MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Titan Q]

Wow...I agree Q.   Although the Morton position is being marketed as a very high profile position...a college head coach applying is doubtful. 

Yes, I just cannot see a current college coach pursuing the Morton H.S. job.

Ron has been hearing this rumor for weeks now I guess.  He thinks it started when he went back to his alma mater for Steve Schupp's final career game a few weeks ago.  (Schupp was Ron's sophomore coach at Morton and they are very close.)  The Potter faithful started buzzing that Ron came back because he's the next guy...and that is all it took for a rumor to start.  Grey Giovanine even called him a couple weeks ago and said, "Are you really taking the Morton job?"

Fortunately for IWU fans, Ron isn't going anywhere.

[Hardwood]

I'm glad to hear your thoughts on the coach Rose situation.  I know he is the only full time coach on the staff and just hope he isn't getting burned out.  I know Trost and Bridges didn't see eye to eye so I'm hoping we aren't going down that road again!

[Titan Q]

Adam Koch of Northern Iowa is the Tim McCrary of DI.

[bigz61550]

Good News about Victor Davis heading to IWU.  I've been looking for more recruit news and came across this frightening online article -- Is coach Rose considering moving on?

http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=485633

Does anyone have more info on this?

I live in Morton and have not heard any one candidate for the job as being in the lead.  I would expect Buescher to be first candidate as his father was a highly successful coach at Peoria Central for many year and a Bradley assistant too.  But Rose is a favorite son in Morton so he would be strong candidate if he wanted it.  We do have a great group of players coming back from a team that almost made it to state tournament the last two years with freshman and sophomores playing key roles.  But most of the time, our teams not that making it that far.

[bigz61550]

Why would a college head coach leave his job to take a high-school coaching job, especially when he: a) is coaching at his collegiate alma mater; b) is coaching in the same town where he has lived for a decade and a half; c) has a team coming back next year that has great potential; and d) would do so in the midst of a statewide fiscal crisis that is putting tens of thousands of high-school teaching and coaching jobs in jeopardy and will definitely freeze the salaries of most of the survivors for at least the short term?

In other words, on the face of it the speculation about Rose in that article makes absolutely no sense -- unless there is actually some off-the-record background info that the writer isn't divulging that can back it up.

It does bring up a larger point that is worth discussing here, though; that $13,000,000 fiscal shortfall in the state budget is going to pinch a lot of school districts in Illinois, and (as the article indicated) it could cause a lot of high school coaches to lose their jobs, particularly the younger, non-tenured ones who coach levels that could be cut by their respective districts (freshman teams, JV teams, etc.). There could be a lot of shakeup in the Illinois coaching ranks this year, and a lot of pruning in the size of high school programs. Fewer kids on the various high school rosters might mean an even bigger role for Illinois AAU teams than they already have, which is something that I view with a certain degree of ambivalence.

I agree with you 100%, but Morton is Rose's home town and the local schools have a lot less fiscal problems than most in the state.  It still would be hard to see a college coach take a step back.

[Viking Mike]

Augustana's nonconference football schedule is up on the school web site.

At Greenville
Central (IOWA)
At Adrian

This should be a good test for the Vikes before the CCIW season begins!!!

[Titan Q]

A few Ron Rose quotes on Victor Davis...

"Victor is just a natural fit for Illinois Wesleyan," Rose said Friday. "He's not only a talented player, but he's a strong student and a high character young man. We're excited he's going to bring all those attributes to Illinois Wesleyan."
-----
"Victor is a significant recruit. He could have a big impact at Illinois Wesleyan," said Rose. "He has the potential to play either (on the wing or in the post). He's more of a power forward right now."
-----
"He doesn't take plays off. He goes after every rebound. He's a very focused young man," said the Wesleyan coach. "He will be an uncomfortable matchup for opponents. Against bigger players, he can use his quickness to go around them. Against smaller players, he's a powerful player in the post."


http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/article_53694600-3960-11df-bfc7-001cc4c002e0.html

[usee]

Augustana's nonconference football schedule is up on the school web site.

At Greenville
Central (IOWA)
At Adrian

This should be a good test for the Vikes before the CCIW season begins!!!

The first issue with this is that this is the baskeball board, not the football board. The second issue (and more serious) is the simple fact that Greenville does not constitute a "test" of any kind, let alone good preparation for the CCIW football slate. Central is a great team and program and Augie will have their hands full playing them. Adrian has been a middle of the pack MIAA team for a while (they were better last year, competing with Capital and Trine in close games) and their program seems to be getting better. I would like to see CCIW teams schedule less teams like Greenville and more teams like Central in football.

[Pat Coleman]

Greenville is the best of the UMAC, though -- it's better than playing MacMurray.

[sac]

Augustana's nonconference football schedule is up on the school web site.

At Greenville
Central (IOWA)
At Adrian

This should be a good test for the Vikes before the CCIW season begins!!!

The first issue with this is that this is the baskeball board, not the football board. The second issue (and more serious) is the simple fact that Greenville does not constitute a "test" of any kind, let alone good preparation for the CCIW football slate. Central is a great team and program and Augie will have their hands full playing them. Adrian has been a middle of the pack MIAA team for a while (they were better last year, competing with Capital and Trine in close games) and their program seems to be getting better. I would like to see CCIW teams schedule less teams like Greenville and more teams like Central in football.

Adrian has finished 2nd the last two years and 5 of the last 8.  By no means are they a D3 power but they're a little better than just middle of the MIAA pack.

[AO]

Augustana's nonconference football schedule is up on the school web site.

At Greenville
Central (IOWA)
At Adrian

This should be a good test for the Vikes before the CCIW season begins!!!

The first issue with this is that this is the baskeball board, not the football board. The second issue (and more serious) is the simple fact that Greenville does not constitute a "test" of any kind, let alone good preparation for the CCIW football slate. Central is a great team and program and Augie will have their hands full playing them. Adrian has been a middle of the pack MIAA team for a while (they were better last year, competing with Capital and Trine in close games) and their program seems to be getting better. I would like to see CCIW teams schedule less teams like Greenville and more teams like Central in football.

I'd say Greenville prepared Augustana pretty well for the CCIW slate including their best win of the season against Carthage that just happened to end with the same score as the Greenville game: 42-20.  Only Wheaton and North Central managed to put up more than 20 against the Vikings last year.  Find something else to complain about.

[Titan Q]

Brady Zimmer, Pantagraph Player of the Year...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/high-school/basketball/boys/article_153ae83a-39ff-11df-b0d9-001cc4c03286.html


The article mentions the status of his college choice.  "The goal is to play right away."  This is consistent with what I've heard along the way -- that immediate time is something Brady is factoring in heavily.

[Titan Q]

Here is the entire Pantagraph All-Area team...

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/high-school/basketball/boys/article_46108298-3a00-11df-bc63-001cc4c03286.html

There are several kids getting recruited by CCIW teams on the 1st and 2nd teams. 

[usee]

Augustana's nonconference football schedule is up on the school web site.

At Greenville
Central (IOWA)
At Adrian

This should be a good test for the Vikes before the CCIW season begins!!!

The first issue with this is that this is the baskeball board, not the football board. The second issue (and more serious) is the simple fact that Greenville does not constitute a "test" of any kind, let alone good preparation for the CCIW football slate. Central is a great team and program and Augie will have their hands full playing them. Adrian has been a middle of the pack MIAA team for a while (they were better last year, competing with Capital and Trine in close games) and their program seems to be getting better. I would like to see CCIW teams schedule less teams like Greenville and more teams like Central in football.

I'd say Greenville prepared Augustana pretty well for the CCIW slate including their best win of the season against Carthage that just happened to end with the same score as the Greenville game: 42-20.  Only Wheaton and North Central managed to put up more than 20 against the Vikings last year.  Find something else to complain about.

You bring up a good point. Versus Greenville Augie's offense scored Touchdown's on 4 of their 1st 6 possessions. Against Carthage, they scored TD's on 5 of their first 8 possessions. The similarities end there, however. Greenville had 226 yds of offense including a TD run of 65 yds and a TD pass of 69 yds (on a busted coverage). Take away those two plays and Greenville had less than 100 yds for the rest of the game (their 3rd TD was on a 92 yr punt return). So analyzing just the score doesn't result in any reasonable assessment of their readiness for CCIW play. Greenville was not competitive against Augie by almost any measure. I am not complaining just stating the facts.

[AO]

Augustana's nonconference football schedule is up on the school web site.

At Greenville
Central (IOWA)
At Adrian

This should be a good test for the Vikes before the CCIW season begins!!!

The first issue with this is that this is the baskeball board, not the football board. The second issue (and more serious) is the simple fact that Greenville does not constitute a "test" of any kind, let alone good preparation for the CCIW football slate. Central is a great team and program and Augie will have their hands full playing them. Adrian has been a middle of the pack MIAA team for a while (they were better last year, competing with Capital and Trine in close games) and their program seems to be getting better. I would like to see CCIW teams schedule less teams like Greenville and more teams like Central in football.

I'd say Greenville prepared Augustana pretty well for the CCIW slate including their best win of the season against Carthage that just happened to end with the same score as the Greenville game: 42-20.  Only Wheaton and North Central managed to put up more than 20 against the Vikings last year.  Find something else to complain about.

You bring up a good point. Versus Greenville Augie's offense scored Touchdown's on 4 of their 1st 6 possessions. Against Carthage, they scored TD's on 5 of their first 8 possessions. The similarities end there, however. Greenville had 226 yds of offense including a TD run of 65 yds and a TD pass of 69 yds (on a busted coverage). Take away those two plays and Greenville had less than 100 yds for the rest of the game (their 3rd TD was on a 92 yr punt return). So analyzing just the score doesn't result in any reasonable assessment of their readiness for CCIW play. Greenville was not competitive against Augie by almost any measure. I am not complaining just stating the facts.

The fact that you have to take away plays to make your point, illustrates my point.  I'm sure Augie learned many lessons from the Greenville scores which helped limit those plays in CCIW play.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a little closer game this year.