawk crowd in Walston Hoover this Saturday.

Your point is well taken though. I had those same thoughts when Dubuque played at Coe, with about as many fans in the stands as Iowans on the roster.

[Purple Heys]

Talent is talent and most coaches take it where they can get it.  the one thing that those FLA and CA guys don't bring to the table is fans.  With the parents and long time IA HS football fans dropping in on Central, Wartburg, Coe(?) and so on these schools get a following, and putting butts in the seats to cheer the fellows on does create an advantage. Who wants to play in front of just a dozen parents and a few drunken school buddies?  Not knocking Coe here but I thought their following in Pella was kind of thin for a conference contender on Saturday??

If you are suggesting that a component of recruiting is that the local player will put an extra fan or three in the seats...and help create an advantage...I'm not buying that.  With VERY rare exceptions, D3 football teams don't have a significant travelling fan base.  With your average D3 team, you're lucky to get friends and family and a few curious locals in most cases to home games.  What puts butts in the seats is a winning team...because that helps draw the student fan base to the home games...and small towns take pride and come out for a winner.  I'm willing to bet a twelve pack that, on average, the bigger crowds are at the home games of Central and Wartburg...and sadly, the smallest crowds are at Cornell.

From the recruiting a player standpoint whether the player is from down the block or across the country he is still paying his way at that school.  He is the revenue generating component for that school...not the extra fan buying a $4 ticket and spending $8 at the snack bar.  A coach wants to win, his job more or less depends on it.  He's not looking at how many fans the kid brings with him...he's looking at a football player.

[Purple Heys]

Cornell needs to start recruiting Samoans, too.   8)

[Purple Heys]

Congrats to RB Tyler Sherden of the Norse for being named IIAC Football Player of the Week.

http://www.iowaconference.com/men/football/2007-08/pow.htm

Breaking the school single game rushing record in a tough win would usually be enough to be player of the week, but I wanted to see if a Dubuque player won.   A Ram player has also won the award this year in addition to the three Ram opponents that have won.

That's one streak broken...now on to the next streak.

[Purple Heys]

Talent is talent.  Everyone is exactally right.  Being that there is moe talent in CA, FL, and TX coaches will gravitate towards those regions. 

One thing to consider is that if you have to come all the way from CA to play D3 football in Iowa, how good are you to begin with.  Now please do not start throwing out names of conference MVP's of the past 15 years who didnt come from close to IA.  I know there are a few.  My point is I played on team that had 55 guys from 1000 miles away or more.  These guys were from AZ, CA, FL, and TX.  When you mixed there personalities with 55 guys from SD, MN, IA, and WI things did not go well.  There was a lack of appreciation for these players because they brought something to the table that was not football related.  They were thugs, poor grades, just there because it was there last hope. 

Let me get back on the NSIC for a second.  Take a look at Bemidji State and Winnona State.  You will see those rosters are flooded with MN and WI kids.  Take a look at SMSU.  Flooded with southern kids.  Whos winning and who isnt. 

Talen is talent and franky there is more talent down there.  The facts are after all of the d1,d1aa,and d2 teams get done picking at that talent.  Who is left?

I think your generalization sells a lot of good kids short.  If nothing else Dubuque has been a good example of a large FLA contingent making a big difference and having a positive impact on the team's performance.

Kids go to schools far from home for a lot of good reasons...I don't think you realize how many high schools there are in Southern Cal alone...called the CIF Southern Section.  Bear in mind this "District" does not include San Diego or the City of Los Angeles.  Schools of 3500 to 4000 students are commonplace.  Due to Title IX most of the California State Universities and University of California schools DO NOT have football programs.  It's fair to say the Southern California area including San Diego and LA is underserved by the number of schools that do have football.  We haven't even thrown in Northern California yet.

Not everyone wants to pay 50k per year to walk on at USC, then never play...pay half that and see the country...Iowa perhaps.  There are 7 teams in the SCIAC; the only D3 league in the state...Only independant is Chapman and Menlo in NoCal is in the MWC

Let me give a you number to frame the magnitude of the population of the area.  The Southern California region of Little League Baseball has approximately 525 Little Leagues with roughly 6 to 10 teams per league.  There are typically 12 to 20 Leagues in a District.   The State of Wyoming has 18 Leagues.  That's one district in SoCal.

Kids wanna play some ball...they'll go where there is opportunity.

[Purple Heys]

In fairness I must mention that the JC system in CA is another outlet for players to play college football.  I didn't notice much JC football in Iowa...

Also Graceland in Lamoni recruits California very heavily...particularly the JC system.