FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[New Tradition]

Holy cow!! What an honor! Congrats, Scottie!!

[emma17]

Congratulations to Scottie Williams- what a great reward for his hard work.  And congrats to the Elmhurst football program as well - everyone plays a role in an award like this.

[SUADC]

Congratulations to Scottie Williams- what a great reward for his hard work.  And congrats to the Elmhurst football program as well - everyone plays a role in an award like this.

I concur.

[79jaybird]

Congratulations to Scotty and all the Gagliardi Award Finalists.  Quite a thrill and great honor. Couldn't have gone wrong with any of the nominees.

This is more than just an individual award for Scotty and Elmhurst. This is a great milestone in the development stage of EC because really since the mid 80's, Elmhurst has struggled to gain fb praise.  Hopefully next year's class can continue to build.

[matblake]

Congrats to Scottie. Definitely deserving given the scope of the award.  Truly an all around player and young man.

[ncc58]

Congrats to Scottie Williams. It's been a pleasure to watch him play on the field. Obviously, Scottie is equally impressive in the classroom and in the community.

[FishHack76]

Wow. Congraulations, Scottie Williams!

[Langhorst_Ghost]

North Park today named Michael Conway head football coach.  Good resume and apparently can curl a Volkswagon by the looks of those pipes!

He offers this quote: "We will work diligently to build the Vikings into a winning program."  As per Dr. Sager's NPU 101 class we've all taken on the boards this last semester, this prognastication will be a very steep uphill climb.

http://d3football.com/seasons/2012/contrib/20121213mtrkof

[New Tradition]

North Park today named Michael Conway head football coach.  Good resume and apparently can curl a Volkswagon by the looks of those pipes!

He offers this quote: "We will work diligently to build the Vikings into a winning program."  As per Dr. Sager's NPU 101 class we've all taken on the boards this last semester, this prognastication will be a very steep uphill climb.

http://d3football.com/seasons/2012/contrib/20121213mtrkof

Judging by his resume, Coach Conway looks like what the program needs.  He has been an integral part of many, many successful programs and should know what it takes to get there.  Let's hope he can pull the program up by the bootstraps and make it competitive in this league!

[Gregory Sager]

I'm looking forward to meeting Mike Conway. And of course I wish him the best of luck. He's certainly gonna need it.

[mr_b]

North Park today named Michael Conway head football coach.  Good resume and apparently can curl a Volkswagon by the looks of those pipes!

He offers this quote: "We will work diligently to build the Vikings into a winning program."  As per Dr. Sager's NPU 101 class we've all taken on the boards this last semester, this prognastication will be a very steep uphill climb.

http://d3football.com/seasons/2012/contrib/20121213mtrkof

I also look forward to meeting him and wish him well as he works to rebuild the program.  It might be worth noting that he has two sons, one of whom is named T.D.  I hope that bodes well for the Viking offense!

[markerickson]

I think the word is "build", not "rebuild."  Best wishes, Coach.

Darren Sproles reminds me of Scottie Williams.

[USee]

First, congratulations to Scottie Williams and the Elmhurst program. That is a great honor and Scottie was well deserving. I thought he was the best RB I have seen in D3 this side of Levell Coppage.

On NPU's HC hire, I am intrigued. Looks like the Vikings will be coming into some defense! I think the fastest way to build a competitive D3 team is to become great on defense. Wheaton College was in rebuilding mode in the early 80's and they hired JR Bishop. Bishop was the 4th HC in 4 years and was 2-7. He used his great offensive mind to go 6-3 and 7-2 in years 2 and 3. After his 3rd year he hired a young, long haired surfer looking dude named Mike Swider in 1985. Wheaton went from last in the conference in defense to 1st in 1 year and began a run that continues today. I like the idea of hiring a guy who is defensive minded. Interesting hire for NPU. I wonder what he will do on offense. If he makes a change in system they will have to get some other players. It's plenty early in the recruiting cycle for them to put together a class.

[Gregory Sager]

Coach Conway and his assistants are going to have to get some other players on offense anyway, USee. NPU can't effectively run the option offense currently in place with the players it has, even though by and large they came in as option-experienced freshmen. North Park simply lacks the speed to make that offense -- or any offense -- work against CCIW defenses.

I don't want to sound like Mr. Pessimist. A change in head coaches is always a hopeful time. But I'm not going to turn a blind eye to NPU's football situation. The facts are that North Park has not had a winning season since 1968, or a CCIW win since 2000, and the team took a backwards step this past season from the season before, even though it had a lot more experience. Hope springs eternal, but realism is a perennial as well.

[CardinalAlum]

All American teams were revealed.  I have a really hard time believing there were 8 RB's in the country better than Nick Kukuc.