BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[izzy stradlin]

It is true that Driggers was brought in to raise money to build a field.  I believe he was successful in this (~$1.5 million in 3+ years) and I don't think anyone at Wheaton is surprised he is moving on.   

The site for a new baseball facility was always an issue.  The original plan was to build a permanent baseball facility on Lawson field. This would have been ideal as it is college-owned and only a block north of campus.  Delivering a huge blow to the program, the surrounding residential neighborhood blocked the construction.   

If it were up to me, whatever they call that over-the-top-for-D3 soccer stadium would've been simply replaced with the new baseball facility.

[izzy stradlin]

I'll add this, I don't think Wheaton has anyone lined up to be their next coach.   There is a coach in St. Louis who should be their obvious choice if (and a big IF) he wants the job.                         

[Gregory Sager]

As for "being in a different city", there are several arrangements among schools and non-school facilities in D3, e.g. Chapman and Shenandoah. I would expect Wheaton could make it work somewhere.   

Elmhurst also plays off-campus in facilities it leases from somebody else. The Bluejays play at Butterfield Park, which is owned by the village of Elmhurst (specifically, the Elmhurst Park District), and it's located three miles from campus.

If it were up to me, whatever they call that over-the-top-for-D3 soccer stadium would've been simply replaced with the new baseball facility.

Do I detect a note of inter-sport rivalry within the overall ranks of Wheaton fans?

[norfrank]

Let's face the truth... Baseball is always the stepchild at any school. Are there any other sports where the players have to maintain the field?  No revenue means no money spent on facilities unless there are significant contributions. 

As for earlier comments about maybe Wheaton will be more accepting of the new coach,  I really don't understand where that is coming from. Acceptance is a two way street. Forced out? Really? He took a job that had been open for less than a month. Does this mean that East Texas had someone (Driggers) in mind and forced their coach out?  Strange timing for all actions that have happened. I do not believe that Wheaton was in any way knew this resignation was coming.

[izzy stradlin]

If it were up to me, whatever they call that over-the-top-for-D3 soccer stadium would've been simply replaced with the new baseball facility.

Do I detect a note of inter-sport rivalry within the overall ranks of Wheaton fans?

Okay, a little off topic here but I just don't understand a game that rejects the use of a human's most biomechanically advanced feature-- the hand.  It's like having a bird species compete physically in an activity that involves walking but not flying.  Let's build a stadium to watch birds walk around a track.     

Soccer is a good game for those who haven't fully developed their ability to coordinate their upper extremities with a necessary degree of strength----------3, 4 and 5 year olds.   

[Ralph Turner]

Let's face the truth... Baseball is always the stepchild at any school. Are there any other sports where the players have to maintain the field?  No revenue means no money spent on facilities unless there are significant contributions. 

As for earlier comments about maybe Wheaton will be more accepting of the new coach,  I really don't understand where that is coming from. Acceptance is a two way street. Forced out? Really? He took a job that had been open for less than a month. Does this mean that East Texas had someone (Driggers) in mind and forced their coach out?  Strange timing for all actions that have happened. I do not believe that Wheaton was in any way knew this resignation was coming.

Not necessarily the case. 

Maintaining the field?  I know plenty of coaches who do not want any other "Maintenance Guy" touching their field.  Having 25 players doing 20 minutes of work each is 500 "man-minutes", better than an 8-hour day.

  Besides most ballplayers do field maintenance any chance they get, be it on the mound or the batter's box...   

http://media.photobucket.com/image/mark%20fidrych/NurseJoker/fidrych.jpg?o=2

Mark Fydrich preparing the mound.

[BigPoppa]

Any ideas of who could be the next head coach at Wheaton?

[CCIWFAN6]

This might be crazy, but would Luke Johnson entertain the idea of going there?

[Gregory Sager]

Let's face the truth... Baseball is always the stepchild at any school.

Tell that to Marietta.

Are there any other sports where the players have to maintain the field?

Ralph is right. I think that the maintenance issue has more to do with the anal-retentiveness of baseball coaches than anything else.

No revenue means no money spent on facilities unless there are significant contributions.

Revenue? This is D3 we're talking about. Since when is revenue a significant factor in any sport in D3?

As for earlier comments about maybe Wheaton will be more accepting of the new coach,  I really don't understand where that is coming from. Acceptance is a two way street. Forced out? Really? He took a job that had been open for less than a month.

I'm not quite sure you get the gist of how long it takes to fill head coaching jobs at this level. A month is actually a pretty long time for a job to remain vacant, especially a head-coaching job at a nice warm-weather school (i.e., perfect for baseball) with a great home stadium.

Does this mean that East Texas had someone (Driggers) in mind and forced their coach out?

ETBU hired Sam Blackmon to coach the baseball team six years ago. And for six years he's posted losing records -- and this followed on the heels of at least eight straight winning seasons for the Tigers. Occam's razor says that Blackmon was fired because he couldn't produce winning baseball teams, not because ETBU wanted to hire Driggers.

This might be crazy, but would Luke Johnson entertain the idea of going there?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[sniff]

Thanks, man. That made my day!

[Gregory Sager]

If it were up to me, whatever they call that over-the-top-for-D3 soccer stadium would've been simply replaced with the new baseball facility.

Do I detect a note of inter-sport rivalry within the overall ranks of Wheaton fans?

Okay, a little off topic here but I just don't understand a game that rejects the use of a human's most biomechanically advanced feature-- the hand.  It's like having a bird species compete physically in an activity that involves walking but not flying.  Let's build a stadium to watch birds walk around a track.

Depends upon the bird. Penguins have pretty entertaining waddles, and I'd probably pay to watch a penguin race. A kiwi race might not be as much fun. Ostriches are pretty darned fast, so an ostrich race would be fairly exciting -- but that's running around a track, not walking, so I suppose that ostriches are technically disqualified from this discussion.

Seriously, though, I see your point, and I agree with it somewhat. The fact that hands are verboten in soccer is one of the sport's two big drawbacks, along with the sad truth that defensive strategies make it possible to completely suppress a score at either end throughout the entire match if that's what one of the coaches deems wise (See: NPU @ Elmhurst last season). But the sport does have some aesthetically pleasing factors that compensate for it. When it's played well in terms of passing and ball-handling, the term that the Brazilians use for soccer -- "the beautiful game" -- is entirely apt.

Every sport has its drawbacks, and, thus, its naysayers. We all post here because we love baseball, but there's plenty of people who would consider the pejorative term "nine-man stand-around" to be an entirely accurate alternative name for the sport.

Soccer is a good game for those who haven't fully developed their ability to coordinate their upper extremities with a necessary degree of strength----------3, 4 and 5 year olds.

... and yet it's your school's signature sport. You'll have to pardon me, Iz, while I draw a mild chuckle from that fact.

[The General Public]

a glimpse of why to come in just a matter of time

Lee Driggers has accepted the position of head coach at East Texas Baptist University.

4 years of work and nothing but steps backward as far as the product on the field. I guess he got the field built but woop te doo.

From what Wheaton had to what he has attained this far, I would say "woop te doo", too.

I went to the Wheaton web site to look at the facilities that Wheaton has.

McCully is spectacular for football and track and field.

King Arena is one of the finest in the country for basketball, volleyball and wrestling.

I quote the website about Joe Bean Stadium.

The Wheaton College men's and women's soccer programs play their games in one of the finest facilities in all of NCAA Division III.

Here is what they say about Chrouser Natatorium.

In addition to providing recreation and fitness opportunities for Wheaton's students, faculty and staff, the Chrouser Natatorium is home to the competitive swim and water polo teams at the college, plus the local high school and USA Swimming Club programs.  It the annual site of the Wheaton Invitational for Swimming and Water Polo and the bi-annual site of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Swimming Championships.

The natatorium houses a 61 foot wide by 110 foot long pool, with a flow-thru moveable divider which enables multiple configurations for programming.  The eight lane racing course can be set at 25 yards or 25 meters of total deep water for swimming or water polo competition.  The pool water is temperature and chlorine regulated by a computerized filter system, with rough water during competition being minimized by triple lane lines.

Tennis is workable with 6 lighted courts.

When Coach Driggers left McMurry for Wheaton, he was leaving a facility that has hosted the West Regionals on two separate occasions and going to essentially "nothing" by Wheaton standards.

With a Wheaton endowment of 6 times that of McMurry, he thought that he could begin to get baseball up to Wheaton standards. He has gotten the field turf this year, after 3 seasons of trying.

Please listen to this 2-minute video.

Next Wheaton needs seating, press box, dressing rooms and rest rooms!

Honestly, please grade Wheaton baseball facilities relative to the rest of the college.  What do you get, a C minus?  How many other CCIW baseball facilities are worse than Wheaton's and who are they? Getting to this point must have been like pulling eye teeth.

Coach Driggers has hosted a Regional, been the chair of the West Regional Evaluation committee, and won conference championships.  He has credentials.  The last time I spoke with family members in 2009 and then 2010, he was happy.

Maybe the next coach will get a more favorable reception or a more successful response of support from the Wheaton community.

The product on the field is a reference to the record of the team not the turf that is on the field. Thank you for a senior research paper on the facilities at Wheaton College though.

No coach could have gotten a more favorable reception than him when he arrived. However, after under performing for 3 straight years it is time to be excited about a change. I know that you are a Driggers Disciple so there is really no point in debating his success but I am going to try.  He "has" been successful elsewhere and maybe that is a problem with your blindness. He achieved great things elsewhere but at Wheaton he didn't get anything done. I am speaking from a wins perspective, a conference tourney perspective, a real results perspective, and not a HE BUILT A FIELD!!! perspective.  He was able to raise funds for a field, but once again who cares when the team isn't winning. Ask those Elmhurst fans, players and coaches who got to taste the conference tourney this year after consistant losing seasons...would you rather have a new field...or would you rather make the conference tourney?

No alumni, fan, or player will say they want a new field over on the field success and the fact of the matter is 3 straight years of missing the tourney is not achieving anything. Yeah Wheaton hasn't made the tournament on a regular basis but after two straight years in it, including making it to the championship game the 2nd of those two years, to not making it 3 years in a row is once again, not achieving anything. On the same accord, he took that team who made the conference tournament championship game, lost 1 relief pitcher from that team, and they missed the tournament the next year suffering a huge collapse at the end. Can you blame everything on the coach...absolutely not. But it stems from the top down.

Ralph you say that he has been happy coaching at Wheaton, you should have come to a game at Wheaton and then tell me that with a straight face. He walked around with his head down constantly complaining about players. That doesn't sound like someone who is happy. As norfrank said, I went to several games over the past 4 years and I don't think I saw him give a sign more than a handful of times. The players may as well have been out there on their own. You can speak to his achievements elsewhere and thats great. But if you were to look objectively at his achievements at Wheaton College from a success standpoint (Success=conference tourneys not building a field), how would you say he did?

[norfrank]

Mr Sager I am actually a North Park fan too. I wish Wheaton would have done half the things NP has done with their baseball team. Starting with a head coach that actually cared about the team. My points made in previous posts are only made to debunk some of the points made about Wheaton and the previous tenure. They could have had much better teams except for mismanagement.

[norfrank]

Any ideas of who could be the next head coach at Wheaton?

I am hearing Neal Reasland

[Gregory Sager]

I'm getting mixed signals from you Wheaton folks. Are you mad at Driggers because he's leaving Wheaton, because he's leaving after only four years, or because you believe that his teams underachieved? It seems to me that a couple of these stances are contradictory.

The product on the field is a reference to the record of the team not the turf that is on the field. Thank you for a senior research paper on the facilities at Wheaton College though.

Just make sure that you don't give Ralph a C- for it.

No coach could have gotten a more favorable reception than him when he arrived.

Is that really true, or is baseball really the forgotten stepchild of Wheaton sports that some of you have made it out to be? Because, again, this seems contradictory. If your sport is disrespected and/or ignored by the school's powers-that-be, it would stand to reason that any other coach could have gotten a more favorable reception.

However, after under performing for 3 straight years it is time to be excited about a change. I know that you are a Driggers Disciple so there is really no point in debating his success but I am going to try.  He "has" been successful elsewhere and maybe that is a problem with your blindness. He achieved great things elsewhere but at Wheaton he didn't get anything done. I am speaking from a wins perspective, a conference tourney perspective, a real results perspective, and not a HE BUILT A FIELD!!! perspective.  He was able to raise funds for a field, but once again who cares when the team isn't winning. Ask those Elmhurst fans, players and coaches who got to taste the conference tourney this year after consistant losing seasons...would you rather have a new field...or would you rather make the conference tourney?

No alumni, fan, or player will say they want a new field over on the field success and the fact of the matter is 3 straight years of missing the tourney is not achieving anything. Yeah Wheaton hasn't made the tournament on a regular basis but after two straight years in it, including making it to the championship game the 2nd of those two years, to not making it 3 years in a row is once again, not achieving anything. On the same accord, he took that team who made the conference tournament championship game, lost 1 relief pitcher from that team, and they missed the tournament the next year suffering a huge collapse at the end. Can you blame everything on the coach...absolutely not. But it stems from the top down.

Ralph you say that he has been happy coaching at Wheaton, you should have come to a game at Wheaton and then tell me that with a straight face. He walked around with his head down constantly complaining about players. That doesn't sound like someone who is happy. As norfrank said, I went to several games over the past 4 years and I don't think I saw him give a sign more than a handful of times. The players may as well have been out there on their own. You can speak to his achievements elsewhere and thats great. But if you were to look objectively at his achievements at Wheaton College from a success standpoint (Success=conference tourneys not building a field), how would you say he did?

A couple of thoughts:

1) Wheaton baseball doesn't exist in a vacuum. It plays in a league that is pretty darned competitive in baseball. It goes in cycles as to who is competing the best. In the '80s it was North Park, North Central, Elmhurst, and Illinois Wesleyan; in the '90s it was Carthage, North Central, Illinois Wesleyan, and Elmhurst; in the '00s it was Carthage, Illinois Wesleyan, and Augustana; and nowadays, it's any team that shows up without an 'M' on their caps. But the point is that there's always a dogfight going on at the top. Just because Wheaton has some good players, and just because Wheaton may be trying to win, doesn't mean that Wheaton is going to win. This is one of the easiest things to lose sight of when you're a fan: Your team is not the only team out there.

2) You can disparage Driggers all you like -- and I should make it plain here that I'm acting as a devil's advocate rather than truly defending him out of sentiment, principle, or sheer cussed contentiousness -- but the bottom line is that he did no better and no worse than his nine predecessors in the category that counts, CCIW championships. Wheaton's won exactly one of those, and that was back in 1951 when the league was still in its infancy (and Mickey Mantle was a rookie!).

Yes, you made a passing reference to the fact that Wheaton has not been a familiar face at the CCIW tourney over the years, but you undersold that point with regard to Wheaton's historical futility in this sport, at least within the confines of the CCIW. Wheaton has a losing all-time record against every opponent except for Elmhurst, and this is probably the only sport in which you can say that about Wheaton. In terms of the CCIW tourney, which dates back to 1985, here is the tally of appearances:

school	apps	first	latest	titles
Augustana	16	1989	2012	1
Carthage	24	1985	2011	11
Elmhurst	13	1985	2012	1
Illinois Wesleyan	26	1985	2012	5
Millikin	2	1986	1990	0
North Central	18	1985	2011	7
North Park	11	1987	2012	3
Wheaton	2	2008	2009	0

Given that woeful historical record, is it really fair to lay so much blame at Driggers' feet?

[Gregory Sager]

Mr Sager I am actually a North Park fan too. I wish Wheaton would have done half the things NP has done with their baseball team. Starting with a head coach that actually cared about the team. My points made in previous posts are only made to debunk some of the points made about Wheaton and the previous tenure. They could have had much better teams except for mismanagement.

Well, I feel your pain to a certain degree (not too much, because, after all, this is NPU's archrival we're talking about). NPU baseball was certainly woebegone prior to Luke Johnson's arrival; in the three years before he was hired, North Park went 6-108-1 overall and 3-60 in the CCIW. That's beyond bad. But, again, that's part of what plays up the dramatic improvement that the program has made under Luke. The farther you have to climb, the more impressive the ascent. Basically, Lee Driggers has kept Wheaton at status quo, which is to say that it's been a good-but-not-great Central Region program within the region's most elite league.