FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[allsky7]

Here is the address-

435 Ferrum Mountain Road
Ferrum, VA  24088

That will get you to the campus...from there is should not be difficult!  I am hoping to go, but not sure yet.

     Ahhhh, the memories of jogging Ferrum Mountain. A trip to the end of my driveway pretty much finishes me off these days.  Thanks Allen.

[narch]

Allen C., is there an address for the stadium at Ferrum that I can plug into the GPS? Looked on Ferrums web site but didn't seem to find it.

Thanks

to quote su97 from the hoops board...end of the world, turn left

[kickerdad]

Allen C., is there an address for the stadium at Ferrum that I can plug into the GPS? Looked on Ferrums web site but didn't seem to find it.

Thanks

to quote su97 from the hoops board...end of the world, turn left

I concur, and it's pretty much a "Goat's Path" that you ride on. Add an hour on to what Map Quest tells you.

[CNUALUM9]

As alum, we expected CNU to build on the foundation we built and continue to excel and to be in national contention year in and year out.  

My statement was that as alum we expected for CNU to grow into a team that would be in national contention year in and year out, based off the foundation that we built.  The foundation we built was a team that was continually getting better.  I was 2-3 in the playoffs in my career.  Can you find anybody on the USA South board with a better record then that?  I know it's not great, but if CNU continually grew from that point then yes they would be in national contention.

[NaturalSelection]

So what about recruiting strategies in the conference? Is there not a HUGE gap between the schools of the conference as far as recruiting goes?

i think there is a huge gap in recruiting but not as large as people may think. schools such as Methodist and Greensboro get quality athletes but they dont do anything with them. What i mean is look at Methodist for example. they have 20 something seniors and their record reflects a young team. they get athletes year in and year out but their program does not know how to get these players to the next level. their workout program is below average and they also struggle keeping players around. this years senior class is the largest ever. most kids leave after their first year when they realize methodist isnt the program they thought it was when they came on their visit. now a school like ncw or cnu where they have a solid lifting program to take their good freshmen athletes and turn them into a great athlete by their junior or senior year is what i think gives the better teams the recruiting edge. NCW team is very fast, very strong but you cant tell me that every kid on that team came to that school like that already. ive heard that they lift twice a day in the off season and they visit the weight room quite frequently in season. then there is the aspect of the facilities to help out with recruiting. the field, weight room, locker room, class rooms, dorms. all these things play a role. and lastly if the player doesnt buy into the program his first year hes not coming back and methodist is struggling with this. the majority of their recruits see what goes on behind closed doors and do not trust or buy into their coaching techniques.

[musupporter]

Allen C., is there an address for the stadium at Ferrum that I can plug into the GPS? Looked on Ferrums web site but didn't seem to find it.

Thanks

If you get to the campus, you can't miss the stadium.  Good luck AU.  I for one am pulling for you.

[musupporter]

Naturalselection, you couldn't be more accurate with you comments about seniors and conditioning at MU.  I had this discussion with one of their players(senior) just last week.  Seems the mind set is that MU is looking toward the future.  That is the belief of some of the seniors on the team.  Look at how many freshmen and sophomores are getting the majority of playing time in key positions.  If they are looking toward the future, they have been looking a long time without finding it.  You cannot replace senior leadership no matter what.  The success of any program depends solely on the upperclassmen who have been in a system for 3-4 years.  Working your new players in a giving them reps is understandable, but when the s*&^ hits the fan, those upperclassmen are the ones who know how to get it done.

Weightlifting, according to this senior, is once a week and since the USC incident players are not allowed to do lifting of any type without a partner.  I don't disagree with the policy for safety reasons but I would think they could do some type of lifting by themselves.

MU practice yesterday consisted of "walk through s".  I guess times have changed.  Walk through s and helmet only practices used to be for the last practice before a game. 

[AUPOP]

So what about recruiting strategies in the conference? Is there not a HUGE gap between the schools of the conference as far as recruiting goes?

Having only been around this year I dont really know how much of a gap there is but in looking at rosters one thing stands out. CNU owns the 757 area as far as the number of players brought in. Some people, including myself will argue that the I-64 corridor from Richmond to Chesapeake is the best high school ball in the state. Right now CNU owns it and the other schools need to be more proactive in hitting it, especially AA ball because CNU has just about every kid who was either AD or AR or AS in the local district. Took a quick count, included Richmond to Chesapeake schools.

CNU               45 players
NCWC            28
Ferrum            9
AU                   9
Greensboro     2
Shenandoah  12
Methodist         0

NCWC seem to be getting there fair share as well. I didnt check Maryville as I am sure thier recruiting base in very different than the others. Think the numbers speak for themselves.

[HSC85]

It will be interesting to see if the new football program at Old Dominion University will have an effect on the recruiting of 757 players.  I suspect that a player can walk on at state school ODU for the same cost as playing at CNU.  They will have to choose from D1 FBS or D3 at CNU or NCW.

[moshergc9]

va for gboro?  i dont think that area matters at the d3level.  ncwes is getting some east coast nc talent i can promise you that.

as for recruiting this could be a good yr for gboro to nab some talent with a young qb and hoopla about improvement etc...

6-4 possible?

If gboro beats mu then i think i have to make the trip to su to watch them play.

[AUPOP]

va for gboro?  i dont think that area matters at the d3level.  ncwes is getting some east coast nc talent i can promise you that.

as for recruiting this could be a good yr for gboro to nab some talent with a young qb and hoopla about improvement etc...

6-4 possible?

If gboro beats mu then i think i have to make the trip to su to watch them play.

Just threw them in, my son had a friend that played there so checked Greensboro just for the heck of it. Only reason I checked Methodist is because we had gone down to look, was curios if anyone else had ended up there.

[AdmiralPapi]

MU practice yesterday consisted of "walk through s".  I guess times have changed.  Walk through s and helmet only practices used to be for the last practice before a game. 

Almost all programs I have been associated with use Monday as a conditioning day and a day to install that week's game plan.  Most do this in just helmets or in helmets and shoulder pads.  Not saying all programs do it this way, but a majority do.  Most guys are still pretty beat up from the game on Saturday come Monday afternoon, and the last thing they need is to beat on each other.

[musupporter]

MU practice yesterday consisted of "walk through s".  I guess times have changed.  Walk through s and helmet only practices used to be for the last practice before a game.  

Almost all programs I have been associated with use Monday as a conditioning day and a day to install that week's game plan.  Most do this in just helmets or in helmets and shoulder pads.  Not saying all programs do it this way, but a majority do.  Most guys are still pretty beat up from the game on Saturday come Monday afternoon, and the last thing they need is to beat on each other.

You seem like you are up to speed on things so maybe you can answer a question for me.  Since the new way of doing things is walk throughs, helmet only practice, no contact, and basically "preparing for the next game", how is it a coach uses this level of competition to determine one player is suddenly better than another?  Is it really possible to gauge a players ability at this low level of intensity or is it just who the coaches favorite is for the week?  Not being a wise guy, just wondering.

As far as game plans are concerned, that sounds right for the offense, but if you run the exact same defense every Saturday, what exactly are they installing?  And don't you actually have to hit someone in order to get "beat up"?  Now that was being a wise guy

Seriously, if one player isn't getting the job done, how is it determined, outside of game conditions, who can get the job done?  The reason I ask is I have seen some personnel changes and the new players game stats are not what the player they replaced was producing.  I can't speak on how it is done past the high school level and was just curious.

[musupporter]

So what about recruiting strategies in the conference? Is there not a HUGE gap between the schools of the conference as far as recruiting goes?

Wins and Loses.  You want top talent to play for your school you better produce wins.  Consider that AU, GC, MU are all within a short distance to Greensboro, Raleigh, and Charlotte NC.  As far as facilities it is a wash among all three.  You want to convince a player to come up with the type of money to go to those schools you better produce wins and you better have a coaching staff that knows what to do with those players when they get there.

Based on this theory, AU and GC will have a significant advantage recruiting this coming session.

[cnusfinest54]

WFU34 we will enjoy what we are and I will continue to expect more out of a program that I helped build. Year 1 we only lost 2 games at home and ended up winning the conference in the programs first year. Year 2, only home loss was to Rowan, a national powerhouse and ended the season by improving from the 01 playoff blowout by challenging a very explosive W&J team. Year 3, beat a top ranked Bridgewater team at home, beat a very good Muhlenberg team in the 1st round of the playoffs and the only home loss of the year came in the playoffs to the eventual South Region Champs Bridgewater. Year 4, 1 home loss to Rowan by 1 point, beat a good McDaniel team, beat a top 10 Bridgewater team again, and beat an undefeated top 10 Salisbury team on the road in the playoffs before losing to another explosive W&J team in the second round.

In our first 4 years our fans only saw us lose 5 times at home with 2 losses by the hands of Rowan and 1 by Bridgewater, won 2 playoff games, 4 conference titles, and defeated several top 25 ranked D3 teams.  After our 1st 2 seasons we expected to win the conference and shifted our focus to making a name for ourselves on the national scene which we accomplished. A lot of people want to use the public vs private debate as a reason for a lot of CNU's success but the bottom line is it all comes down to attitude and player/coaches expectations. Take NCW for example. Not only have they beaten CNU a couple times in the last few years but they have taken us to the woodshed at HOME  in big time games. Our nice stadium, facilities, and lower tuition didn't save our a$$ then because NCW didn't care. Their players and coaches got in their minds that they were going to beat CNU's a$$ and they did it.

Like CNUALUM9 said we were building a national contender and no one could argue with our resume in a short period of time. Years 1-4 we improved our program and I had hoped that we would continue that push forward.  To sum up what we were building in 04 CNU did not get the AQ and still made it to the playoffs with a pool C bid because of our wins against top programs and willingness to play a tough non conference schedule.  And I am not trying to relive any glory days all I am saying is I am and will always be a Captain and I feel a lot of current Captains are not getting it done. If the new kids don't want to play top teams and win then the Alums don't want them in OUR program. If your goal is just to put on a jersey and play a little football after high school then Virginia has a lot of semi pro teams that will gladly take them.  Coach K promised me before I came to CNU that we would play in big games and play the best teams that d3 had to offer. All he asked of us was when given the stage that we did our part. That's expectations and that's why I went to CNU because I was sold that he would make me a winner and I bought in.