FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[mc55ol]

There are a few former monarchs playing in the nifl.

And I think there is a former Guilford guy playing in the AFL.

Cool, do many guys in our conference or the ODAC go on to play arena ball? 
[/quote]

[CNU85]

NCWC only graduates 2 players, a OL and a DB! Everyone else returns.

Sounds like NCWC is going to be a force to reckon with this coming season. I wish I could say the same for Averett, but right now there are too many holes to fill (QB, RB, FB, WR, DB x2, LB, 2 or 3 line positions on both sides). Dunlevy has his work cut out for him on the recruitment end and getting these positions established early on in training camp. Dunlevy is a very good coach and he has excellant assistants and staff. They have a lot of good talent returning but these key positions that need to be filled will over shadow the returns early on.

I have to agree with you there. An early (and probably not surprising prediction): Averett is going to slide backward in a similar fashion that Ferrum did after the '05 season.

I don't see the Cougars breaking .500 this coming season. Losses to MUC, CNU, NCW and MVC seem like sure things. And I'm guessing there will be at least one more in there. I'm a fan of Dunlevy's coaching as well, but I don't think he has the depth returning to handle this season very well. Too many skill positions are being vacated.

OK, now I might be getting a little ahead of myself here, but I couldn't help but mention this:
-- A year after SU was co-champ in 2004, the team tanked into a 1-9 season.
-- A year after FC was co-champ in 2005, the team tanked into a 2-7 season, the worst drop-off of any D3 team in the country, as document in ATN and other columns.
-- A year after AU was runner-up in 2006 ....

Well, you can probably guess where that last part was headed. How is it that non-CNU teams can burst onto the scene one year and the slide back the next? This isn't intended to be a CNU rah-rah post about the team's staying power, rather it's something that kind of bothers me.

NCW is going to be a big dog this coming year. If they're top guys return as expected, there's a conference ring in their future. I can't help but wonder, though, if we could see them again in 2008? This Bishop team has a lot of solid young players. I think they have a good chance of breaking the "co-champ curse" of recent seasons.

But as I said...the season isn't quite here yet, so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Agreed...NCWC is gonna be tough this year.........anyone know what their graduation rate is? 

[kickerdad]

I don't see the Cougars breaking .500 this coming season. Losses to MUC, CNU, NCW and MVC seem like sure things. And I'm guessing there will be at least one more in there. I'm a fan of Dunlevy's coaching as well, but I don't think he has the depth returning to handle this season very well. Too many skill positions are being vacated.


Not to mention the fact that Averett opens up on the road against Mount Union and lord only knows who they will play the second week. They played Wesley the last two years and that contract is over. You can count on Dunlevy to try and get hooked up with a real strong "out of conference" opponet, then they have to travel to Guilford...........Got the picture yet....I'm afraid it is going to be a long season unless Mike D.  can pull a rabbit out of the hat.

[D3Newbie]

Well, you can probably guess where that last part was headed. How is it that non-CNU teams can burst onto the scene one year and the slide back the next? This isn't intended to be a CNU rah-rah post about the team's staying power, rather it's something that kind of bothers me.

Some of us might just be looking forward to that slide when The Pride finally 'burst upon the scene!' 

As Art Shell, coach of the Oakland Raiders in 2006, said at the beginning of the season, "Maybe this will be the year . . . . "

But just maybe, just maybe . . . .  8)

GC does have some nice returners and don't lose too much.  If current players improve and some pieces are added, could GC possibly make a run at the title? 

Go ahead - I have thick skin . . . .

[AdmiralPapi]

This year was certainly the year for the Raiders!!!

[NCWC DAD]

I can tell you why NCWC will be a factor for years to come.....Coach Ginn has the entire Eastern NC to get "players". Guys, I have a son playing there that signed with Catawba outta HS. Transfers to NCWC and has played in a reserve role his first 2 yrs. Should start this fall at OL. My point being, Ginn has a world of talent to choose from. We all know there are alot of kids out there that were one inch too short or 20 pounds too light for some D1 school that are still very good football players.

[CNU85]

I can tell you why NCWC will be a factor for years to come.....Coach Ginn has the entire Eastern NC to get "players". Guys, I have a son playing there that signed with Catawba outta HS. Transfers to NCWC and has played in a reserve role his first 2 yrs. Should start this fall at OL. My point being, Ginn has a world of talent to choose from. We all know there are alot of kids out there that were one inch too short or 20 pounds too light for some D1 school that are still very good football players.

He also  gets good players from Southeastern Va that can't get into CNU...like Bush! And the 757 area code has  higher quality and quantity of players to choose from than Eastern NC.  I'm picking NCW to win the conf. this year.

[moshergc9]

I had the chance to go to nc wes for a class last year.  They have some nice things going for them in that area.  What happened to all the talk about them going up divisions?? 

I had the chance to coach agains one of their coaches wife in basketball...she won...even more of a reason to cheer against the bishops.  that coaching staff has done a good job of getting a team together.  the only team that has been put together as quickly is the captains and we all know how fair that situation is.

I love stirring this board!   the captain hating is back

I think the Pride will again make strides.  This year is the year we go over .500  Roll Pride

The most important thing right now is Cowboy Lacrosse!   Run/Shoot

[SU97]

/quote]

Agreed...NCWC is gonna be tough this year.........anyone know what their graduation rate is? 

I found some graduation data online. It is the 2006 data for 1999-00 cohort graduation rates for each of the USASAC schools:

              *          @ 
AU:        51%    45%
CNU:      45%    40%
FC:        34%   34%
GC:        20%   34%
MU:       34%    32%
NCWC:   40%    35%
SU:        45%    44%

The "*" represents "the 1999-00 cohort graduation rate" for all students in that class year.  The second column, listed as "@" is the "four-year class average."  I could not find any information seperating out student-athletes, but this was still interesting. 

I can't say how reliable this information is, I just googled it and found this site: http://www2.ncaa.org/portal/academics_and_athletes/education_and_research/academic_reform/grad_rate/2006/d3_school_grad_rate_data.html

[Ryan Tipps]

Well, here's an interesting stat:
According to Wesleyan's '06 media guide and based on the online roster, the team didn't have a single senior on it. Everyone was a junior or younger. I had never noticed that before. Wow!

And many of the Bishops players who were on the stat leader sheets this past season are sophomores or freshmen. Even more of a reason to expect them to have some staying power around the top of the conference for at least two or three more years.

[abnrgr]

SU97
Good research,

Is COHORT like a Roman cohort?  ;)Serious..... like out of 600 which was what a cohort was made of. Or just the team numbers versus grad?.

[Pat Coleman]

Well, it was only the third year of the program. That's going to happen.

[Superfoot Wallace]

Now that the progress reports for the elementary kids are out and the Lakers have made it to All Star Break, somebody call Barkley and tell him Alabama put the whup on Auburn in womens gymnastics.

best regards,
Brody Croyle 

[AF4]

and i believe auburn put the..'whup'... on the bammers in swimming... as usual

[Ryan Tipps]

Well, it was only the third year of the program. That's going to happen.

Yes, thanks Pat.  I was aware of that. 

But I assumed that NCW would have started out much the same way that a first-year team like LaGrange did. This past season, LaGrange had more than a dozen sophomores and even a couple of juniors on the team.

While I figure that the bulk of a startup team would be freshmen, I would've expected to see some other classes represented -- either from transfers or from upperclassmen just taking advantage of the new program. That's what was so surprising about NCW. Either they started with zero sophomores three years ago or all of the sophomores washed out. Either way, pretty interesting, methinks.