FB: American Rivers Conference

[Purple Heys]

One thing that's a little disappointing was there was no one listed just a kicker, but oh well, I can't get everything at once I guess.

Line 'em all up and see who can kick the rock the furthest and highest.

[the_mayne_event]

Feel free to boo me off the board for this comment.  I know some were a little upset that I said I liked watching a live soccer game   BUT it was pretty cool seeing Shawn Johnson standing at the top of the podium tonight with a gold medal.  What a great thing for the state of Iowa.  Ok back to football and smartass comments now  

along the same lines... a heartbreaking moment on the track yesterday (i think 2 days ago technically...whatever) for Lolo Jones of Des Moines Iowa.  Had the 110 hurdles locked up for another gold for an iowa, and clipped the 2nd to last hurtle with her lead foot.  heartbreaking to watch.

[PE_Teacher13]

Looking at the Cornell roster it's dissappointing to see a freshman class with only 5 Iowa High School players. I truly believe that this conference is one with quality players from Iowa High Schools. Look at how Central, Coe and  Wartburg have had recent success with Iowa kids. Until Cornell can do a better job of getting Iowa kids they may continue to struggle.

[Klompen]

Feel free to boo me off the board for this comment.  I know some were a little upset that I said I liked watching a live soccer game   BUT it was pretty cool seeing Shawn Johnson standing at the top of the podium tonight with a gold medal.  What a great thing for the state of Iowa.  Ok back to football and smartass comments now  

I'm with you.  It is great to see an Iowan with an olympic gold medal.  Always great to see very successful Iowans, no matter the venue. 

[Klompen]

One thing that's a little disappointing was there was no one listed just a kicker, but oh well, I can't get everything at once I guess.

Line 'em all up and see who can kick the rock the furthest and highest.

You never know what can happen.  A few years ago Central had the same issue with a punter.  We had to "settle" for Vermeer.  The kid had a thing about landing punts inside the 5 yard line though.      But you take what you can get when nobody shows up for a certain position.      And sometimes you end up with all-conference players.

[DutchFan2004]

Because I have a backlog of season previews in my inbox, we gave SIDs access to post previews from their login.

Kickoff (t-minus 7 days) is the priority above and beyond anything else right now.

If you have a question about site operations you can always drop me an e-mail.

Pat you don't need sleep or a life do you? 

[doolittledog]

Looking at the Cornell roster it's dissappointing to see a freshman class with only 5 Iowa High School players. I truly believe that this conference is one with quality players from Iowa High Schools. Look at how Central, Coe and  Wartburg have had recent success with Iowa kids. Until Cornell can do a better job of getting Iowa kids they may continue to struggle.

I think Cornell would love to have more Iowans on their team.  It seems to me that Iowans don't want to play for a program with a losing history.  Dubuque, for years had a hard time recruiting local kids...not through a lack of trying.  Now that Dubuque has a winning team there are more and more Iowa kids showing up on their roster.  There have been plenty of posters on here that said there was no way they would have played for Dubuque because they didn't want to work their butt off and go 0-10.

I don't think having a roster loaded with Iowa kids is the secret ingrediant to a winning program.  I think what you need is an experianced core of talented football players.  A lot of juniors and seniors on your roster.  Also a roster over 100 players.  While Iowans are nice to have...and I think having Iowans on the roster can help the out-of-state kids adjust to school here.  In the end you need a big roster with a lot of Juniors and Seniors with experiance. 

[Klompen]

Because I have a backlog of season previews in my inbox, we gave SIDs access to post previews from their login.

Kickoff (t-minus 7 days) is the priority above and beyond anything else right now.

If you have a question about site operations you can always drop me an e-mail.

Pat you don't need sleep or a life do you? 

Pat may need sleep, but his life looks pretty good to me.  Family and football, you have it all.

[ShowMe]

Cornell finally got an updated roster on its website and I am very pleased with what I saw on paper.  Lots of OL, especially with size, and defensive backs, two areas we needed bodies at.  Now I know everyone is going to say that well its just on paper, and lots of times numbers are inflated or whatever.  Regardless, I counted 63 names, which is a few more than I was expecting, considering some of the rumors I had been hearing about kids deciding not to play anymore.  The smallest OL being listed at 242 even though he is listed at 6'3", meaning he should take advantage of the buffet meals in teh Commons to grow into his body.  Overall, it looks like we have an incoming class that is well balanced, bringing in kids to fill every position.  I just hope that their potential is as good as it looks on paper.  One thing that's a little disappointing was there was no one listed just a kicker, but oh well, I can't get everything at once I guess.

Please get a message to Coach Dillon to have an open tryout to find some kickers  

[Willie University]

The Spartans have some fire on offense, might be the most athletic team in the conference? Could be as good as reining top 3.

Well, Dubuque was 3rd last year...so are you asking if they are as good as last years team???  

And I know you probably didn't mean it in a bad way.  But I get a little tired of people describing Dubuque as athletic.  These guys are also good football players.  I have more than once listened to a webcast where the announcers said that Dubuque won because they were better athletes.  Just maybe, Dubuque won the game because they had better FOOTBALL players!!!  End of rant, sorry about that.  

Do not apologize. Great post. The most ridiculous statement I hear from people on here is about ATHLETES being ATHLETIC. I would hope so for crying out loud. If your football players aren't athletic, have them join the frickin band! And you are correct Dog, if UD beat you, they beat you because they were the better football team. If you want to say they had MORE athletes on their team, go ahead and then tell a few of your players to hang up the helmet and grab a flute!

Willie U

[Klompen]

I think Cornell would love to have more Iowans on their team.  It seems to me that Iowans don't want to play for a program with a losing history.  Dubuque, for years had a hard time recruiting local kids...not through a lack of trying.  Now that Dubuque has a winning team there are more and more Iowa kids showing up on their roster. 

So true.  That is why Central is flooded with football players this year.  But some other sports I follow struggle to get the numbers.

Mav45 - Is your newest nephew at Central going to play basketball too?

[DutchFan2004]

Looking at the Cornell roster it's dissappointing to see a freshman class with only 5 Iowa High School players. I truly believe that this conference is one with quality players from Iowa High Schools. Look at how Central, Coe and  Wartburg have had recent success with Iowa kids. Until Cornell can do a better job of getting Iowa kids they may continue to struggle.

I think Cornell would love to have more Iowans on their team.  It seems to me that Iowans don't want to play for a program with a losing history.  Dubuque, for years had a hard time recruiting local kids...not through a lack of trying.  Now that Dubuque has a winning team there are more and more Iowa kids showing up on their roster.  There have been plenty of posters on here that said there was no way they would have played for Dubuque because they didn't want to work their butt off and go 0-10.

I don't think having a roster loaded with Iowa kids is the secret ingrediant to a winning program.  I think what you need is an experianced core of talented football players.  A lot of juniors and seniors on your roster.  Also a roster over 100 players.  While Iowans are nice to have...and I think having Iowans on the roster can help the out-of-state kids adjust to school here.  In the end you need a big roster with a lot of Juniors and Seniors with experiance. 

Well said and I agree with all that you said.  I think Brautigan has done a great job in turning the program around.  I have not been around all that long watching the IIAC but was that part of the problem too, the coaching for UD in years past?

[DutchFan2004]

The Spartans have some fire on offense, might be the most athletic team in the conference? Could be as good as reining top 3.

Well, Dubuque was 3rd last year...so are you asking if they are as good as last years team???  

And I know you probably didn't mean it in a bad way.  But I get a little tired of people describing Dubuque as athletic.  These guys are also good football players.  I have more than once listened to a webcast where the announcers said that Dubuque won because they were better athletes.  Just maybe, Dubuque won the game because they had better FOOTBALL players!!!  End of rant, sorry about that.  

Do not apologize. Great post. The most ridiculous statement I hear from people on here is about ATHLETES being ATHLETIC. I would hope so for crying out loud. If your football players aren't athletic, have them join the frickin band! And you are correct Dog, if UD beat you, they beat you because they were the better football team. If you want to say they had MORE athletes on their team, go ahead and then tell a few of your players to hang up the helmet and grab a flute!

Willie U

I think that many posters and people that follow the IIAC have meant that UD players have the TALENT and may have had more TALENT than some of the other teams they played and lost to.  I know IMHO the UD players seemed to be bigger and faster than some of the Dutch players.  They just didn't seem to put it all together.  I never meant to use these comments to stain the UD team.  I think they are finally putting things together as the game last year with the Dutch showed.  They are one or were last year a game or two from putting themselves up to the top.  IMHO they have been the team that I feared the most as they were the most unknown.  Not saying that Wartburg and Coe didn't worry me but those games were a given that they would be tough games.  UD two years ago were very worry some as they could score and score in a hurry.  That game became a run away but still showed they could score in a hurry late in the game.  Then last year they took us to three OT's.  They were good.  Three years ago they game a great effort as well.  I think if Coach B can replace his players he lost they will still be in the mix this year. 

[Willie University]

Looking at the Cornell roster it's dissappointing to see a freshman class with only 5 Iowa High School players. I truly believe that this conference is one with quality players from Iowa High Schools. Look at how Central, Coe and  Wartburg have had recent success with Iowa kids. Until Cornell can do a better job of getting Iowa kids they may continue to struggle.

I think Cornell would love to have more Iowans on their team.  It seems to me that Iowans don't want to play for a program with a losing history.  Dubuque, for years had a hard time recruiting local kids...not through a lack of trying.  Now that Dubuque has a winning team there are more and more Iowa kids showing up on their roster.  There have been plenty of posters on here that said there was no way they would have played for Dubuque because they didn't want to work their butt off and go 0-10.

I don't think having a roster loaded with Iowa kids is the secret ingrediant to a winning program.  I think what you need is an experianced core of talented football players.  A lot of juniors and seniors on your roster.  Also a roster over 100 players.  While Iowans are nice to have...and I think having Iowans on the roster can help the out-of-state kids adjust to school here.  In the end you need a big roster with a lot of Juniors and Seniors with experiance. 

Well said and I agree with all that you said.  I think Brautigan has done a great job in turning the program around.  I have not been around all that long watching the IIAC but was that part of the problem too, the coaching for UD in years past?

I would answer that question a couple different ways. First, there have been some fine coaches that coached at UD over the past 15 or so years that did not see the success that UD has seen recently. Coach B was very instrumental in the "resurrection" of the winning tradition that UD had in the past. A very long and difficult process and he and his staff and those football players that "believed" should be commended for sticking it out and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now, think about it on a larger scale (which for those of you posting on here back when I started will remember- the lance harbor days, etc..) What has helped the football program and ALL athletic programs has been the transformation of UD as a whole. Back in the late 90's, UD took drastic measures to ensure it's future and success today. As an institution, academic programs have gotten national attention, fundraising has been among the top in the state, region, and country, and the campus has practically doubled in size and not only size, but the facilities at UD are absolutely amazing. No cut corners nor "mix-matched" buildings. Everything architecturally matches and carries the UD theme throughout.

That, in a nut shell, is the "other" ingredient that has led to the Spartan success in recent years.

Willie U

[Klompen]

Well said and I agree with all that you said.  I think Brautigan has done a great job in turning the program around.  I have not been around all that long watching the IIAC but was that part of the problem too, the coaching for UD in years past?

Whatever the sport, the first step to turning a program around IMHO, is getting a coach with some staying power.  You have to be willing to endure some bad years when you come to a team with a losing record if you really want to turn things around.  It takes time and patience to really turn a team around because you have to get the players that are willing to try to be the athletes that help the team turn that corner.  Most times those are not the "top" athletes.  The top athletes want to attend a school with a winning program and are sure enough of their skills to believe they will get the playing time there.  I think it is the next tier of athletes that recognize they may not get the PT at a winning program, but could at a contender or more certainly a team with a program that needs to turn a corner.  

It follows that the top schools will mostly always be the top schools, the contenders will mostly stay contenders, and the teams that need to turn things around will have to have a coach that understands it is a long process.  Further, it doesn't take long to fall from the top towards the bottom, but getting back to the top takes real dedication.