FB: American Rivers Conference

[DutchFan2004]

It is so discouraging to see kids ride the bench for four or five years just to say they were a Hawkeye or Gator or whatever team.  I wish more of them would go places they could play, like the IIAC, or OAC, or WIAC, or whatever small school and start for four years.

Can someone explain why it is better to sit for a larger school than play for a smaller school?

Carey Bender was smart for an example, he red shirted at UNI, figured out he was not going to play the next year and transferred to Coe and ended up a Gagliardi winner.

In my opinion when I look back at college I would want to remember playing not sitting.

That's up to each kid. Having an opportunity to run out in front of 50,60,70,or even 80 thousand fans and play and travel to some of the best stadiums in the country is appealing for some guys. Me? I figured I could travel to those stadiums after I got done playing. Wasn't going to spend the most athletic years of my life getting beat up on the scout team. I would have rather won a lot of games and run out in front of 5 thousand.

Hoover I am going to wave the flag on this one long and hard.  Are you telling me that if Iowa would have walked into your house and offered you a scholarship that you would have turned it down to be a Knight?  Free tuition, room, and board for 5 years and would rather pay for your college at Wartburg?  I don't buy that for a second.  I would hope that every kid dreams of playing at the highest level and then has a heart to heart with ones self.  If you told me that you would have turned down a walk on to play at Wartburg okay, but to pass on a full ride on the chances of riding the pine for 5 years is a bit of a stretch. 

DF1...Your son was a great QB at Central, but I think he was realistic in his abilities as I was in mine.  D1 team are not recruiting 6 foot lineman from Des Moines or 5'10" QB's from Eldora.  Your son was a fine player and one of the best Central has had, but again if a large school was offering him a free ride why wouldn't you want your son take that opportunity? 

I personally paid for every cent of my college and I still am today.  For those of you who's parents paid or if you are a parent who paid I would think financial responsibility would have to come into question at some point, wouldn't it?

Thanks for your kind words.  Central was the first school to talk to him about playing QB.  Most other schools were talking to him about the other side of the ball and playing safety. 

[Willie University]

footballdaddy - That is a big concern bringing in so many kids from 1 school.  Hopefully UD officials are aware of that and working to see that scenario doesn't play out. 

. If a coach is able to create a feeder school and get good kids out of the same school each year, he should be appauled.
Willie U

I meant "applauded" if I even spelled it correctly this time. My Masters degree is not in english 

[5 Words or Less]

... If a coach is able to create a feeder school and get good kids out of the same school each year, he should be appauled.
Willie U

I meant "applauded" if I even spelled it correctly this time. My Masters degree is not in english 
Willie U

Was it Freudian (Slip) Psychology?

[Purple Heys]

Cornell could use a few Tim Connells.

Both as a player and also as a GA.

The kid was a gamer as a player and there is every evidence that's continuing as a coach.

Of course at Cornell he was better known as Tim "Frickin" Connell.   

[footballdaddy]

footballdaddy - That is a big concern bringing in so many kids from 1 school.  Hopefully UD officials are aware of that and working to see that scenario doesn't play out. 

Look, there is a point to playing the devils advocate and then there is just a point where it gets ridiculous. Again, Coach Z is very experienced and respected. He is going to the start the BEST player no matter where he is from. Do you hear Central complaining about having so many kids recently from SE Polk?? Heck no! Why would they. If a coach is able to create a feeder school and get good kids out of the same school each year, he should be appauled. I understand your being "conservative" and trying to down play things or look for the possible negatives but the bottom line is, this guy is going to WIN, plain and simple. Do you think he isn't recruiting iowa or illinios as hard as wisconsin?? Of course he is. Are all the cards stacked against him in going from 2-8 to 8-2? Sure but guess what, that is what fuels a guy like Coach Z. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.......save the criticism for after the season IF he deserves any of it...

Willie U

The comparison to Central and SE Polk is a little different in that SEP is only about 25 miles from Central, while these players from Milwaukee will be quite a bit farther from home. It would only be natiral for there players to hang out together, while a "local" kid might want to broaden his base of friends a bit. I just wonder if it will help or hinder the biulding of a team with such a large group. I've heard it was an issue with the players from Florida in prior years.

[Walston Hoover]

- And Central has 6 guys total on their roster from SEP. Not quite like the huge number of guys in 1 class coming from Mil-a-wal-kay (Algonquin for, the good land) that UD has coming in.

[Willie University]

- And Central has 6 guys total on their roster from SEP. Not quite like the huge number of guys in 1 class coming from Mil-a-wal-kay (Algonquin for, the good land) that UD has coming in.

You are correct, UD has 7 guys coming in from Bay View high school. 1 different from central and SEP.

FBDaddy-Milwaukee is 3 hours from dubuque, not 28 hours from florida. I think those guys will be just fine being such a LONG distance from home. Just like the recruits from central iowa being 3 hours from home will probably manage OK as well.

This talk is laughable. I'd take 6 or 7 of the best players from every team that made the high school playoffs if I could. WOW, what a great problem to have---more choices to choose your BEST 22 starters from! If all 7 of those guys deserve to start, that's awesome! But, I seem to think there will be plenty of other guys vying for those starting positions also.

Willie U

[doolittledog]

I'm not sure anyone was saying so many from one team WILL be a problem.  Just that it COULD become a problem. 

I am confident it won't be a problem.  I also hope UD continues their recent trend of keeping players around for 4 years.  Senior classes of around 20 players would be a nice thing to continue. 

Dubuque does have some of the nicest facilities you see at this level.  Hopefully that, along with their improving academics, we will see some long term gains made on the football field for UD.  Then, Willie and I can be in a good mood while drinking a beer at the Doghouse afterwards

[Purple Heys]

This talk is laughable. I'd take 6 or 7 of the best players from every team that made the high school playoffs if I could.

The "Affable" Willie U makes a good point here.  Cherry picking the better than average players from better than average schools is a high percentage play.

I see nothing wrong, and everything to envy, the fact that Coach Z may be opening new pipelines into neighboring states.

DIII schools don't get the 1st crack at the top kids.

[dutchfan1]

- And Central has 6 guys total on their roster from SEP. Not quite like the huge number of guys in 1 class coming from Mil-a-wal-kay (Algonquin for, the good land) that UD has coming in.

Way to slide a Wayne's World reference in....nice work!

[Walston Hoover]

Had to. Comes up every time the Cubbies play the Brewers as well.

[Purple Heys]

I follow the opening IIAC  track meets with a certain level of interest, musing how Senorita Heys would do.  (very well I might add)

I noticed that Orlando Walton hasn't run and I did not see his name on the track roster for UD.  Did he opt not to run this year...wasn't he a D3 All-American sprinter last year?

[doolittledog]

I follow the opening IIAC  track meets with a certain level of interest, musing how Senorita Heys would do.  (very well I might add)

I noticed that Orlando Walton hasn't run and I did not see his name on the track roster for UD.  Did he opt not to run this year...wasn't he a D3 All-American sprinter last year?

Orlando Walton was a 5th year senior.  He might have opted to graduate at the semester.  WillieU probably knows more though. 

If Senorita Heys had taken up residence at an IIAC school and then proceeded to have some success for the track team.  Would she have been letting Jr. know on a regular basis just how well she was doing relative to his team?  I am also curious to know if her numbers would be a little lower out here due to the colder weather we get.  Things we will probably never know though. 

Dubuque let their coach go this year due to lack of results.  Luther and Simpson did the same the year before.  Any other coaches in our conference on the hot seat?  I noticed the Dutch Reformed guys over at Northwestern (IA) let their coach go.  In 10 seasons he had gone 100-45 and made the playoffs 4 times.  He had gone 15-5 over the last 2 seasons but there were those in the fan base upset that they had missed the NAIA playoffs both of those years and he was shown the door.  Would that same attitude apply for their Central cousins down in Pella if McMartin has his team go 6-4 again this season???

[footballdaddy]

Thanks for the geograpy lesson Willie. What I'm saying is that it would seem more natural to hang with your buddies from home instead of making new friends on the team or in school in general. When you don't know anyone, you need to make friends. In footballkkid's situation by the time his first season was over he had eaten a meal with everyone on the team at least once. He also made friends outside of football. If he had his six best buddies there, he might not have had the incentive to meet new people. I can't speculate if this will be a problem, but I think it would have to be addressed in some way.

[Alfredeneumann]

I just heard a report from RADIO IOWA that the IIAC commish is looking to add team(s) to conference. Here is what I found on RI web site. There was more to radio report. No schools were mentioned.

Guesses-
Grand View would be my #1 guess.


Iowa Conference exploring expansion
Monday, February 9, 2009, 8:53 AM
By Todd Kimm

The commissioner of the Iowa Conference says the league is looking at the possibility of expanding. The conference has had nine members since Upper Iowa announced in 2003 that is was leaving to join the division two ranks.

Commissioner Chuck Yrigoyen says they'd like to be at an even number for scheduling purposes, and he says they've been discussing the issue to see what they can do.

Yrigoyen says any new member to the conference would need to be the right fit. He says they are fortunate to be a strong group academically, and they want to be sure that any new addition to the league would also have to be strong academically.