FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[KEEPING IT REAL]

CNU will not finish 3rd.

[narch]

i've always heard that coach sy was a hoot at the media day, and i can say he's a really funny guy in person...the conference got a taste of what they'll miss @ media day w/o him in the future...

KIR...not gonna hold up your end of our little wager, eh...

[ProudFightingScot]

Great job by Maryville officials hosting Media Day.  A crowd of approximately 150 showed up and MC's SID Etchison should take alot of credit putting it all together.  It was held at the new Clayton Civic Center on the Maryville campus.

I really liked what CNU's Kelchner said about the coaches and the loyalty of their schools towards their coaches.  The following are the years the USA-South head coaches have been at their institution......

Averett - Dunleavy (9 years)
CNU - Kelchner (10 years)
Ferrum - Davis (17 years)
Greensboro - Hunt (2 years)
Maryville - Ierulli (8 years)
Methodist - Sypult (17 years)
NC Wesleyan - Mark Henniger (3 years)
Shenandoah - Paul Barnes (11 years)

WFU34, I guess there was nothing you liked about Media Day.  You complained about Kelchner talking about loyalty from their schools, coaches not saying enough about their teams, the media not asking good questions and Maryville's coach going for 20 minutes.

I watched the videostream again (which you can log back on and watch again) and Ierulli spoke for 12 minutes not more than 20 minutes and he talked about the team for 5 minutes not 1 minute like you said.  I guess math is not one of your strongest areas.  You complained the coaches didn't talk much about their teams, but Ierulli talked about his offense and defense, the returning players at the different positions and team goals for the 2010 season.  Finally, I thought he was entertaining by not just going through the normal "coach-speak" routine that you normally get from these coaches.  But I forgot, you complained about that as well.

Finally, I really think the team to watch this season will be Shenandoah.  Though 1-9 last season, they lost 8 games by 7 points or less last season.  They are returning the #1 rusher in the conference from last season and their best running back from 2008 who was injured last year.   Could be very dangerous if they get on a roll early in the season.....

[MCSID]

There are additional interviews at: http://www.knoxivi.com/maryvillecollege/athletics
Go to the 97th minute and see a pair of Scots players and additional coach comments with a little more details in their answers.

We had a great response to the video stream.

[Allen C]

I watched Media day, and very much enjoyed it. With the exception of the signal being lost two times briefly, it was a great telecast, and well done.

I have to agree that Shenandoah will be the surprise team this year. I would not be surprised to see them finish in the top three. I was expecting Greensboro to build on last year and come out of the gate on fire, but it sounds like their defense is gonna have many new faces. Any info on their preseason form?

[AUPOP]

All in all a nice job done by Maryville. Watched it twice just to see if I heard Coach Dunlevy right.

Huffman will be back at LB for AU, that was a nice surprise, at least for me anyway. Definetley will help the AU defense, probably made moving Smith to tailback a little easier as well, sort of a double dip with him coming back. Have 16, 17 O lineman coming in, must be that Florida connection. Sure didnt see them at the end of spring practice with all the other recruits. Have to see what they bring to the table but sounds like at least depth at o line wont be an issue. All in all sounded fairly positive for AU.

Noticed almost every coach made the same comment. Have to wait to camp to see who is and who isnt actually back, guess everyone has a few question marks.

Little over a week to camp plus I get my garage back.........life is good.    LOL

[short]

Ferrum coach Dave Davis says it's difficult to predict how D-III teams will finish, but in Kickoff 2009, we had them going 5-5, 4-3. They went 5-5, 3-4.

Yes, but you also had an NCAC team ranked around 109 and they finished the year 6th and could have been 4th or 5th in the Nation and won 5 more games than you predicted in the 2009 Kickoff.  So Pat, I think it is very Hard to predict how a team will do at any level but even more so at D3.

[Pat Coleman]

No doubt. We don't claim perfection, just that it's possible.

We also predicted St. Thomas in the Top 25, which nobody else was close on.

[short]

Wow,
my karma we down by two points after that comment? Why?

[narch]

Wow,
my karma we down by two points after that commit? Why?

...nevermind...i was going to say something about that commit, but i couldn't comment to what i was going to say...

[hasanova]

Wow,
my karma we down by two points after that commit? Why?

...nevermind...i was going to say something about that commit, but i couldn't comment to what i was going to say...

Beat me to it, narch!  +1

[batteredbard]

As an added fact check six coaches were asked at least one question and several got multiple. Since we solicited on this forum for questions you wanted asked, WFu has no cause to complain.

I think everyone knows coaches do not say a whole lot before camp starts because you never know who might not come back at the last minute. Coach Davis made a great point that D3 you pay (tuition) to play football. Once camp opens there is actually substance and you can ask better questions.

Kelchner on 'loyalty' was one of the highlights for me. Its at 29:17 on the time index if you go back to watch the archive. He played right to the crowd with that veiled dig at Lane Kiffin 20 minutes from Neyland Stadium. The other webcast isn't bad either. More interviews one on one.

As for the poll, we all know it reflects more of last year's standing than next year's potential.
1. NCW - lose 1,000 yards rushing, 1,000 yards receiving and about 3,000 career yards passing.
I see them more 5-2 than 7-0.

2. Averett - outside of a secondary issue they look very promising and despite the game 10 loss to NCW are carrying a lot of momentum - the real front runner

3. CNU - nobody knew how good they might have been or not been in 09 because of injuries, but upping the team size to 125 (on the road to 160 in a few years, yow!!!) is going to give them a lot of good athletes and the up side is that a lot of guys got experience filling in for 12 starters lost to injuries. A contender but need a fast start to carry momentum into early metting with AU.

4. Ferrum - dark horse
5. Greensboro - its a fight to avoid the sophomore slump, but Hunt may be on to something with his platoon system
6. Maryville - absolutely must find a second receiving threat and a speed back or risk Idlette being the next version of the Torrey Lowe show offense GC suffered
7. Shenandoah - 8 points from being a factor in the title hunt last year. If Kyle (1,000+ in 09) and Roberts (missed 09 led team in 08) compliment each other they could be in the mix in week 9 and maybe 10.
8. Methodist - with so many unknowns anything is possible, but taking Sypult's now removed toe (which was why he missed his last media day) and doing a voodoo charm for good fortune wouldn't hurt.

Lastly, heres the local links for coverage.
Media day story
http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20100804/SPORTS/308049997

Media day notebook
http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20100804/SPORTS/308049971/0/sports

media day column
http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20100804/SPORTS0104/308049978/0/RSS

[Pat Coleman]

I enjoyed Kelchner's comments too, but the only thing I would say is that that sort of loyalty is hardly unique to the USA South -- I think you could look at most Division III conferences and get the same kind of feeling -- but I did enjoy the dig at the FBS school.

[ProudFightingScot]

Great job covering Media Day yesterday Batterdbard.  As usual, very good articles and the Times gave it great coverage with 3 articles today.  You give good insight into the USA-South Conference.  Are you writing for D3football this season?

[WFU34]

Well - after reading several of the responses to my media day observations, I'm glad to learn that there are several individuals on the board have the time to actually time how long a particular coach spoke (I guess it just seemed like 20 minutes) or count the exact number of questions each coach was asked.

With that being said, I'll add an additonal observation which shots may be taken.  First the loyality comment - no doubt about it, DIII schools have a tendency to be much more loyal to its coaches than the bigger schools.  In particular, most of the USA South coaches have acceptable career records and have either challenged (or won) the conference title over the last several years.  But is that loyality a result of some "altruistic" attitude on the part of the adminstration (which in many cases it may be) or is it a result of the fact that the revenues aren't there, thus not the extreme pressure from the adminstration and alumni? 

If I recall correctly (I'm sure someone will go back to check) on this very board there were individuals calling for both the Shenandoah and Methodist coaches jobs last year.  Why?  While both good men, contributed to their schools, the L's were outpacing the W's.  In DIII, if the program is usually competitive and there are no scandals, a coach can usually count on a long, stable career as most schools are not in the position to turn coaches and buy out contracts.  One could wonder if the revenues were larger and the school more dependant on those monies would the case be the same?