FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Toph]

Congrats to Coach Leipold on the new gig. Having experience with Division I level enrollment is probably going to make the transition a little easier.

[raiderpa]

So...Lance L is "shuffling off to Buffalo"...Would like some input from WWW fans on likely successor?  Who do they think will go with him? 
He will find that winning there is significantly difficult. The Mid American Conference is very competitive and recruiting to a pedestrian Buffalo program has got to be more difficult than recruiting to the power of the National Championships of WWW.
Wish him success, except when Toledo is the opponent. 

[wally_wabash]

Any word on whether Coach Leipold is finishing out the season with UWW?  I'm also guessing he will be taking some of the staff along to sunny Buffalo.....

I would assume so also, and I would assume that those assistants positions at Buffalo are going to be attractive to any on the current staff that want to move along with Coach Leipold. 

To put some numbers on this, Leipold was making $100,000 at UWW (as of 2013...who knows if he got any sort of bump for 2014).  Buffalo's last coach made $325,000, but I have to imagine that Leipold will get more.  The economics of FBS football basically say that $325k is nothing.  By contrast, Chris Creighton gets a base salary of $400k at EMU.  I'm sure you guys can guess that I love me some Chris Creighton, but in that market Leipold kind of has to be worth more that CC.  So it's a massive amount of money that we're talking about here.  And if he's getting a four or five year deal for $500k (I would think the number has to be right around there), then he's got security forever.  I'm sure contract details will leak eventually.  That stuff can't be kept secret anymore. 

But the assistants- here's where it gets interesting.  Previously Buffalo was allocating $825k per year for assistants with the coordinators making $130k apiece.  Again, it's reasonable to expect that number to go up because that's the way FBS football works.  So, if Leipold is offering to bring his assistants/coordinators along for the ride, they're going to get paid more in Buffalo than they are to be a successor in Whitewater, perhaps close to twice as much more.  It's not an easy decision for one of those guys (Borland is the name floating around) to stay and take over the Warhawks if the opportunity is there to be a coordinator at an FBS program.  It may well turn out that one of the coordinators stays and takes over at UWW, but it isn't a slam dunk to think they'd turn down FBS salaries to stay in Whitewater. 

[Dr. Acula]

Plus the other thing to keep in mind for the assistants is that if you follow LL to Buffalo and you win it won't be long before a bigger FBS job gets offered to LL.  A guy with his pedigree proves he can win at that level and he will quickly pop up for a power 5 job, IMO.  And that means big boy $ for the coordinators if that happens.

[wabndy]

It will also be interesting to see if any UWW players transfer along with Coach Leipold.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

It will also be interesting to see if any UWW players transfer along with Coach Leipold.

They would have to sit out a year for transferring "up".  Also, the MAC is a LOT better than D3 football player wise.  I doubt many (other than Kumerow) would be recruited to play there.

[wally_wabash]

It will also be interesting to see if any UWW players transfer along with Coach Leipold.

Interesting thought and one that I'm sure a lot of people are tossing around half-jokingly or not.  My guess is that there aren't a lot of players there that would excel in the MAC.  Kumerow?  Sure.  He could ball in the MAC.  Past that, FBS ball is a completely different game, even for the UWWs and UMUs of the world. 

[02 Warhawk]

Kumerow is a senior...so this will be his last month playing anywhere.

[reality check]

Mount Union against JCU should be a great game this weekend. 

After a decade of getting kick around by the Raiders losing by an average of 51 to 8 the Blue Streak have become more competitive in the last two years dropping Mount Union's average win differential for the decade down to a more respectable 49 to 12.

Year   Mount Union   JCU
2014          31          24
2013          42           34
2012          59           17
2011          58             7
2010          51           7
2009          56            7
2008          41            7
2007          53             0
2006          31           14
2005          70             0
2004          55             3
2003          34           16

Craft_Beermeister

Good post! +k While I have not looked up the stats, OAC opponents who have played the Raiders 2 times in a year, one regular
season and one for the playoffs, have lost by a greater margin than the first meeting. We'll see if that trend holds for the
second meeting. IMHO, the Raiders have improved as a team since 11-15-14. We'll see!

Actually, of the 5 OAC playoff rematches Mount has had in the playoffs since 1999, 3 of the them have been closer the second time around.  So that trend is somewhere between a toss-up and completely wrong.  My guess is it is a wider margin this time around and we even the results at 3-3 making the "trend" completely level.

ONU 99 - margin went down by 7 points
ONU 00 - margin went up by 9 points
JCU 02 - margin went up by 19 points
CAP 05 - margin went down by 23 points
CAP 06 - margin went down by 15 points

[Craft_Beermeister]

I saw an interesting post by hazzben on the WIAC board where he was suggesting Erik Raeburn was a good candidate to replace Lance Leipold at Whitewater.

.......If they went outside the program, I'd think Eric Raeburn would be a solid candidate. He's done a really nice job at Coe and Wabash and seems to really have a desire to win a national title. Wabash is a nice setup, but it's not UWW. And he's obviously not going to go back to Mount now that VK is in place....

That would be wild with Vince coaching against his cousin.

[02 Warhawk]

I saw an interesting post by hazzben on the WIAC board where he was suggesting Erik Raeburn was a good candidate to replace Lance Leipold at Whitewater.

.......If they went outside the program, I'd think Eric Raeburn would be a solid candidate. He's done a really nice job at Coe and Wabash and seems to really have a desire to win a national title. Wabash is a nice setup, but it's not UWW. And he's obviously not going to go back to Mount now that VK is in place....

That would be wild with Vince potentially coaching against his cousin.

[Schwami]

I saw an interesting post by hazzben on the WIAC board where he was suggesting Erik Raeburn was a good candidate to replace Lance Leipold at Whitewater.

.......If they went outside the program, I'd think Eric Raeburn would be a solid candidate. He's done a really nice job at Coe and Wabash and seems to really have a desire to win a national title. Wabash is a nice setup, but it's not UWW. And he's obviously not going to go back to Mount now that VK is in place....

That would be wild with Vince potentially coaching against his cousin.

Of course, he has already coached against his uncle, and if he stays put, he'll likely run into his cousin soon enough! 

[Blutarsky]

It will also be interesting to see if any UWW players transfer along with Coach Leipold.

They would have to sit out a year for transferring "up".  Also, the MAC is a LOT better than D3 football player wise.  I doubt many (other than Kumerow) would be recruited to play there.

Crap.....I was hoping they would all transfer in the next couple of weeks.

[skunks_sidekick]

I had the chance to watch a fair amount of the Wheaton/JCU game online on Saturday, and I will say that both defenses were stellar.  I am guessing that had a fair amount to do with the offenses being less so.  Someone mentioned #55 on JCU's d-line, and that kid just is a player!

If any Mount fan thinks that you can take ANYTHING away from these past two weeks, you are living in a fantasy land.  Mount COULD be getting better, and peaking at the right time, but you just won't know until this game on Saturday.  Until Mount shows solid (translate "great") line play on both sides of the ball against a quality opponent, I think the jury is still out.

Don't get me wrong, I like their chances so I am hoping for a truly "quality win" against JCU on Saturday.

Skunk & I will be at Pancho's in our usual spot around 10 AM if anyone wants to stop by.  I was able to order my tickets last night, so that was a GOOD thing considering I am not quite old enough yet to think calling to order something is better than ordering online.   

[SaintsFAN]

Skunk & I will be at Pancho's in our usual spot around 10 AM if anyone wants to stop by.  I was able to order my tickets last night, so that was a GOOD thing considering I am not quite old enough yet to think calling to order something is better than ordering online.   

Will they sell out??  SF has to talk to his better half tonight about making the trip up solo very early on Saturday morning.