FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Kovo]

Congrats to Rick Ponx on being named head coach at Aurora University!! Good luck to a great coach and a fantastic role model!

This is great news for Rick and Aurora University.  As to whether it is great news for North Central or not... Time will tell.  Ponx starts getting high caliber kids who wouIf ld have otherwise worn cardinal, white, and black... Not so good.   If Ponx drives the Spartans to a couple more wins each year and a NATHC crown, it may help North Central' SOS numbers by improving OOWP.  Remember, Aurora has played at least one or two CCIW teams for at least the last six years.

That has to be one of his goals eventually.

The question will be whether he has the resources to compete with CCIW schools for top talent.

[NCF]

Congrats to Rick Ponx on being named head coach at Aurora University!! Good luck to a great coach and a fantastic role model!

This is great news for Rick and Aurora University.  As to whether it is great news for North Central or not... Time will tell.  Ponx starts getting high caliber kids who wouIf ld have otherwise worn cardinal, white, and black... Not so good.   If Ponx drives the Spartans to a couple more wins each year and a NATHC crown, it may help North Central' SOS numbers by improving OOWP.  Remember, Aurora has played at least one or two CCIW teams for at least the last six years.

That has to be one of his goals eventually.

The question will be whether he has the resources to compete with CCIW schools for top talent.

True, but it also depends on the coaches he hires. He was a relentless in his recruiting for NC, so only time will tell. Definitely going to try and get to a game next year, just to say hello and good luck.

[79jaybird]

Congrats to both coaches in the new endeavors. Wish them the best. I did not know Ponx but certainly know Rod.  What a class act and great person. He will be a great addition to the Whitworth staff. 

[USee]

Here is a replay of the Whitworth press conference announcing Rod Sandberg. Rod did a great job and its worth a few minutes to watch.

http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/whitworth.portal?mode=link&eventId=132353&broadcastType=video

[Gregory Sager]

Spokane is a good place to be if your last name is Sandberg. This guy was born and raised in Spokane:

[bleedpurple]

Spokane is a good place to be if your last name is Sandberg. This guy was born and raised in Spokane:

One of my all time favorite ball players!!

[WarhawkDad]

I realize that the 2013 season is not fully over until about 9:30 E.T. tomorrow night, but was wondering if any of the NCC faithful would take a shot at prognosticating how good NCC is going to be next year 2014 with seniors leaving the team.  Which player position is going to be the hardest to replace and can the 2014 Cardinals be as good as or better than the 2013 team?

WarhawkDad

[NCF]

I realize that the 2013 season is not fully over until about 9:30 E.T. tomorrow night, but was wondering if any of the NCC faithful would take a shot at prognosticating how good NCC is going to be next year 2014 with seniors leaving the team.  Which player position is going to be the hardest to replace and can the 2014 Cardinals be as good as or better than the 2013 team?

WarhawkDad

QB, hard to replace a Stanek. But they lose nearly the entire defense.
They will be good , as usual

[robertgoulet]

I realize that the 2013 season is not fully over until about 9:30 E.T. tomorrow night, but was wondering if any of the NCC faithful would take a shot at prognosticating how good NCC is going to be next year 2014 with seniors leaving the team.  Which player position is going to be the hardest to replace and can the 2014 Cardinals be as good as or better than the 2013 team?

WarhawkDad

QB, hard to replace a Stanek. But they lose nearly the entire defense.
They will be good , as usual

Hard to replace Stanek, indeed...but considering the backup split time w/ Stanek 2 yrs ago (as a freshman, none the less), I think they're in good hands.

Defense...same question we seem to ask every year. How will they replace Slezak? Deirking? (Michals/Wenger/Radtke...). Hopefully a reload!

[Kovo]

I realize that the 2013 season is not fully over until about 9:30 E.T. tomorrow night, but was wondering if any of the NCC faithful would take a shot at prognosticating how good NCC is going to be next year 2014 with seniors leaving the team.  Which player position is going to be the hardest to replace and can the 2014 Cardinals be as good as or better than the 2013 team?

WarhawkDad

QB, hard to replace a Stanek. But they lose nearly the entire defense.
They will be good , as usual

We lose 8 starters on defense and 6 on offense.  And I agree on Stanek.  As much as I like the other QBs on our roster, how do you replace an All American season?  I do think that we will be very good on offense next year, but the defense is a question mark.  I except NCC to be the preseason favorite for the CCIW Title, but I'm not sure how we will stack up nationally with teams like UMU, who will be absolutely loaded.

[WarhawkDad]

I realize that the 2013 season is not fully over until about 9:30 E.T. tomorrow night, but was wondering if any of the NCC faithful would take a shot at prognosticating how good NCC is going to be next year 2014 with seniors leaving the team.  Which player position is going to be the hardest to replace and can the 2014 Cardinals be as good as or better than the 2013 team?

WarhawkDad

QB, hard to replace a Stanek. But they lose nearly the entire defense.
They will be good , as usual

We lose 8 starters on defense and 6 on offense.  And I agree on Stanek.  As much as I like the other QBs on our roster, how do you replace an All American season?  I do think that we will be very good on offense next year, but the defense is a question mark.  I except NCC to be the preseason favorite for the CCIW Title, but I'm not sure how we will stack up nationally with teams like UMU, who will be absolutely loaded.

Thanks.....on offense the Warhawks graduate a tight-end and one wide receiver, but we are very deep at those positions.   The defense is a different story, much like NCC.  We graduate Minnett (DE), a DT, all the Linebackers and 3 of 4 in the secondary.    The good news is that the seconds and thirds have gotten a lot of playing time so it looks like more of a reload for us as well.

Thanks again.

WHD

[robertgoulet]

I realize that the 2013 season is not fully over until about 9:30 E.T. tomorrow night, but was wondering if any of the NCC faithful would take a shot at prognosticating how good NCC is going to be next year 2014 with seniors leaving the team.  Which player position is going to be the hardest to replace and can the 2014 Cardinals be as good as or better than the 2013 team?

WarhawkDad

QB, hard to replace a Stanek. But they lose nearly the entire defense.
They will be good , as usual

We lose 8 starters on defense and 6 on offense.  And I agree on Stanek.  As much as I like the other QBs on our roster, how do you replace an All American season?  I do think that we will be very good on offense next year, but the defense is a question mark.  I except NCC to be the preseason favorite for the CCIW Title, but I'm not sure how we will stack up nationally with teams like UMU, who will be absolutely loaded.

Thanks.....on offense the Warhawks graduate a tight-end and one wide receiver, but we are very deep at those positions.   The defense is a different story, much like NCC.  We graduate Minnett (DE), a DT, all the Linebackers and 3 of 4 in the secondary.    The good news is that the seconds and thirds have gotten a lot of playing time so it looks like more of a reload for us as well.

Thanks again.

WHD

That's the one thing that's seemed to aid in NCC's ability to reload over the last few years. Most of the backups see a fair amount of playing time throughout the season due to the lopsided scores in many of the games.

[badgerwarhawk]

Backups receiving a fair amount of playing time during the season certainly helps as teams make deeper runs into the postseason.  But one thing you can't forget and may be of equal or of greater importance is the additional practice time that they get.  A WARHAWKS freshman backup in 2005 got 20 weeks of additional organized practice by the time he used his eligibility in 2009.  That is a significant advantage in developing next year's talent.   Particularly when you get into the level where your team is making deep postseason runs on a regular basis.     

[Gregory Sager]

North Park's non-conference opponents next season, in addition to the previously-announced CCIW/MIAA Challenge game at Alma (1-9), will include a home game against Concordia WI (8-3) and a road game at Washington MO (8-3). That's two games against 2013 playoff teams, so the Vikings certainly won't be underprepared when CCIW play begins.

I saw The New North Park, the NPU football 2013 highlight video today, and was very impressed by it. Mike Conway's wife Beth Ann, who is a very talented editor, did a terrific job of putting it together. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first highlight video that the NPU football program has ever had (probably because there's never been enough highlights in previous years to assemble one. ). It's being shown exclusively to prospects right now -- since the season ended the NPU coaching staff has had 95 prospects visit campus, a number which blows my mind -- but when it gets released to the public via YouTube, I'll link to it here.

I'm pretty pumped. This is the first time that my play-by-play calls have appeared on a highlight video.

[NCF]

North Park's non-conference opponents next season, in addition to the previously-announced CCIW/MIAA Challenge game at Alma (1-9), will include a home game against Concordia WI (8-3) and a road game at Washington MO (8-3). That's two games against 2013 playoff teams, so the Vikings certainly won't be underprepared when CCIW play begins.

I saw The New North Park, the NPU football 2013 highlight video today, and was very impressed by it. Mike Conway's wife Beth Ann, who is a very talented editor, did a terrific job of putting it together. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first highlight video that the NPU football program has ever had (probably because there's never been enough highlights in previous years to assemble one. ). It's being shown exclusively to prospects right now -- since the season ended the NPU coaching staff has had 95 prospects visit campus, a number which blows my mind -- but when it gets released to the public via YouTube, I'll link to it here.

I'm pretty pumped. This is the first time that my play-by-play calls have appeared on a highlight video.

Worth a look just to hear that.