FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[D3gridiron]

Does anyone have an explanation for why Wheaton went for it on 4th and 1, looking at about a 33 yard field goal down 2 with 5:00 and change left?  Whether it was a poor spot or not, the call makes no sense to me. Take the lead. It was little more than a chip shot.

Wheaton's 4th down conversion rate is much higher then their FG conversion rate.

[Augie6]

Cushman resigns at Augustana.  Some much for him doing great things at Augie as many of the recent former players proclaimed.  Now let's see if the administration actually does a proper search for someone who can turn around the program or if they name his replacement tomorrow, like they did when Cushman was appointed after Coach Barnes resigned.   

[augiefan]

It looks like Cushman was politely told to pack his bags. I hate to see anyone lose their job, but Cushman was a disaster as HC at Augie.

Like Augie6 I hope the search for his replacement is done with great care, so that Augie can be restored to a truly competitive status in the CCIW. NCC did it perfectly when they hired Thorne. Hard to expect a hire that good, but there must be someone reasonably  comparable who will be interested in the Augie job.  Of course, from the perspective of a coaching prospect's family living in Naperville is a far sight more appealing than settling in the Quad Cities.

[markerickson]

Are there former Augie players doing exceptionally well coaching amongst the HS or postsecondary levels that warrant attention?

[Veinteuno]

I have taken a bit of a hiatus as I am busy coaching and teaching. First, I will be the first to admit that Cushman's tenure as HC at Augie did not go as I anticipated. I was wrong. Now to the real reason I posted, look for Bryan Stortz, HC at Rock Island, to possibly be in the mix. Stortz is a former Augie player, and he was instrumental in building Lake Zurich into the perennial contender it is today. The Rock Island move turned a lot of heads and there were whispers of a desire for the Augie job in the future. This is all hearsay, but I thought I would throw it out there for discussion. I am sure there are plenty of other exceptional candidates who are interested as well.

[kiko]

Any far too early predictions for how the CCIW will shake-out in 2015?

Based on what I saw this year I would put the early predictions like this:

Wheaton
North Central

IWU

Elmhurst
Augie
Carthage
North Park

Millikin

I can see a tight band between Elmhurst, Augie, Carthage, and NPU for 4th place and I think IWU is separated from Wheaton and NCC a little but also a little ahead of the other group. Millikin is in disarray to me.

This  feels basically right.  I would probably flip North Park and Carthage, but that's minor in the big picture.  And, "flip North Park and Carthage" as opposed to the "flip North Park and Millikin" we'd have seen in the recent past is one more sign of the slow incremental non-linear progress we're seeing at Foster and Kedzie.

[Augie6]

I have taken a bit of a hiatus as I am busy coaching and teaching. First, I will be the first to admit that Cushman's tenure as HC at Augie did not go as I anticipated. I was wrong. Now to the real reason I posted, look for Bryan Stortz, HC at Rock Island, to possibly be in the mix. Stortz is a former Augie player, and he was instrumental in building Lake Zurich into the perennial contender it is today. The Rock Island move turned a lot of heads and there were whispers of a desire for the Augie job in the future. This is all hearsay, but I thought I would throw it out there for discussion. I am sure there are plenty of other exceptional candidates who are interested as well.

Stortz would be a very interesting candidate with a strong resume at the high school level and, most importantly, a connection to the program.  Lots of other former Augie players at the high school level, but not sure if any would be interested in the job.  A few obvious ones to mention are Barry Reade, current HC at Rich East and son of Bob Reade; Larry Johnsen, Jr.  current HC at Geneseo whose father succeeded Coach Reade at Geneseo and also coached at Augie; John Bothe, current HC at Oregon High School.  Greg King was the HC at Sterling up until a couple of years ago and had a very successful run before stepping down due to family and the demands of the Athletic Director position.  Again, can't say that any of these would be interested, but all have a strong connection to the program and have achieved success at the high school level.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out. 

[Gregory Sager]

I have taken a bit of a hiatus as I am busy coaching and teaching. First, I will be the first to admit that Cushman's tenure as HC at Augie did not go as I anticipated. I was wrong. Now to the real reason I posted ...

Whether or not it's the real reason why you returned, kudos to you for coming back on here and admitting that you were wrong.

Any far too early predictions for how the CCIW will shake-out in 2015?

Based on what I saw this year I would put the early predictions like this:

Wheaton
North Central

IWU

Elmhurst
Augie
Carthage
North Park

Millikin

I can see a tight band between Elmhurst, Augie, Carthage, and NPU for 4th place and I think IWU is separated from Wheaton and NCC a little but also a little ahead of the other group. Millikin is in disarray to me.

This  feels basically right.  I would probably flip North Park and Carthage, but that's minor in the big picture.

Minor to you, maybe. But to the NPU faithful, who have watched the Vikings beat Carthage the last two seasons as well as finish ahead of Carthage last year and even with Carthage this year, staying ahead of the Red Men is a big deal.

And, "flip North Park and Carthage" as opposed to the "flip North Park and Millikin" we'd have seen in the recent past is one more sign of the slow incremental non-linear progress we're seeing at Foster and Kedzie.

Last summer, NPU alumnus Mark Erickson posted this:

NPU has not pushed past any CCIW program, including Augie and Millikin.

I conditionally agreed with him at the time, but I think it can be safely said now that North Park's football program has, in fact, pushed past Millikin's. I think that you can make a case that it's pushed past Carthage's as well, but I don't think that that's as clear-cut.

[kiko]

The signature Viking win in the past two years from my (outsider) perspective was the non-Carthage/non-Millikin victory in Rock Island last year.

We all know that Augustana is not Augustana these days, but they're still Augustana, if you get what I mean.

[Gregory Sager]

Agreed. That's what made the November 1 near-miss at Ericson Stadium so painful this past season.

[USee]

I was more impressed with Carthage than I was with NPU this hear. I concede I saw NPU in the first game and Carthage in the last game so that am very well account for the difference.  Either way I think that's a group that's tightly bunched.  (Augie,a Elmhurst, Carthage NPU)

[79jaybird]

Gauging Elmhurst for next year is going to be difficult because they have to replace a # of skilled positions. Ron has a year under his belt now, so he can review this year and make revisions (+ and -) as needed.  I think putting Elmhurst at 4 or 5 even 6 is pretty accurate at this point.  I think Elmhurst is going to be one of those jekyl and hyde teams that you don't want to play at Langhorst and then can ill afford to take lightly on the road.  The immediate need will be replacing Camiliere, but having a SR. RB is definitely going to help.

Interesting, but not surprised Augie made a change.  My two cents- I agree Cushman has not put the wins together to get Augie back into the first tier of the CCIW ladder.  However, (and you Augie personnel would know better than me) I have to think any HC is going to be judged upon the 80's success and have that shadow in their rear view mirror.  I have always been a big fan of having former players as coaches.  We have played the game, know the team/school traditions, etc. and IMO, it means more.  Agreed, that it would be beneficial for Augie to do a thorough search and not an impulse buy.  With all the upgrades and improvements from other CCIW schools,  a rushed decision could prove costly.

[Gregory Sager]

I was more impressed with Carthage than I was with NPU this hear. I concede I saw NPU in the first game and Carthage in the last game so that am very well account for the difference.  Either way I think that's a group that's tightly bunched.  (Augie,a Elmhurst, Carthage NPU)

NPU whipped Carthage by three touchdowns this year in the next-to-last game of the season, and the game was basically over by halftime. The only really impressive thing that the Red Men did in that game was execute their opening drive well; they went 52 yards in three plays and scored a touchdown on that drive. But that drive represented close to a third of the total yards that the Carthage offense picked up all day. Their other touchdown came in the final three minutes of the game against the NPU reserves on a short field. In other words, North Park was clearly the better team.

We're talking about next season, though, which is a different thing entirely. NPU does lose more to graduation than does Carthage, but not by enough to make up the difference between the two teams as they currently stand, IMO. The questions are: a) which program will be hurt more by off-season attrition; b) which program's underclassmen -- and most of the players by far for both CC and NPU are underclassmen -- improve the most in the off-season; and c) which program is able to add the most and the best CCIW-ready newbies in this recruiting cycle.

As I said, I like NPU's returning group a little more than Carthage's returning group, but there's not a lot of daylight between the two. I think that how they fare in comparison to each other in 2015 is going to come down to those three questions I stated in the last paragraph.

[USee]

Well Carthage and Wheaton were a 7-2 game at half and it was the 4th quarter before the Thunder put them away so obviously I saw a different Carthage team than you did. NPU on the other hand was not competitive in the game vs Wheaton, thus my analysis.

[kiko]

Well Carthage and Wheaton were a 7-2 game at half and it was the 4th quarter before the Thunder put them away so obviously I saw a different Carthage team than you did. NPU on the other hand was not competitive in the game vs Wheaton, thus my analysis.

I think we're all subject to some level of bias based on what we personally saw.  I see Elmhurst as a notch above Augie/North Park/Carthage -- certainly below IWU, but in my mind's eye there is separation between Elmhurst and the teams immediately above/below them,  But that's largely based on how much trouble North Central had putting them away at Langhorst this year.  I can easily see how the Carthage/Wheaton game might have a similar influence on your assessment.