FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[HScoach]

Question for the Mt Union guys......How do you see Mount looking this coming year and what are your chances of getting back to the top?

In all honesty, I expect nothing less than a Semi-Final appearance.  With a return trip to Salem, VA at 50/50 odds.   Which is better odds than any other D3 team.  Whose odds would be better? 

WWW?  Not even close.  They needed 3 cracks at it and the stars to align to get their first.

Not good to under-estimate the Hawks,  would have thought that lesson would have been learned.  What you call, "the stars aligning," I call a solid butt whipping.  Granted, they are losing some serious talent but that was the mantra that was being said after the 06 season.  I hear some great recruits and transfers will be pouring into Whitewater after playing for three titles and winning one.  Afterall, isn't that how a dynasty is built?  Win a lot and they start coming to you?  Like MUC has been doing for years, the Warhawks will be reloading, not rebuilding.

My "aligning stars" was the benefit of getting Mount 3 times in a row.  The first being a loss when they were better than Mount, the 2nd coming with the teams being even and the 3rd coming with all the expectations and pressure on Mount while they had the advantage of redemption.  The intangibles associated with desire can not be overlooked. 

It might be a cliche, but it's true.  Remaining at the top is much harder than the climb.

[ace]

About the Marietta job, some very good arguements against my recommendation of Watson and Campbell. I do wonder how old was Sirianni was he got the job at W&J. The kid is not doing a bad job there.

[Spence]

About the Marietta job, some very good arguements against my recommendation of Watson and Campbell. I do wonder how old was Sirianni was he got the job at W&J. The kid is not doing a bad job there.

NC Wesleyan exposed W&J. Playing Bethany and Waynesburg is a lot different than going head up in a conference with Mount, Cap, Northern and others.

Sirianni was 30 or 31 (35 at the start of this season with 4 years in as the HC there), he also coached at Wilkes and Ithaca for a year each, and W&J was already an established program in that conference.

W&J is now under Sirianni what they pretty much always have been post the two title game appearances in the early 90s...rack up a great record against questionable competition, maybe get a playoff win if they draw Christopher Newport, then bow out to someone legit. Thus far, he hasn't changed that, and in fact they just went ahead and lost to the 8th seed USA South team this year in the first round. I've seen first hand how mediocre South Region football is and to me that's an unthinkable loss if you're a real #1 seed, which of course W&J never is.

IMO it takes more as a coach to build a winner at Marietta than it does to maintain a program at a place like W&J where you've got 8 wins when the season starts.

[Ric]

I'm not sure if it is a Mount Union thing or a young guy thing but I'll tell you this, and yes, I am only able to say this because of my relationship with certain people in the Mount program, so there may be an equally talented and intelligent person that graduated from Muskingum the same year Matt Campbell did from Mount.

But what I'll say is this, Marietta can do a lot worse than Campbell. I don't even know if he is interested in that job, and would probably guess he is not. But he will be a head coach at the D1 level earlier in life than LK was at Mount (saying that only because you used that as a reference Spence).

This guy is really thought highly of by everyone I have ever talked with at Mount. Anyone aware enough to see the differences in the Mount offense over the last three years can know Campbell brought that with him to Mount. And if LK thinks enough of a Matt Campbell three years ago to turn certain things over to him, Marietta would be foolish not to do the same.

Oh, and I'll throw this in one more time since I want to. I was smarter than the last guy at Marietta. Probably a lot of people on this board are. To not play a second QB basically at all Vrable's senior year is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen. Especially at the end of that Mount game. That was the dumbest thing I saw that year. Addition by subtraction for the Pioneers with that guy gone as far as I'm concerned.

[Ric]

HScoach I have a lot of friends inside my head. And they all think I'm a pretty good guy.

[Spence]

I'm not sure if it is a Mount Union thing or a young guy thing but I'll tell you this, and yes, I am only able to say this because of my relationship with certain people in the Mount program, so there may be an equally talented and intelligent person that graduated from Muskingum the same year Matt Campbell did from Mount.

But what I'll say is this, Marietta can do a lot worse than Campbell. I don't even know if he is interested in that job, and would probably guess he is not. But he will be a head coach at the D1 level earlier in life than LK was at Mount (saying that only because you used that as a reference Spence).

This guy is really thought highly of by everyone I have ever talked with at Mount. Anyone aware enough to see the differences in the Mount offense over the last three years can know Campbell brought that with him to Mount. And if LK thinks enough of a Matt Campbell three years ago to turn certain things over to him, Marietta would be foolish not to do the same.

Oh, and I'll throw this in one more time since I want to. I was smarter than the last guy at Marietta. Probably a lot of people on this board are. To not play a second QB basically at all Vrable's senior year is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen. Especially at the end of that Mount game. That was the dumbest thing I saw that year. Addition by subtraction for the Pioneers with that guy gone as far as I'm concerned.

Actually someone else made the reference to Kehres leaving BG to go back to D-III as if he just immediately took over the head job then, which isn't how it happened at all.

Campbell is not that far away from being head coach timber, but he's not there yet IMO. He's a ways away from being D-I head coach considerable though. If he gets a spot as a coordinator, then you can start looking at what he does in that role and sizing up possibilities for D-I. Not before.

This is all to say nothing of what would be required to have success in the MARIETTA job. All you have to do is look at the OHSAA playoffs every year and where the teams that advance are from and aren't from to see that the challenge at Marietta is a whole different animal from pretty much anywhere else in the OAC. You can't throw a rock from campus and hit 10 solid recruitable players like you can in northern Ohio. This is in no way an on-the-job trainable position if the program is to take the next step.

[D3 Poster]

Ok, I'll bite...

I'm sorry, but I do not think us posters are smarter than the previous Marietta coach.  I know the Purple Raiders have a fantastic program, great athletes & coaches, and a top notch website, but I can't make the leap to say the broadcasters and posters are smarter football people than the head coach.

I trust Kehres and Wiese know their players and their capabilities.  I don't think the mop up time versus Mount Union in game ten would have made the '07 Marietta quarterback an all-star...although, he did have some nice games in '07 and at 6'6" 200+ lbs has some nice potential.

I'm sure that Marietta's qb who was a freshman in 2006 was playing jv ball  and I don't know the rules on how many total games a kid can play.  I did see that as the as a back-up in '06, he played in 3 varsity games, threw 3 passes and rushed for 5 yards. 

The '06 stats for Mount's backup in '07? Shorts and Rocco...no varsity QB that I can find.  Harris played in 4 games, threw 1 pass and rushed for 4 yards.

I would be happy with a Campbell or a Watson.

[Knightstalker]

KS was just checking out the VFW website and found this news article. The National Commander in Chief of the VFW has condemned the City of Berkely CA regarding their treatment of the Marine recruiting station.  They even give the phone numbers, addresses and email addresses of the city council members.  Anyone who thinks their actions are deplorable are encouraged to let them know how they feel.

Thank  you
Michael Dougherty
Commander VFW Secaucus Memorial Post 3776.

[HScoach]

I'm sorry, but I do not think us posters are smarter than the previous Marietta coach.  I know the Purple Raiders have a fantastic program, great athletes & coaches, and a top notch website, but I can't make the leap to say the broadcasters and posters are smarter football people than the head coach.

I'm with Ric on this one.  He knew Vrable was done and that the biggest question heading into '07 was replacing his QB in a QB-based offense.  He needed to get his back-up some legit playing time.  If for no other reason to find out what he really had.  And JV time, while valuable, is not the same as varsity action.

The '06 stats for Mount's backup in '07? Shorts and Rocco...no varsity QB that I can find.  Harris played in 4 games, threw 1 pass and rushed for 4 yards.

The Mount back-up in '06 was Greg Micheli.  Danny Harris was 3rd string.  And Micheli got plenty of experience playing under Mike Jorris to prepare him for his first season ('07) as a starter. 

Rocco and Shorts got a ton more experience in real live varsity action (i.e. early in games with the rest of the starters) playing behind Micheli in '07 even though Greg is returning for '08 than the Marietta back-up got behind Vrable with Vrable graduating.

In my not-so-humble opinon, the Marietta coach was much more interested in getting Vrable as many stats as possible than he was building for the future!   Why else is your graduating QB still throwing passes in the last 2 minutes of a 40 point loss when you have a youngster that is going to have to fill those shoes the next season?  It's not like he had a Junior QB with a lot of experience waiting in the wings.  He had a major experience gap at QB.

That kind of thinking might have something to do with why Marietta is Marietta.

[JK]

KS was just checking out the VFW website and found this news article. The National Commander in Chief of the VFW has condemned the City of Berkely CA regarding their treatment of the Marine recruiting station.  They even give the phone numbers, addresses and email addresses of the city council members.  Anyone who thinks their actions are deplorable are encouraged to let them know how they feel.

Thank  you
Michael Dougherty
Commander VFW Secaucus Memorial Post 3776.

KS,

Thanks for the link.  Not a surprise given the location, but still, their actions are ridiculous and should be condemned.  I am considering my words for a possible note to them.

I have forwarded to everyone I work with, most of whom, like me, are in the service and Veterans of the War on Terror either in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I know there are several on this board who are either currently in the service, recently separated from the service, or Vietnam Vets (like runyr and seventies) who will likely take as much offense to this as I did.

Jon Kovach
Major, US Army

[D3 Poster]

Although I consider Mount Union to be the premier team in D III, I do not agree that that last two minutes of the Mt Union game would have added much of anything to Hughes' development.

Now, if Mount could send the Pioneers some lineman, running backs, linebackers and defensive backs....that would add to Marietta's development.

Marietta got the ball back with one minute remaining.  Ran two running plays to a senior who doubled his entire year with those two carries and tried to pass it to him on the other play.

After Jorris' last pass late in the fourth quarter, Vrable threw for 71 yards on the following drive. 

This kind of thinking that the radio announcers are better football minds than an OAC coach may have something to do with the vast amount of success the Kehres regime has achieved.   

[pradierguy]

Any early news on how the combine is going for Pierre?

[HScoach]

Although I consider Mount Union to be the premier team in D III, I do not agree that that last two minutes of the Mt Union game would have added much of anything to Hughes' development.

Now, if Mount could send the Pioneers some lineman, running backs, linebackers and defensive backs....that would add to Marietta's development.

Marietta got the ball back with one minute remaining.  Ran two running plays to a senior who doubled his entire year with those two carries and tried to pass it to him on the other play.

After Jorris' last pass late in the fourth quarter, Vrable threw for 71 yards on the following drive.  This kind of thinking that the radio announcers are better football minds than an OAC coach may have something to do with the vast amount of success the Kehres regime has achieved.   

That's the drive I was thinking should have been the backup's drive.  Not the one with seconds left.

[reality check]

Any early news on how the combine is going for Pierre?

Not really news but it looks like Pierre may have shrunk a little.  He's listed on NFL.com/combine as 6'0", 209 lbs. 

WR's work out on Sunday at 11 a.m. EST. 

[pradierguy]

Thank you for the update.