FB: USA South Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

I work with a guy who lives in Winchester and he has asked me more than once if they fire coaches in Division III.

[Old Ref]

Wow.... I went to bed last night and woke up this morning only to see this conversation had continued all through the night...Wow, I love it, just wish I was young enough to stay up......Love it.. 8)

[Uncle Jessie]

Wow.... I went to bed last night and woke up this morning only to see this conversation had continued all through the night...Wow, I love it, just wish I was young enough to stay up......Love it.. 8)

LOL, I wish I was young enough to stay up also.

[Ryan Tipps]

CNU85 or other CNU fans. I wanted to make the trip last Saturday to see your stadium but was not able to. I have not been at CNU going back to that great game in 2001. The place was still under construction. Do you have any pics of the place or know of a web site that shows Pomoco well? The CNU web site has two pics, but I was hoping to see more. Thanks

Jessie,
I can't remember if I have any really great shots of the stadium, but I shot a photo gallery for d3football.com last year at Pomoco. There might be something in there that can give you a good idea of the stadium.

W&L at CNU
http://www.pictureprints.net/albums.php?gallery=1430

[Black Panthers]

Congratulations to Mike Vann on getting the USAC rookie of the week award. I cant belive we are now 2-0 in the conference. Pretty soon you other guys are going to have to start giving Ferrum some respect.

[Uncle Jessie]

Thanks Ryan, They were nice pics. I wish I could had gotten to CNU and see it in person last week.

[batteredbard]

It definitly ranked with the best high school games I've ever seen. Maryville High has Brent Burnette (D1 prospect at qb, completing better than 70 percent, for 1,200 yards and 11 tds with 3 picks -- all in the end zone -- in five games), Aaron Douglas (No.1 tightend prospect in the nation, going to UT) and Stephen Shiver will go I or I-AA as a receiver. WB has a top 50 defensive end in TJ Walker, a D1 punter in Kasey Whitehead and junior lb Cole Lail has offers from everyone in the SEC and Big 10.
It was a shame it came down to two missed extra points, but there was a lot of talent on the field and several guys that could be at MC in a season or two -- IF the Scots can prove themselves winners enough to get them there.

At this point Im really looking forward to Ferrum coming to town. I was waiting for a reality check on the MC defense and now that they've had it Im curious to see how they respond this week with a passing game and the option to defend. Scots could be down a linebacker we'll have to see what they say on Wed at practice. It certainly didn't help at NCW but wouldn't have made a difference.

AllSky I'm always in the same place about an hour before kick off and depending on how late and how far away I was for high school the night before I generally try to make the rounds of the tailgaters to say hi and talk to parents.

I left off a kudos for Ryan Gaines. That young man took some big licks to get six receptions over the middle and held on every time. I haven't seen tape yet but from talking to several others, the consensus was that when he took the last hit and popped back up with the fist pump it looked like something it wasn't to get the flag. I personally doubt I could have gotten up after being hit like that, the Bishops brought some heavy wood out defensively.

[Pat Coleman]

At this point Im really looking forward to Ferrum coming to town.

Wow. Imagine how much you're looking forward to the game itself.

[SU97]

Please this is nothing personal against you but after talking to many other faculty and staff at SU including parents you are the first to belive what he is doing is fine and dandy. Its time for a change. I just cant understand how you think he is doing a good job. (ALOT) 

You will notice (if you scroll back through my posts this year) that I have not made an outright statement either in support of, or against Barnes being fired.  To be honest, I made a decision earlier in the year to weigh in at the end of the season.  Once the "three yards and a cloud of dust" settles.  All I'm doing is commenting on your ideas and asking questions to get a firm grasp of your argument as I make up my mind on what I think should be done.  Just because I find some of your points to be a little bit of a stretch, doesn't mean I don't support parts of your argument either. Keep that in mind. BUT...  At the end of the day, my opinion doesn't matter anyways. 

But all in all I guess 9 straight losses averging 7 points getting shut out 3 times in the 9  losing games and going back to the start of last year the team is averging 8.5 points and were shut out 5 times is perfectly fine with you. They fact that they have won one game in the USAC the last 3 years is well enough for you and that SU needs to hold on to Barnes.

I'm not sure which of my previous posts have supported this theory. 

SU97, Ah what???
First off you talk about the other sports (once again) in d3football.com and actually try to come off as they are in the same bracket as the SU football team. They are no where close to being on the level as the football team is. I wrote it before SU's athletic department has clearly made the football team (not the volleyball, soccer, field hockey teams or even the basketball teams) its poster child. The university has spent millions into a new stadium, roads, field house building and intends to put millions more into it, for they want field turf installed. When the other programs get a new stadium or are put as high as the football team is on the SU pedestal then I will expect just as much out of those teams as well.

Whoa...  you've missed my intended direction with this entirely.  Twice I've brought other sports teams at SU into the discussion to usher in my next point, but you didn't connect the dots as I had hoped.  I brought the other fall sports in as supporting evidence that, historically speaking, SU does not make employment decisions on coaching personnel based on final W-L records.  It is obvious that the leadership has other criteria/priorities that drive those decisions.  What those may be, I have no idea.  I went online and pulled up the student newspaper last night to find that old information regarding the ODAC proposal and stumbled across Mr. Musa's acknowledgement of this type of discussion in the stands (although I believe it's the 800 lbs. gorilla, not an elephant that's in the room).  Read reason's #2 and #3 in his story on page 6 of the sports buzz of this week's paper.   http://www.su.edu/pr/publications/sun/Sept26.pdf

   From your lodgic if we are going to get rid of one guy we should get rid of them all. Well if you want to go that far well I say why not. Why should the university except losing?

Interesting point.

You mentioned about SU lacks 3 and 4 year starters. What was the excuse when they had 3 and 4 year guys last year and they werent short in them in 2005. You brought up Terrance Brooks. Who is responsible for guiding the team to a high level that Brooks put the team on years ago? Its the head coach right? You said Barnes and Reed Prosser were the masterminds of bringing in those recruits and the inherited player argument is slightly flawed. Well again 97 who is the one in charge of the recruiting now? Its Barnes right?

I have to be honest, I didn't follow this paragraph at all.  I think you mixed in 3 seperate points and I'm really confused.  I was playing devil's advocate associated with reasonings I heard at the last game.

[Uncle Jessie]

 I'll be looking forward to reading what you think of the situation at the end of the season.
  You say your opinion does not matter. Of course it matters. All of our views matter and I know for a fact that the upper management of SU reads this message board on a regular basis. SU needs to understand that while yes it is Div. 3 and yes having the players graduate is more important (and I agree with that) wins and losses are just as important. Not only to a campus/team but also to the community. SU wants this program to be a big part of the Winchester community. How can the community get involved when all it sees is loss after loss. We are not just losing but we are not even in most of these games the last few years.
  I read Musa's article last week and was curious about what he wrote. He writes part of the criteria of evaluating the SU coaches are having a full roster, graduating, being a good member to the community and wins/losses. While Barnes excels as far as I know in all but the later I have to ask when does the wins/losses come into effect? Its almost as if SU cares more about having a full roster to get as much tuition money as possible than it does about being a strong contending team .
   The thing I agree with him 100% is about the stuff being said at the games. During the last game I was shocked at some of the stuff being said and yelled at to Barnes. One lady had to be told to calm down from security. It was ugly and very disturbing to see. While no one should be making a fool of themselves during a game I don't agree with Musa that we should not question or say we need a coaching change and " It has no place in a Div. 3 institution."
   My argument has been not about Barnes' ability to be a good community member or having a high graduating class but his inability to adapt to a new system. Everyone and his grandmother knows that SU runs 100% at first down. I would be perfectly happy with Barnes to stay on as head coach if he would just show us he is willing to change his style of play. This Wing T sucks, its boring and most of all its averaging 7 points in the last 9 games.
   We are on a 9 game losing streak and have won one game in the USAC in the last 3 years is awful. Again just when does a coaches win/loss record come into play? If what SU really wanted to do was bring in more male students for extra tuition money then it had more ways and less expensive means to do this. But we have a great stadium, campus that should be able to attract recruits being so close to DC. Local TV station, papers that cover the team on a high level. I find it hard to belive SU built this program not to be a contender. Chances are we will never be a Mount Un. Crap who is? But we can have a program that is respected and to be proud of. I know its frustrating for you as well. Again I just wish Barnes would show he is willing to changes things up. We are 0-5, what can it hurt?

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Congratulations to Mike Vann on getting the USAC rookie of the week award. I cant belive we are now 2-0 in the conference. Pretty soon you other guys are going to have to start giving Ferrum some respect.

If anyone followed what I said before the season started, they would see I said Ferrum and Maryville could surprise some people.  It is still early but Maryville is 4-1, and Ferrum is 2-0 in the conference, but again it is still early. 

[Uncle Jessie]

Ferrum this year should be right in the mix this year. They should beat GC and Methodist is having a down year so they could get that win as well. If they can pull off a win this weekend who knows what could happen at the end of the year when they play CNU. They have a exciting team to watch and i get the feeling that the Panther players are starting to really belive in themselves.

[narch]

I cant belive we are now 2-0 in the conference. Pretty soon you other guys are going to have to start giving Ferrum some respect.

i was thinking the same thing as i was reading some of the comments...ferrum scares the heck out of me, but i wonder how in the world they lost 50-7 to ehc - ehc could have played 3 games against a mu defense that has looked...how should i put this....less than stellar....and they would not have scored 50 points - ehc was very unimpressive offensively yet somehow managed to score 50 on ferrum...puzzling - i've got to think that game was simply a blip for the panthers and that they've made nice adjustments since game #1 - do keep in mind, however, that they're 2-0 against su and au...2 teams that i might predict to be winless this season if they weren't playing each other

[SU97]

I cant belive we are now 2-0 in the conference. Pretty soon you other guys are going to have to start giving Ferrum some respect.

i was thinking the same thing as i was reading some of the comments...ferrum scares the heck out of me, but i wonder how in the world they lost 50-7 to ehc - ehc could have played 3 games against a mu defense that has looked...how should i put this....less than stellar....and they would not have scored 50 points - ehc was very unimpressive offensively yet somehow managed to score 50 on ferrum...puzzling - i've got to think that game was simply a blip for the panthers and that they've made nice adjustments since game #1 - do keep in mind, however, that they're 2-0 against su and au...2 teams that i might predict to be winless this season if they weren't playing each other

I think we'll find out this weekend.  At the start of the season the 5th - 8th slots showed a lot of parity and I figured they could go any which way. If Maryville defeats Ferrum (which is what I think will happen), then the Oct. 27th weekend will probably determine the entire conference line up.  Obviously the CNU-NCWC match-up will be the highlight game, but the rest of the conference will sort out through the following:  the MU-MC game will probably close out 3rd place, the GC-FC will sort out where FC finishes and the SU-AU contest will lock down the basement...  I can't wait for the ESPN Gameday Show in Danville.  

[SU97]

I hear what you're saying UJ.