FB: American Rivers Conference

[oldbeake]

Fred Jackson and Coe College getting some love on Fox NFL Sunday. They talked about them for a good 15 seconds. Jay Glazer called Fred Coe's most famous alum which the host took offense to because he is a Coe alum. Then they talked about Levy. Never brought up Bender.

Bender didn't play in the IIAC.  No offense to Coe, but there were defenses in the IIAC that would have been excited to have a shot at him, and I think that he would have had a less than stellar career...had he been facing early 90s Simpson, Wartburg, and Central.  Again...no offense, but Grinnell was really more focused on their relays during those years.

Bender played at Coe from 1991-1994.  During that time he had a 6-2 record against the Iowa Conference Schools with wins coming three times over Wartburg, twice over William Penn and once over Upper Iowa.  Their two losses were to Simpson in 1991 and Wartburg in 1994.  Playoff teams in those years were 1991 Simpson, 1993 Wartburg and 1994 Wartburg, so they beat a 1993 Wartburg playoff team.

I'd say Carey Bender would have done just fine in the Iowa Conference.

You might as well throw out the wins over William Penn and UIU because that's like bragging about beating Cornell today.  That would leave Coe at 3-2 vs. real teams.  Not saying anything about Bender himself, but the W-L record just got a lot less impressive.

All I know is the Central angle, and I know for a fact that the Central D wanted a crack at him, badly. Actually mentioning Carey Bender was treated as a severe insult...Kac almost punched me out a few times when I was giving him crap about Bender.  One of those hypothetical wishes, I guess.

Offensively, Central felt we had the best RB in d3 with Mark Kacmarynski, but Kac sat for the 2nd half of most games during that time period.  He'd rack up over a 100 yards (sometimes 200) in the first half, and then sit for the second half.  I know that if he'd played 4 quarters of every game those years...Bender may not have been so far above the pack the way he was.

Bender was great, but damn...it sure would've been great to see him go up against the Dutch.

Bringing up that 1993 Wartburg team is where all of my animosity toward the Knights began.  They played Central tough, and close that year, and a Central DB slipped on one play that turned out to be the one huge play to Wartburg on top late in the game.  It seemed like a total fluke...and I was in shock.  Ever since then...Wartburg has done nothing but build confidence.  I will forever hate that confidence...because it seemed to all begin from a gift from mother nature (if I remember correctly...the weather in Waverly was pretty much like this past Saturday on that day).

So, Knight fans...that's where the distaste for your program comes from for me (anyway).  It's nothing personal to any of you, but that game still makes my stomach turn...whenever I see one of you guys post.  I really used to hate Simpson, too, but ever since that day...damn the Knights.

Actually a good question (maybe?).  Is there one instance, game, play, etc. that changes your opinion about another team in the IIAC?  It might be kind of interesting, actually.  I know that a lot of you have some fantastic, vivid memories.

[sc_stormchaser]

Walston-

I heard Swenson turned Simpson down, can you confirm this w/ your inside sources?

Heard over the weekend that all 3 guys they brought in for an interview said thanks but no thanks. I'm wondering if its a money issue or the issue that the admissions has a bad relationship with the football team and they've had a tough time getting kids in the past few years.

I certainly don't have any inside sources, like WH, but I had heard that Simpson wasn't even bringing candidates to campus until this week?? As far as the strained relationship with the admissions office, I think that's a load of crap. Coaches think they can get any student-athlete in and that's not going to happen at Simpson. The new coach will have to deal with going after good football players who are halfway smart. Williams did it, so it can be done.

They should bring back Williams. He could be the Joe Pa of the IIAC...heck, I bet he's at least 5 years younger than ol' Joe. 

[KCDutch]

I would say it is highly likely that he makes more at Valley than Simpson was able to offer him.

What kind of money are IIAC head coaches making now???

Wow if Swenson is making $80,000 as a high school coach that is pretty good money!   Not saying that he is but if that is correct about Miller as stated that isn't to bad!

My guess, most coaches make less than $80,000.  Schools only have to report the top 5 salaries (non-officer/etc), of the few schools I looked up, Miller was one of the only coaches listed in the top 5.  Miller has been at Wartburg for quite a few years and has won several national championships....so I think he would be higher than most.

[BeaverOfYore]

WHat HS Beaver of Yore?

South O'Brien, in northwest Iowa.  It's not exactly a hotbed of talent most years, but BV and Northwestern have turned some farm boys into good football players over the years.

I'll second that opinion!  I haven't played in a few years, but I remember BV's roster being full of kids from Kingsley-Pierson, Alta, Denison, Ar-We-Va....all those small Western Iowa schools.   With BV, you could always count on:
      1)  Solid O- and D-Lines that were big and physical.
      2)  Decent sized linebackers that would come up and hit you every play
      3)  A team that never would quit
      4)  A team that played clean.
      5)  Freezing your butt off if you played in Storm Lake in November!  Ha ha

As an O-lineman, I HATED playing BV.  I'd rather play Simpson or Wartburg anyday.  But it seems like they were only a skill player away from being a great football team.  Imagine BV in late late 90's if they'd have had a Trevor Shannon, Guy Leman, or Mark Kac (played just down the road in West Bend!)

One thing I've always wondered - why can't BV get the kids from Emmetsburg or Spencer to come and play there?  There's a ton of talent in those two schools, not to mention West Lyon, West Bend, Harlan, and some of the other high school powerhouses out there. 

BV actually gets quite a few good players from Harlan and Emmetsburg.  In recent years: Harlan - Kaufmann, Svendsen, Ohlinger, ; Emmetsburg - Hobart, Bredehoeft, Pierce.  There have been more, but those guys come to mind first.

However, many of the very best players from those schools end up walking on at bigger schools or trying their luck at JUCOs.  I can think of several guys off the top of my head that nearly went to BV but were lured away by the prospect of scholarship money and the "prestige" of D-I and D-II programs. 

The big Dutch kids from Sioux and Lyon counties almost always end up at either Sioux Falls or Northwestern due to factors related to religion and location, so BV misses out on a lot of good football bodies from what many outsiders perceive to be BV's home territory.

[oldbeake]

As far as needs go for next year the four that are mentioned do need to be replaced.  There are some kids there on campus that IMO can fill the shoes.  That being said I think that if there are some good recruits out there that they may feel that they can fill those shoes as well.  The defensive back field needs some help with the loss of Baethke, Doud, Baduex, Dierx, and LB's Altmeir (spelling) and Lehn.  There were also two D lineman graduation too.  Mulder and WillisThe recruiting wars are just heating up.  The few large sided victories the Dutch had gave them some PT for the younger players as well.  The one thing that the Dutch do have to look forward to is that they have been here in this position before.  They had just come off of a 5-5 and a 6-4 season when this group of seniors were sophomores.  Out of that season they produced a 9-1 regular season 9-2 overall and tie for IIAC crown.  They went on to a 20-0 regular season and a 2-2 playoff record.  So for a team with so many questions as that to fill in when they started after two down years lets hope after the 31-4 record they turned in three years the next class can continue on.   

I have to say that this is one of the first times in recent memory that I actually believe the bold statement above.  Those 5-5 and 6-4 seasons really had me scared for the program (unacceptable to many alums).  No offense to anyone that played on those teams...it's just something that we old folks weren't used to...therefore we'll forever refuse to accept it as a possibility.

Now...if you'll excuse me...I have to go and watch Matlock.

I have confidence that this year's seniors will put the pressure on next year's upper classmen to not accept anything but perfection again.  I know that I'd hate to be a part of the team that breaks the current "streak."

GO DUTCH!

[BeaverOfYore]

I would say it is highly likely that he makes more at Valley than Simpson was able to offer him.

What kind of money are IIAC head coaches making now???

A very good inside source told me that when Osty left BV, he got a pay raise from about $45k to $65k, and it made him one of the higher-paid coaches in the IIAC.  No idea how much Anderson or any other coaches make.

[doolittledog]

That's interesting on the money issue.  When I was at UD I had a friend in the computer department that knew what everyone on campus earned.  This was around 1990-1992 or so.  Jon Davison was the mens basketball coach as well as the AD and he was making $72,000.  I know being the AD on top of coaching added some money but I would have thought 15 years down the road we might be seeing some coaches at least approaching 100k by now.  

[BeaverOfYore]

That's interesting on the money issue.  When I was at UD I had a friend in the computer department that knew what everyone on campus earned.  This was around 1990-1992 or so.  Jon Davison was the mens basketball coach as well as the AD and he was making $72,000.  I know being the AD on top of coaching added some money but I would have thought 15 years down the road we might be seeing some coaches at least approaching 100k by now. 

A Simpson alum I know who is now employed in the athletic administration field says that Simpson's AD is now in the six-figure range, which apparently compares favorably with many others in the IIAC.  I would guess that most ADs at small colleges make more than the coaches since AD is an administrative position.

[doolittledog]

That's interesting on the money issue.  When I was at UD I had a friend in the computer department that knew what everyone on campus earned.  This was around 1990-1992 or so.  Jon Davison was the mens basketball coach as well as the AD and he was making $72,000.  I know being the AD on top of coaching added some money but I would have thought 15 years down the road we might be seeing some coaches at least approaching 100k by now. 

A Simpson alum I know who is now employed in the athletic administration field says that Simpson's AD is now in the six-figure range, which apparently compares favorably with many others in the IIAC.  I would guess that most ADs at small colleges make more than the coaches since AD is an administrative position.

Thanks for the info, I was curious how much more an AD would make over his/her coaches at the D3 level. 

[sc_stormchaser]

Here are the top ten paid employees at Simpson...this was published in The Simpsonian on March 22, 2007. I'm only assuming this is the latest info. As you will see, the AD is not on the list.

http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper1080/stills/2s81957h.jpg

[Klompen]

Central is losing a ton of talent on both offense and defense.  I think the steps that Central took in the playoffs this year will have all of the current players really looking to work hard to get a shot at those open positions next year.  There will be lots of spots open and no promises at who gets them.  That should put a fire in the belly of the guys that will be taking the program to the next level.  It will be nice to have 3 kick/punt guys back for 3 more years.  They all did a great job this year and will only get better.  Bandow should be front runner for the QB spot, but he is relatively untested at varsity, so he will have to earn his time and make sure a newcomer doesn't beat him out.  After all, Shad Flynn came in and started as a freshman. 

[oldNorse]

I am curious to see where the Norse go with a new head coach.  A lot really depends on what the Norse do with that position.  As far as improving for next year, I think the one position that Norse really struggled with this year was at QB.  You cannot be successful being a one-dimensional team, no matter how good that one dimension is.  The Norse need to get to a point of balance in the offensive schemes where they can run and pass effectively and keep defenses honest and off-balance.

dblj......
Luther is interviewing head coach prospects this week.  The college president told the Rotary Club that he wants someone hired by Christmas.  AD said he want someone on staff shortly after the first of the year.  Search committee is moving along.  No hints as to who is the likely candidate.

[DutchFan2004]

Here are the top ten paid employees at Simpson...this was published in The Simpsonian on March 22, 2007. I'm only assuming this is the latest info. As you will see, the AD is not on the list.

http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper1080/stills/2s81957h.jpg

I have to ask this question.  Does it seem that with maybe the exception of the presidents salary (because you need a man or woman at the top to lead the college) isn't that a lot of money spent on non productive salaries?  If they have some teaching responsibilities then maybe I am wrong but that seems like that is having a whole lot of chiefs at the top.

[DutchFan2004]

Simpson people don't take that wrong I have not checked out Central or any other IIAC school.  Just seems like there is a lot vice presidents.  No wonder the IIAC tuitions are high if all schools have this many vice presidents.

[BeaverOfYore]

Here are the top ten paid employees at Simpson...this was published in The Simpsonian on March 22, 2007. I'm only assuming this is the latest info. As you will see, the AD is not on the list.

http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper1080/stills/2s81957h.jpg

Interesting, I consider my friend to be a pretty reliable source most of the time.  Either way, I trust his approximation that Simpson's AD is relatively highly-paid.  The point is, very few small college coaches earn as much as ADs, so you can usually expect coaches' salaries to be considerably smaller.  Simpson's AD presumably earns less than $90k.  Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Simpson was unwilling to match Swenson's current salary since it would be nearly as much as his new boss' salary.