FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[79jaybird]

Dennis Prikkel,

I played on some pretty bad teams at Prospect when we had to face Schaumburg, Hoffmann, and Conant in conf.  Meadows and us usually faced each other in the last week to determine who would wind up in the toilet bowl.
Now their fortunes have turned, which I credit to Petricca and Pearlman. 
Sometimes a switch in coaches and/or conferences is all it takes.

[Dennis_Prikkel]

Dennis Prikkel,

I played on some pretty bad teams at Prospect when we had to face Schaumburg, Hoffmann, and Conant in conf.  Meadows and us usually faced each other in the last week to determine who would wind up in the toilet bowl.
Now their fortunes have turned, which I credit to Petricca and Pearlman. 
Sometimes a switch in coaches and/or conferences is all it takes.

Doug Millsaps is the coach at RMHS, Pearlman is at Prospect.

In the decade before Millsaps took over at RMHS the Mustangs had about 10 combined wins.

They have been competitive since then.

They had a great run in the 2004 IHSA making it to the semi-finals - in 2005 they lost in the first round.

MW

[79jaybird]

Dennis we are in the same boat.  When I played at Prospect, our goal was to get a + 500 season.  Soph year at Elmhurst they make the playoffs and lose in the first round to Bloomington. The next 2 years they win State... go figure. 
RM and Prospect have had some pretty good battles over the years.

[79jaybird]

Congratulations to Mark Kryzkowski  who has been named Defensive Coordinator at Carroll College.  We will miss him dearly at Elmhurst because he was well liked and was an important part of our defense.

[lakeshore]

update from Chicago....

Coach Pethtel has filled out his staff and from what I understand they have more recruits coming in than in any of the past 10 years.  Pretty good for getting such a late start I suppose.  They also did well in Michigan nabbing 2 quarterbacks one of which was  a1st team all-state kid who threw for 32 tds last year.  A decent amount of transfers have made their way to NPU as well beefing up a fairly small oline.  A big kid from Bolingbrook 6'3" 320 who played on scholarship for 2 years at Northern State is now a Viking.  Cany recall his name.

On an even better note, the new Helwig Rec Center is almost complete.  It looks immaculate from the outside.  This thing will have 40 yards of indoor field turf inside.  What a recruiting tool!

[Mugsy]

update from Chicago....

Coach Pethtel has filled out his staff and from what I understand they have more recruits coming in than in any of the past 10 years.  Pretty good for getting such a late start I suppose.  They also did well in Michigan nabbing 2 quarterbacks one of which was  a1st team all-state kid who threw for 32 tds last year.  A decent amount of transfers have made their way to NPU as well beefing up a fairly small oline.  A big kid from Bolingbrook 6'3" 320 who played on scholarship for 2 years at Northern State is now a Viking.  Cany recall his name.

On an even better note, the new Helwig Rec Center is almost complete.  It looks immaculate from the outside.  This thing will have 40 yards of indoor field turf inside.  What a recruiting tool!

Now I'm not saying NPU's new coach and staff aren't doing things right, or they aren't already making a difference.  They may well be... time will tell.

That said... while getting a ton of recruits can potentially be very good, it doesn't necessarily translate to success.  For years and years when I played in the CCIW, NP would consistently bring in 50+ kids every year.   Problem is... of the 50+ freshmen, only 8-10 would still be there in their senior year.  Meanwhile the top CCIW programs would retain more than 80-85% of their recruits for 4 years.  That doesn't even touch the issue of quality over quantity.

All top programs win with experienced juniors and seniors (sometimes will a few stud freshmen sprinkled in).  There is a huge difference between an 18 year old who is not completely adjusted to the speed of D3 football compared to high school and a 22 year old who may not have seen the field much in their first few years, but has matured physically and mentally.

Thanks for the update though... nice to get the latest from around the conference.

[zorbadagreek]

Havent seen the Helwig Center, but how does it compare to some of the other rec. centers in the conference?? Good to hear they are bringin some #'s to NP, lets hope they are talented #'s. Did the new coach bring in staff from Buffalo, where he was an assistant, or did he find some d3 guys to help out??

[matblake]

Per the school's website, with the exception of the new offensive coordinator looks like most of the staff is from previous seasons.  http://www.northpark.edu/athletics/staff/?sportID=2

[CardinalAlum]

Per the school's website, with the exception of the new offensive coordinator looks like most of the staff is from previous seasons.  http://www.northpark.edu/athletics/staff/?sportID=2

Vandenbos is a great addition to that staff!

[79jaybird]

Lakeshore,  good to see North Park start to get the blocks in place, and for people to get excited about Viking Football.  I think there is still a lot of work to get to the level of the other 7 members of the CCIW, however I think NPU can get there.  There is only one direction they can go.
Mugsy, you make a great point about the "duration" of the recruits.  If they are 1 and done, they don't really help the program.  We had a lot of this when I played at Elmhurst.  Solid recruits that last 4 years, are what really help the programs succeed.

[usee]

 

Vandenbos is a great addition to that staff!

agreed. vandenboss coached dbs at wheaton for 9 seasons before his 1 season at NCC. he knows the cciw and knows his stuff on defense. great addition for NP.

[Jim Matson]

I too think Vanden Bos will be a great addition to the Vikings staff.  He has a lot of experience and some good leadership skills to contribute to the rather young Viking staff.  North Park is getting serious about football.

[matblake]

Here is North Park's new president's curriculum vitae.  http://www.northpark.edu/presidentialsearch/pdfs/Parkyn_Package_032906.pdf
Its not clear as for his feelings on sports, but a solid administrative and professorial background.  Looks to be a good choice from here.

[FormerCard]

Vandenbos will be a great addition.  I was disappointed to see him leave NCC, but the situation wasn't right for him there.  I think the Cards should be returning from Italy soon.

[Comet 14]

High everybody! I'm new to the board. I have a son attending Elmhurst in the fall and thought i might as well join. Bluejay, I would apreciate any help you can give me. He is very excited to have the chance to play football at Elmhurst.