MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[LU_nut]

augie daddy

There is no way that I would move from IWU unless it was a heck of a pay raise.  IWU picks their players at the D3 level like Duke and NC does at the D1 level. 

Most D2 schools suck acedemically...that is why they have to pay for kids(tuition)  to come play b-all.

Nut

[dogtired]

Google "lewis university athletics" and what do you first see?
I'm not saying it's an omen but interestingly it's Illinois Wesleyan.

Illinois Wesleyan 5, Lewis 4 in tennis, that is.

[emeritusprof]

Gandhi might have thought differently about basketball if his defensive strategy had worked.

[Mr. Ypsi]

A question I have about this Lewis thing:

From a professional standpoint, isn't the Illinois Wesleyan job better than the Lewis job?  I am sure Lewis pays a little more and I know a coach has scholarships to give there, but when you look at the big picture - facilities, fanbase, tradition, quality of the school, etc - isn't IWU a better job? 
IWU has to be a top 5 Division III job all things considered and probably one of the top "small college" jobs in the nation as well (D2, NAIA, D3).  To me, I don't see why you'd leave for a so-so D2 job.  I always thought Trost would leave IWU to be a head coach at a low D1 or back to an assistant at a D1 major.

The strangest thing about this Trost to Lewis rumor is that I heard from a very reliable source that Trost turned down the Lewis job just 2 years ago.  Jim Whitesell (now the head coach at D1 Loyola), the departing Lewis coach, is apparently very close to Trost (as in best of friends) and from what I've heard, Lewis wanted Trost and it would've been a done deal.  I've also heard Whitesell offered Trost the Loyola top assistant job during that same time, and he turned it down to stay at IWU.  So why now pursue the Lewis job?

I don't question Scherer's decision to pursue Lewis as it is clearly a better job than Elmhurst.  I know Scherer was also a final candidate for D2 SIU-Edwardsville a couple years ago.  The Trost thing doesn't seem to make sense to me though.

As to your second paragraph ("why now"?), I suspect that the reasons would be named Dauksas, Amelianovich, Jones, etc.

But I'd have to agree that Lewis just doesn't seem like a step up (except, perhaps, in immediate salary - could this be a bargaining tool for a raise at IWU?).  While I have hoped that Trost would get the Titan spirit and be a lifer like Horenberger and Bridges, I, like you, assumed that if he left it would be for a low-level (perhaps even mid-level) d1 head coaching job, or as the TOP assistant at a d1 power team.  To me, Lewis just doesn't make sense (unless, like I'm guessing, it is trying to pry a raise out of IWU).

[devildog29]

As was pointed out earlier, this board tends to do a pretty good job of avoiding the rumor mill.  That being said, it sounds like the Trost thing may very well be more than just rumor, I guess we'll all soon find out.  That being said, when Bridges hired Trost, I thought I remembered reading that coach Bridges made it clear that he wanted to hire someone that planned on staying at the school for a loooooong time like he and coach Horenberger did.  Does anyone else remember this being the case and Trost commenting that IWU would indeed be his last stop in his coaching career or am I making this up in my head?  Obviously times change and money talks so Trost saying that and actually doing it are 2 very different things.  I just found it funny that if I am remembering things correctly, it only took 4 years before he changed his mind.

[Titan Q]

That being said, when Bridges hired Trost, I thought I remembered reading that coach Bridges made it clear that he wanted to hire someone that planned on staying at the school for a loooooong time like he and coach Horenberger did.  Does anyone else remember this being the case and Trost commenting that IWU would indeed be his last stop in his coaching career...

devildog29, those are both completely false statements.  When Dennie Bridges hired Scott Trost, he put no pressure on him to stay longer than he wanted.  And Scott Trost has never at any time stated that IWU would be his last coaching job.

I have no idea if Scott is staying or leaving - it's none of my business - and I'd prefer to stay out of it until we know, but I had to correct something this inaccurate.

[devildog29]

Q thanks for clarifying.  For the record, I wasn't trying to state that as fact, I was trying to clarify things in my own convoluted brain, which is why I was asking.  As I said, I couldn't remember if I actually did read that at one time or if I was making something up in my head.  Not really sure why that stuck in my mind for some reason.  Regardless, for all the heat he took this year at times, Coach Trost's record seems to speak for itself, so hopefully he'll continue to improve on that record with the Titans.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Q,

I'm wondering if you would be willing to stick your neck on on one issue:  aside from (presumably on immediate salary) would you view Lewis as in any way a step up the coaching ladder from IWU?  Maybe SOME ADs see d2 as automatically higher than d3, but generally I just can't see it.

ASSUMING that Trost put his name in at Lewis (they certainly have a lot of ethical 'splaining [apologies to Ricky Ricardo!] to do if he didn't!), would he have any reason other than trying to force a raise at IWU?  Unless he is being forced out (for reasons I would be totally unaware of), I just can't see Lewis as a career move.

[Jim Matson]

The tough pre-CCIW schedule will be a great experience for the young Wesleyan guys.

Any more word on North Park recruits?

[veterancciwfan]

Back from the hot state of TX. Ralph: How do you stand the heat? It was 92 in Dallas on Sunday, April 2! And Dallas had a marathon at State Fair Park. Hope none of the participants died like one often does at the Chicago Marathon.

Had to laugh at the fictional U. of Southern North Dakota. But IWU did play Northern State of South Dakota in the NAIA tournament in KC in 1971 and got beat soundly in the first round. Too bad Northern State of SD wasn't fictional.

Rumors and rumors of rumors: Which will it be first, IWU joining the MWC or Trost bolting from IWU? Can't wait. Stay tuned, CCIW fans. You will hear it first on this (usually) reliable cite.

[Jim Matson]

While this isn't basketball related, I do enjoy following the Directors Cup standings.  It is tough enough to do well in one sport in D3, but to do well in multiple sports takes a serious committment.  While Williams and CNJ lead the pack every year, Calvin is always up in the top 10 or so along with some of the WIAC teams.  Calvin is proof that a (normal) small private school can consistantly compete for this award and thus I believe we should see CCIW schools in the top 10.  But the CCIW has rarely had a top 10 finish.  ??

Here are the final standings for CCIW teams after the winter season (only the top 100 are calculated):

11. Wheaton 367 pts
19. North Central 312 pts
29. Augustana 254 pts
38. Wesleyan 233 pts
84. Carthage 129 pts

[Gregory Sager]

Coach G has announced his first recruiting commitment for the upcoming season. Brandon Carleton is a 6-6 forward from Moline.

I saw Carleton play this past January at the Chops Billinger Shootout in the NPU gym. I liked what I saw. He's a big man with definite athleticism and, as Dan said, a nice upside. The NPU coaches told me that it was down to Augie and St. Ambrose for him, and it looks like Augie won. He could be a good player for the Doggies somewhere down the line.

It's because the center of the universe is in So Cal.

Another year there and you're going to be blowing air kisses, living on a steady diet of fish tacos, duck pizza, and Pellegrino, and using "killer" as your favorite adjective. 

A question I have about this Lewis thing:

From a professional standpoint, isn't the Illinois Wesleyan job better than the Lewis job?  I am sure Lewis pays a little more and I know a coach has scholarships to give there, but when you look at the big picture - facilities, fanbase, tradition, quality of the school, etc - isn't IWU a better job? 
IWU has to be a top 5 Division III job all things considered and probably one of the top "small college" jobs in the nation as well (D2, NAIA, D3).  To me, I don't see why you'd leave for a so-so D2 job.  I always thought Trost would leave IWU to be a head coach at a low D1 or back to an assistant at a D1 major.

Different coaches want different things, and they don't necessarily align their values with everyone else's when it comes to the particular pluses and minuses of a coaching gig. And there's a lot of truth to the old maxim that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence; a job that may look inviting from the outside may not be all that and a bag of chips on the inside. I'm not casting any aspersions upon Illinois Wesleyan in particular, just making a general observation.

I tend to agree that Lewis is not the be-all and end-all destination of small college basketball for an ambitious coach, at least from my perspective. Only a thousand of the school's 3,500 undergraduate students are residents, and it shows in the rather lackluster attendance figures for Lewis. The Flyers only averaged 422 fans per home game last season, which every CCIW school except North Central easily outdistanced. The school's athletic department was rocked in recent years by a multi-sport scandal that led to two years of self-imposed sanctions, forfeiture of several conference titles and a national championship in men's volleyball, and an NCAA probation that will last through the summer of 2008. There appear to be a number of negatives that come with the Lewis job.

On the other hand, Lewis is a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, which is the elite conference in D2 men's basketball. For an eleven-year period from 1994 through 2004, the GLVC was annually represented in D2's national championship game, a pretty remarkable achievement for a conference. It's produced two coaches who've moved up to the D1 head coaching ranks in recent years, Bruce Pearl and Jim Whitesell, and it likely would've produced a third in Kentucky Wesleyan's Ray Harper if two of his players from his 2003 national runner-up team hadn't been later found to be ineligible (he's now at NAIA-1 powerhouse Oklahoma City, which is not a bad safety net for a coach whose team was forced to forfeit all games, trophies, earnings, and honors from what had been a 31-win season).

If a coach has the ambition to move up to the D1 ranks, Lewis could prove to be a good position from which to do so, probably a better one than Illinois Wesleyan. I claim no insight into Scott Trost's thought process, but let's keep in mind that he was an assistant coach at a Big Ten school. There are a lot of coaches who wouldn't be content to remain in what most basketball people consider to be the minor leagues after experiencing the bright lights of a major D1 program. Lewis could prove to be another coach's steppingstone to D1, just as it was for Whitesell.

[Gregory Sager]

Any more word on North Park recruits?

Nothing is firm as of yet aside from Nick Williams and sophomore transfer Cyrus Shelton (who enrolled at NPU at the semester break but wasn't on the team). And, as is typical for the Park, there will probably be recruits who don't make up their minds and put in their deposits until the middle of summer. But the coaching staff is pretty excited at the potential that they have on their recruiting board. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Williams is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the players Brenegan and Schafer think they can bring in for 2006-07.

The prognosis on the various rehabbing knee injuries to key Vikings looks good. Glen Woodside should get the green light from the orthopedist to begin playing again within a matter of days. I saw him running up the stairs outside the gym the other day, which was a welcome sight. Mike Peterson should be able to resume normal activities in May or June, with Jason Gordon to follow about a month later.

[dansand]

Any more word on North Park recruits?

Nothing is firm as of yet aside from Nick Williams and sophomore transfer Cyrus Shelton (who enrolled at NPU at the semester break but wasn't on the team). And, as is typical for the Park, there will probably be recruits who don't make up their minds and put in their deposits until the middle of summer. But the coaching staff is pretty excited at the potential that they have on their recruiting board. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Williams is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the players Brenegan and Schafer think they can bring in for 2006-07.

The prognosis on the various rehabbing knee injuries to key Vikings looks good. Glen Woodside should get the green light from the orthopedist to begin playing again within a matter of days. I saw him running up the stairs outside the gym the other day, which was a welcome sight. Mike Peterson should be able to resume normal activities in May or June, with Jason Gordon to follow about a month later.

Greg,
Is that Cyrus Shelton from Moline? Wow, there's a name out of the past. He played a little bit as a junior on Moline's 2000-01 state quarterfinalist team (with Jay McAdams-Thornton and Travis Hoyt). He didn't play at Moline as a senior and last I knew he played some at Southeastern CC in '04-05. I really don't recall too much about him, it'll be interesting to see how he does for the Vikings.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's because the center of the universe is in So Cal.

Another year there and you're going to be blowing air kisses, living on a steady diet of fish tacos, duck pizza, and Pellegrino, and using "killer" as your favorite adjective. 

I've gotten duck pizza here in Kansas City, although it was at the California Pizza Kitchen...hmmm.