FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[tjcummingsfan]

Elmhurst/NPU-This is the game NPU must win IMO. I will likely draw the wrath of Sager but if they don't win this game and show some improvement in the win column they risk losing a coach. It may not be likely but guys w SP's pedigree have lots of options and they don't have a lot of patience waiting for improvement. 1 conference win is like a birdie on 18 to shoot 110....it keeps you comin back for more.

I think it'll be a while (more than 2 years) before Pethtel decides his team hasn't made improvements.  Have you read any of Sager's posts this season about the improvements in numbers between this year and last?  Aside from the Augie game it looks to me like we're closer to 100 than 110, and everyone knows its just a matter of time before you break into the sub 100 scoring category.  I'm just saying I think its a pretty rediculous, and unfounded statement to say Pethtel is going to check out if they don't win Saturday. 

[usee]

Elmhurst/NPU-This is the game NPU must win IMO. I will likely draw the wrath of Sager but if they don't win this game and show some improvement in the win column they risk losing a coach. It may not be likely but guys w SP's pedigree have lots of options and they don't have a lot of patience waiting for improvement. 1 conference win is like a birdie on 18 to shoot 110....it keeps you comin back for more.

I think it'll be a while (more than 2 years) before Pethtel decides his team hasn't made improvements.  Have you read any of Sager's posts this season about the improvements in numbers between this year and last?  Aside from the Augie game it looks to me like we're closer to 100 than 110, and everyone knows its just a matter of time before you break into the sub 100 scoring category.  I'm just saying I think its a pretty rediculous, and unfounded statement to say Pethtel is going to check out if they don't win Saturday. 

That's not what I said but you can believe whatever you want. I read all of Greg's posts because he is informed and I respect his views. We have disagreed before and likely will again (tonight?).  I am one of the only ones (including NPU faithful) that have called for an NPU conference win. And while Greg chronicles the obvious improvement in NPU's performance that doesn't necessarily mean the coaches have the patience to continue on. I have no knowledge of SP's situation but I do know coaches don't like losing and improvement, while measurable at many levels, only feels good when you get some w's. Every coach, win or lose, examines their own situation after a given season to see if they still have what it takes to make another go. In my opinion the risk at NPU is a little greater when you don't have any w's to show for it. I would be surprised if anything happens at NPU because of those like Greg who are in the know say no way, but I certainly wouldn't be shocked.

[79jaybird]

Scott Pethtel is not going anywhere.  He is very happy at North Park, and the school is happy with the improvements he has made with the program.
The wins will start coming for North Park (hopefully not this week!  )

[Titan Q]

Just curious - what was Scott Pethel's attraction to the North Park job?  Based on the status of the program and the need to completely build from scratch, it just doesn't seem like the type of head coaching opportunity that a Division I assistant would go after.  Is there a tie to NPU of some sort?

[79jaybird]

When I talked to Coach at the beginning of last year, he told me that he was intrigued by religious affiliation and morals the school possessed. He also liked the urban setting of the school, and looks forward to building up a program. 

[TrueAugieAlum]

Hey Go Thunder - Thanks for taking over the top spot for negative karma.  All the others will gang up on you, but do not worry that only you and me have the guts to tell it like it is in the CCIW.

Coach Barnes - quit crying to the team you are looking like a poor sport!!!
Coach Brewer - Learn some offense, it might help next year if you are still here!!!
Coach Lindmark - your young, you should get out while the getting is good!!!
Coach ? - Don't let Barnes take over the defense anymore!!!

[usee]

I am still picking NPU to upset elmhurst this weekend.  8)

[usee]

For the IWU/Wheaton matchup I think this will come down to the IWU defense against the Wheaton offense. I am very concerned that wheaton's OLine will be completely overwhelmed by this Titan defensive front. If the Carthage game is any indication....Wheaton is in trouble. Norris cannot get hit 15-20 times in this game if Wheaton wants to 1-still have a viable quarterback 2-move the football. I don't think the Wheaton running game scares anyone and the protection problems are now 9 games old. this will be the best defensive front the Thunder have seen all year.  I hope through turnovers, field position or special teams big plays the offense can muster enough to get some points.

On the other side of the ball I like the way the Thunder defense matches up against IWU. I think the matchup of ittersagen and Ceisel is going to be a great one to watch. For those of you wheaton fans I can guarantee you Coach Eash will challenge ittersagen in this game. Maybe not a lot, but he will test him w Ceisel. and IWU has another excellent reciever on the other side so Tyler Langs better be ready to step up. I would guess Dunlop won't be 100% from his ankle so the the IWU running game should be limited (unless freshmen BO Lanter goes wild) against a Wheaton defensive front that, even without studebaker, has held its own vs the run this year. If the wheaton defense can limit the big play I like their chances to keep this close.

Special teams appears to be an area the Titans have made great strides during the year. That said the Thunder have been very good on Special teams proper almost all year. Ellingson hasn't missed a PAT, drives the ball on kickoffs,  norris is an excellent punter and ittersagen covers punts and returns them as well as anyone out there. the wild card could be the surprise onsides kick, the fake punt (imagine that?) or some kind of reverse on a return. Both teams have done a good job taking care of the ball. I expect this game to be low scoring with a 10-7 or 13-10 score winning it.

It will be a fun game to watch with the team making fewer critical mistakes coming out on top.

[Gregory Sager]

Elmhurst/NPU-This is the game NPU must win IMO. I will likely draw the wrath of Sager but if they don't win this game and show some improvement in the win column they risk losing a coach. It may not be likely but guys w SP's pedigree have lots of options and they don't have a lot of patience waiting for improvement. 1 conference win is like a birdie on 18 to shoot 110....it keeps you comin back for more.

I think it'll be a while (more than 2 years) before Pethtel decides his team hasn't made improvements.  Have you read any of Sager's posts this season about the improvements in numbers between this year and last?  Aside from the Augie game it looks to me like we're closer to 100 than 110, and everyone knows its just a matter of time before you break into the sub 100 scoring category.  I'm just saying I think its a pretty rediculous, and unfounded statement to say Pethtel is going to check out if they don't win Saturday. 

That's not what I said but you can believe whatever you want. I read all of Greg's posts because he is informed and I respect his views. We have disagreed before and likely will again (tonight?).  I am one of the only ones (including NPU faithful) that have called for an NPU conference win. And while Greg chronicles the obvious improvement in NPU's performance that doesn't necessarily mean the coaches have the patience to continue on. I have no knowledge of SP's situation but I do know coaches don't like losing and improvement, while measurable at many levels, only feels good when you get some w's. Every coach, win or lose, examines their own situation after a given season to see if they still have what it takes to make another go. In my opinion the risk at NPU is a little greater when you don't have any w's to show for it. I would be surprised if anything happens at NPU because of those like Greg who are in the know say no way, but I certainly wouldn't be shocked.

No wrath here, usee. I'll simply tell you that your suspicions are unwarranted. As tjcf and 79jb have already attested, Scott Pethtel isn't going anywhere. He's in this for the long haul.

I could see a coach getting fed up with the losing and cleaning out his office after a couple of 1-9 seasons. But it wouldn't happen to a coach who took stock, in an honest and clear-eyed manner, of what he had going into his second year. Coach Pethtel had a certain amount of naivete regarding the CCIW, and NPU's disreputable gridiron history within it, when he took the position. Let's face it, not many people would tell you in a job interview that the company has been in the red for close to forty years and can't seem to retain most of its employees for more than a year. But SP knew full well coming into preseason camp this year that he would have to sit at the CCIW table this season having been dealt a short hand. Nobody in this league was more aware back in August of the shortcomings of the 2007 NPU roster than Scott Pethtel. He adjusted his expectations to fit reality. He told me he was looking for improvement, not wins. Because he knew what to expect from this season, I don't see him letting disgust or despair or any other negative emotion get the better of him. He was already talking enthusiastically about 2008 and 2009 on the two or three occasions when I sat down in his office this summer and chatted with him about the upcoming season.

His colleague down the hall is already laying out a path that Coach Pethtel wants to follow. Three years ago Paul Brenegan inherited an almost-empty cupboard as the new head men's basketball coach at NPU. He didn't win a conference game his first season. His second season he won only two, beating Millikin twice. This past season he won five, with a sizeable share of his team's production coming from the best freshman class in the CCIW, and in five other CCIW contests his Vikings were in a position to win in the final minute of the game but eventually lost instead. Nobody considers North Park to be a laughingstock in basketball anymore. Now North Park is considered to be a potential contender.

Turning around a football program is a long process. As I've said a couple of times, turning around a basketball program is like doing a U-turn in a pickup truck, while turning around a football program is like doing a U-turn in a loaded semi. It's even more difficult when you're faced with a program that's been a chronic joke for two generations and your landscape is limited by certain in-house factors. When I told Coach Pethtel the first time I met him that if he could somehow build a winner at NPU he'd be "the Bill Snyder of D3" I was dead serious. He has the same sort of task put before him that Snyder had at Kansas State and that Gary Barnett had at Northwestern.

Thing is, he likes that task. Lots of coaches are caretakers; they want to step into a successful situation and continue it. Relatively few are builders, coaches who want to take a broken program and reconstruct it from the ground up. Scott's found his calling. He's a builder. Also, as a Christian educator he has found North Park to be a congenial fit, and the campus community has embraced him and his wife and made them feel at home.

He's not going anywhere. Trust me, usee.   

Just curious - what was Scott Pethel's attraction to the North Park job?  Based on the status of the program and the need to completely build from scratch, it just doesn't seem like the type of head coaching opportunity that a Division I assistant would go after.  Is there a tie to NPU of some sort?

When I talked to Coach at the beginning of last year, he told me that he was intrigued by religious affiliation and morals the school possessed. He also liked the urban setting of the school, and looks forward to building up a program.

This is all true. But there's one more thing that I'd add: Ego. That's a word that tends to have a negative meaning, but it needn't be a negative thing at all. Many people are born with the burning desire to achieve something in life. Coach Pethtel has spent his entire coaching career as an assistant coach at one place or another. This is his first chance to be the man in charge. That's no small thing. Almost everyone who wants to coach football wants to be a head coach someday. That's where you make your mark. After a lot of years of helping other coaches try to create positive legacies, Scott Pethtel finally has the chance to create his own. He's not going to walk away from that opportunity.

[Carthage Fan]

For the IWU/Wheaton matchup I think this will come down to the IWU defense against the Wheaton offense. I am very concerned that wheaton's OLine will be completely overwhelmed by this Titan defensive front. If the Carthage game is any indication....Wheaton is in trouble. Norris cannot get hit 15-20 times in this game if Wheaton wants to 1-still have a viable quarterback 2-move the football. I don't think the Wheaton running game scares anyone and the protection problems are now 9 games old. this will be the best defensive front the Thunder have seen all year.  I hope through turnovers, field position or special teams big plays the offense can muster enough to get some points.

Usee, I think you can run on the IWU defense.  Carthage put up 143 yds on the ground and even though IWU threw for 404 yds (wow I forgot) we were in this game till the end.  I think The Thunder has a good shot at the W.  That being said I think I have to be a Titan fan this weekend for the Red Men to have a chance at the playoffs as slim as it may be.   

[79jaybird]

Usee, we will have to see if your wild "prediction" comes true.  I was on the team the last time NPU won a CCIW game and that was NOT a fun night on campus or the days after.  North Park gave IWU a great fight, that was at home however..  but agreed there is no reason to doubt that NPU will bring their A game into Elmhurst this weekend.

[79jaybird]

TrueAugieAlum- Whoa!    I am guessing the Augie Staff is not on your Christmas List.  Whether you like Augie or not (which I don't personally) this will be the first time in 3 years they aren't CCIW champs/co-champs, and have always been pretty solid.  They MUST be doing something right. 
Case in point- should the Millikin fans be barking at Coach Neibuhr just because Millikin has been down of late?  No of course not, Coach Neibuhr is a great coach and Millikin is also usually pretty solid.

[SonsofThunder]

Wheaton coming off of a loss never bodes well for the next opponent.  I look for Wheaton to go down to Green Weenie land, take care of business, win the AQ, and move on.

[Pat Coleman]

For the IWU/Wheaton matchup I think this will come down to the IWU defense against the Wheaton offense. I am very concerned that wheaton's OLine will be completely overwhelmed by this Titan defensive front. If the Carthage game is any indication....Wheaton is in trouble. Norris cannot get hit 15-20 times in this game if Wheaton wants to 1-still have a viable quarterback 2-move the football. I don't think the Wheaton running game scares anyone and the protection problems are now 9 games old. this will be the best defensive front the Thunder have seen all year.  I hope through turnovers, field position or special teams big plays the offense can muster enough to get some points.

Usee, I think you can run on the IWU defense.

I don't know -- I think USee doesn't have the burst he used to.

[usee]

For the IWU/Wheaton matchup I think this will come down to the IWU defense against the Wheaton offense. I am very concerned that wheaton's OLine will be completely overwhelmed by this Titan defensive front. If the Carthage game is any indication....Wheaton is in trouble. Norris cannot get hit 15-20 times in this game if Wheaton wants to 1-still have a viable quarterback 2-move the football. I don't think the Wheaton running game scares anyone and the protection problems are now 9 games old. this will be the best defensive front the Thunder have seen all year.  I hope through turnovers, field position or special teams big plays the offense can muster enough to get some points.

Usee, I think you can run on the IWU defense.

I don't know -- I think USee doesn't have the burst he used to.

Now that's pretty funny also. Pat makes the board laugh. +K on a tuesday. Good stuff.