FB: American Rivers Conference

[sc_stormchaser]

HoosierinIowa- I have nothing against Niemann. I really don't know the guy, I played for Williams. The topic of conservation came up earlier in the summer and it wasn't even brought up by SC fans.

I don't think there was much resentment that the AD didn't go with Wharton, the offensive coordinator under Williams. Maybe some of the current players at the time because Wharton was well liked by almost all players. Talk about recruiters, that guy was good and a pretty good o-coordinator. The final three years under Williams were disappointing at best and they probably wanted a fresh start.

[HoosierinIowa]

I really liked Williams (thank God this is an anonymous board).  He was old school in a lot of good and some not so good ways.  I've always thought Simpson should be as powerful as Simpson and Wartburg every year.  They seem to have had the best relationship in the Iowa Confernce with the suburban schools as far as attracting students as well as southwestern iowa.  I don't know why this has not contributed to more recruiting success. 

[footballdaddy]

I guess the good thing is that you have choice and can go to where you feel the most comfortable.Not everyone is going to like every coach.

[DutchFan2004]

Hoosier,

You lost me with that last post.  How is Simpson supposed to be as good as Simpson and Wartburg every year?  Isn't Simpson as good as Simpson every year and all the time?   

[orange]

Simpson, like all the Iowa Conference colleges, should be able to recruit and produce a reliably competitive team.  When coaches are hired there is always a belief he or she can coach and effectively recruit.  Aye, there's the rub -- not many can do both well.  Despite what seems to be the high stakes, some coaches either don't know how to recruit or don't work at it.  I've seen both kinds, but mostly it's because they don't devote sufficient time to it -- and it's HARD work. 

The challenge is compounded when one is trying to rebuild a program.  Then there are the colleges like Mount Union where the students call you first...but, I bet if the truth were known they work their butts off in recruiting.

Charisma helps a lot.  I watched Hayden Fry work his magic on a young man once, and it was a wonder to behold.  The record suggests he was a fine coach, but he could also charm the skin off a snake.   

[Wartburg Fan]

WHEN MY SON WAS RECRUITED BY WARTBURG WANT IMPRESSED HIM WAS HOW TRUTHFULL THEY WERE WITH HIM. CENTRAL RECRUITED HIM AND WHEN HE WENT THERE ON A VISIT THEY DIDN'T SEEM INTERESTED IN HIM. SIMPSON ALSO RECRUITED HIM AND WHEN HE TOLD THEM HE WAS GOING TO WARTBURG NIEMANN GOT REAL MAD AND WASN'T VERY NICE ON THE PHONE. I BELIEVE ALL A KID WANTS IS TO BE TOLD THE TRUTH ON PLAYING TIME, MY SON ENDED UP STARTING FOR WARTBURG FOR THREE YEARS.

[doolittledog]

For all the former players out there, no matter what sport it was.  How were you recruited?

Did college coaches come to you?
Did your high school coach put your name out there to college coaches?
Did you put your name out there to college coaches?
How many schools did you consider?
Did you have a favorite school before any recruiting occurred?
Did you end up at the school you preferred from the beginning? 
Did you consider going to a big state school and giving up sports before going the Div. III route?

[sportsknight]

I don't know Nieman personally, but I do know that some Simpson football alums are starting to get a bit testy about the Storm being on the decline lately.  Two of my cousins played D-Line at Simspon and one told me that the last time they got together with some former teammates (not sure if it was a class reunion or a reunion of either the 96 or 97 championship teams), that many of the former players wish that a change would be made and were not going to be attending many games until the team started to make improvements.

[HoosierinIowa]

DutchFan2004, You of all people should understand how praising Jim Williams (even secretly) could affect ones train of thought and typing ability:-)  I do think Simpson should compete year in and you out with CENTRAL and Wartburg to be top dog.

[K-Mack]

Forgot,

Where do we send the checks for Pat's run at the Whitehouse?  

Pat's Fund
c/o Keith McMillan
123 ATN Street
Cha-ching, Va. 22101

Agree with the poster who said this is not the most one-sided board (by far it isn't) but it's a pretty good board if I do say so myself.

And I do say so.

[K-Mack]

Simpson, like all the Iowa Conference colleges, should be able to recruit and produce a reliably competitive team.  When coaches are hired there is always a belief he or she can coach and effectively recruit.  Aye, there's the rub -- not many can do both well.  Despite what seems to be the high stakes, some coaches either don't know how to recruit or don't work at it.  I've seen both kinds, but mostly it's because they don't devote sufficient time to it -- and it's HARD work. 

The challenge is compounded when one is trying to rebuild a program.  Then there are the colleges like Mount Union where the students call you first...but, I bet if the truth were known they work their butts off in recruiting.

Charisma helps a lot.  I watched Hayden Fry work his magic on a young man once, and it was a wonder to behold.  The record suggests he was a fine coach, but he could also charm the skin off a snake.   

Good post.

For the record, Larry Kehres has said to me (or members of the gathered media, I can't remember which) more than once that the 5 weeks the Purple Raiders spend going to the Stagg Bowl each year puts them 5 weeks behind most of the OAC teams in recruiting.

He wasn't even a little bit kidding. Recruiting matters a lot there, but by the same token, championships (even conference ones) tend to sell themselves. And there's so many other factors and what convinces one kid does nothing for another. It's a tough job.

For the record, too, Kehres also acknowledges that the 5 weeks of extra practice for the past several years has helped his reserve players develop quite a bit.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Neil Suckow banter.

[K-Mack]

Can anyone explain a 6:00 p.m. kick-off in late October in Indianola other than Indianola looks better in dim light?  

Funny.

FTR, D3football.com loves night games, that means we can see two games in day when we make the trip to lovely Iowa. I mean, you can try to see two 1 p.m. kickoffs in the same day, but I don't know who would be stupid enough to try that.

[Alfredeneumann]

Wartburg SID Mark Adkins has posted some practice photos @ http://www.go-knights.net/photos/FBpractice8121307/index.html

Also Alfred Jr. talked to a WC FB coach yesterday and was told Suckow WAS the FASTEST player in testing.

[Walston Hoover]

For all the former players out there, no matter what sport it was.  How were you recruited?

Did college coaches come to you?
Did your high school coach put your name out there to college coaches?
Did you put your name out there to college coaches?
How many schools did you consider?
Did you have a favorite school before any recruiting occurred?
Did you end up at the school you preferred from the beginning? 
Did you consider going to a big state school and giving up sports before going the Div. III route?

During my Sr. Year of HS, I called up Willis and Kac and told them I was interested in both schools. Up until that time I had not heard from either one of them. This was over half way through the season. I went to Wartburg's homecoming game against Loras in the pouring rain and the place was packed and I couldn't believe it. My future brother-in-law was on the team at the time and he showed me around after the game. At the end of the year, I went with some buddies down to the Central game against UIU and the Dutch struggled mightily. The atmosphere was good, but not nearly as good as the Wartburg atmosphere. When the season was over, I was called out of school sometimes several times a day by all the coaches that would come through school, and looking for anyway to get out of class, I listened. I won several music awards my junior and seniors years as well so Luther was in the mix. I was looking for a place that I could sing in the choir and be a contributing member of the football team. By early January, Central was out of the mix because I wasn't impressed with their music program. Pole was coaching at Luther and he came to visit me all the time and I was getting calls from several people in their music department as well. I went up and sang for Luther and also for Wartburg and got hefty music schollies from both places. When the aid packages came through it was going to be cheaper to go to Luther so that was a plus for them. Well about Mid March or so I was talking with a Luther music prof and he told me football and choir might work for a year or 2, but then I was going to have to give up football. The day before I had taken a trip to Wartburg and pretty much decided I loved the place because of great music and football, and my major, communications, was the best of the 3 schools. When I visited then, I just felt like I belonged. After hearing the Luther prof, my mind was made up. Willis and Ginn had visited our home and Ginn really hit it off with my dad and I liked them both.
Over the summer, I ended up working with a guy that was starting on the OL at Wartburg (sang in his wedding the following summer) and got to learn a ton from him. Then I got paired up with my future brother-in-law in the big Knight/little Knight program so I knew a lot of guys right away.
I ended up being the 4th string guard my freshman year. Everyone in front of me was coming back the following year so there were some thoughts (brief ones) about not going out my soph year, but the FIRST day of practice that year, a senior decided he didn't want to be a backup anymore and quit, the guy right in front of me switched to center and by the end of practice our starter needed knee surgery so I went from #4 to #1 in just over an hour. Talk about next man in!
Our starter was back, but I played a ton that year as back-up to both guard spots and center as well. (I always tell my kids if they know multiple positions they have a better chance of playing) By the end of the year I was starting at Center due to injury, Started at RG by Jr year, and LG my Sr. Year.
I assume I would have ended up at Wartburg anyway since it was the perfect fit, but I was sure glad I called Willis during the middle of my Sr. Year.
For about 20 minutes I considered going to Iowa State since both my parents are alums, but 1 visit to Wartburg changed that.

[footballdaddy]

In my son's case it was some of each.His original intent was to go to Iowa State.He had gone to camp there for five years and had devolped some relationships on McCarney's staff.Not wanting to put all our eggs in one basket,and after hearing good things about the IIAC,we went online and submitted info to several schools.He also received contacts from some others who we didn't send info to.After making several visits to games during the season at different schools,he started to narrow down the field.Also after the season his coach recommended him to the coaches who were making visits.He narrowed his list to three IIAC schools and after going to scholarship days at all three, he was able to make his decision for Wartburg.It was the one who he had liked from the beginning and so far feels he made a good decision.