MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[AndOne]

I figured that Steve Kollar would throw his hat into the ring at Millikin, not just for the reasons that Mark mentioned, but also because he's an Elmhurst grad. It's pretty typical for CCIW alumni to want to get back into this league. He also coached at several west suburban high schools prior to being hired as an assistant to John Baines at St. Francis, so he holds promise for Millikin in terms of his potential to recruit in Chicagoland.

Joe Fano's been a big part of two very successful back-to-back seasons at two different schools, and he knows his stuff, so he's a solid candidate as well.

Todd Creal at MacMurray is another guy I could see going for the MU job, as he was an assistant there under Tim Littrell and before that had served for a couple of years under Grey Giovanine at Augustana. He's coming off of a tough 5-20 season, though, which might make it harder for him to plead his case in an interview. Chris Martin's only been at Loras for one season, so it might be too soon for him to contemplate a change if he's interested in eventually returning to the CCIW. And I always wonder if a coach who's been successful in one of the local lower-echelon D3 leagues, such as Chris Bunch at Webster, Ken Davis at Lake Forest, or Ryan Kane at Ripon, might be interested in a CCIW job. Kane would be an attractive candidate for Millikin; he's in his late thirties, he just enjoyed a D3 tournament season at Ripon, and he spent five years sitting second chair beside Mark White at Dominican, so he knows Chicagoland recruiting, too.

I still think that this is Todd Kelly's job to lose, though. He led Illinois Tech to a 22-6 record this year, as the Scarlet Hawks finished as the runner-up in the USCAA national tournament in spite of the fact that their best player, Anthony Mosley, missed the end of the season with a knee injury. IIT, in its own way, is a tough gig for a coach in terms of recruiting, and yet Kelly built a really good team there. Todd's a Millikin basketball alumnus, which would make it easier for the community to rally around him in the wake of the departure of the very popular Matt Nadelhoffer.

Despite the widely held belief that Todd Kelly is not only the most logical and likely candidate, but also the odds on favorite to actually get the job, I have just heard from an unimpeachable source that not only has Todd Kelly NOT applied for the Millikin job, but also, that he has no interest in doing so. It seems there are as many as three major factors accounting for his disinterest.
Furthermore, the MU selection committee was to meet either yesterday or today to discuss what applicants they want to invite to campus to interview.
My source also indicated that while some applicants are no doubt currently on staff at other CCIW schools, he would expect that even more were from other conferences like the Midwest, and especially, the SLIAC.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Any idea what prompted Northwestern's odd switch?  I understand there's a Northwestern College in Iowa.  Numerous other cases like this, including Augustana.  And how many Concordias are there   

I've sometimes wondered whether there are more Concordias or Wesleyans?  Seem to be dozens of each.  A lot of Lutherans, too, but I don't think quite as many.

[AndOne]

In the United States, there are 11 colleges and universities with Concordia in their names. There are 18 Wesleyans.

[AO]

Another key is if there are multiple campuses, apparently. Mary Washington College went to Univ. of Mary Washington based on not only the post-graduate degrees, but the second "campus" they had (pushing that a bit). That is the one I think helped the "jump the shark" moment. Because it is a University of a Name, not a Place. I thought they should have done what North Park did... Mary Washington University.

The oddest one along those lines, I think, was when Northwestern College changed its moniker to "university" -- and dubbed itself the University of Northwestern rather than Northwestern University. One can see why, since there's already a Big Ten school in the Chicago area with that name, and the liberal arts college in the Twin Cities suburbs had probably had more than enough headaches already trying to distinguish itself from the Big Ten school. Why make it worse by making their name fully identical to the Big Ten school's? But "University of Northwestern" just sounds odd, because you don't normally put an adjective last. It leads one to ask, "University of Northwestern what?"

If you want to answer the "what" question, you can use the official full name, University of Northwestern-St. Paul.
I thought I heard there may be a legal challenge to the name Northwestern University.  They also considered Riley university after the first founder.  I would have supported Billy U after former president Billy Graham.  But ultimately the Northwestern name was too hard to jettison.

[augie77]

Why did the name "Northwestern College" have to be jettisoned?

[AO]

Why did the name "Northwestern College" have to be jettisoned?

Gregory did a good job of explaining that earlier.  They added several graduate programs and wanted to reduce confusion for international students.

[Gregory Sager]

I figured that Steve Kollar would throw his hat into the ring at Millikin, not just for the reasons that Mark mentioned, but also because he's an Elmhurst grad. It's pretty typical for CCIW alumni to want to get back into this league. He also coached at several west suburban high schools prior to being hired as an assistant to John Baines at St. Francis, so he holds promise for Millikin in terms of his potential to recruit in Chicagoland.

Joe Fano's been a big part of two very successful back-to-back seasons at two different schools, and he knows his stuff, so he's a solid candidate as well.

Todd Creal at MacMurray is another guy I could see going for the MU job, as he was an assistant there under Tim Littrell and before that had served for a couple of years under Grey Giovanine at Augustana. He's coming off of a tough 5-20 season, though, which might make it harder for him to plead his case in an interview. Chris Martin's only been at Loras for one season, so it might be too soon for him to contemplate a change if he's interested in eventually returning to the CCIW. And I always wonder if a coach who's been successful in one of the local lower-echelon D3 leagues, such as Chris Bunch at Webster, Ken Davis at Lake Forest, or Ryan Kane at Ripon, might be interested in a CCIW job. Kane would be an attractive candidate for Millikin; he's in his late thirties, he just enjoyed a D3 tournament season at Ripon, and he spent five years sitting second chair beside Mark White at Dominican, so he knows Chicagoland recruiting, too.

I still think that this is Todd Kelly's job to lose, though. He led Illinois Tech to a 22-6 record this year, as the Scarlet Hawks finished as the runner-up in the USCAA national tournament in spite of the fact that their best player, Anthony Mosley, missed the end of the season with a knee injury. IIT, in its own way, is a tough gig for a coach in terms of recruiting, and yet Kelly built a really good team there. Todd's a Millikin basketball alumnus, which would make it easier for the community to rally around him in the wake of the departure of the very popular Matt Nadelhoffer.

Despite the widely held belief that Todd Kelly is not only the most logical and likely candidate, but also the odds on favorite to actually get the job, I have just heard from an unimpeachable source that not only has Todd Kelly NOT applied for the Millikin job, but also, that he has no interest in doing so. It seems there are as many as three major factors accounting for his disinterest.

I've heard the same thing tonight, from a likewise unimpeachable source. I was surprised by it, because it appeared that in so many ways this would've seemed like a golden opportunity to him. But one man's gold is another man's dross ... or perhaps the gold standard has sunk that low in Decatur.

Furthermore, the MU selection committee was to meet either yesterday or today to discuss what applicants they want to invite to campus to interview.
My source also indicated that while some applicants are no doubt currently on staff at other CCIW schools, he would expect that even more were from other conferences like the Midwest, and especially, the SLIAC.

Like I said, I see this as a job that someone from a lower-tier league might view as a step up.

It will be interesting to see if MU goes with someone who is currently an assistant. We've discussed this before, but the last head-coaching hire by a CCIW school who had no prior head-coaching experience on the college level was Paul Brenegan at NPU in 2004.

[sac]

It will be interesting to see if MU goes with someone who is currently an assistant. We've discussed this before, but the last head-coaching hire by a CCIW school who had no prior head-coaching experience on the college level was Paul Brenegan at NPU in 2004.

Ron Rose?

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Any idea what prompted Northwestern's odd switch?  I understand there's a Northwestern College in Iowa.  Numerous other cases like this, including Augustana.  And how many Concordias are there   

That NAIA DivII school (my alma mater) is a sister college to Central and Hope.  Interesting basketball tidbit - they were the first (maybe only) college to win both men's and women's basketball national championships in the same season - 2000-2001.  The top player for the men's team happened to be the son of the women's coach - quite the split for that family that day. 

[iwumichigander]

It will be interesting to see if MU goes with someone who is currently an assistant. We've discussed this before, but the last head-coaching hire by a CCIW school who had no prior head-coaching experience on the college level was Paul Brenegan at NPU in 2004.

Ron Rose?

Correct, Rose hired May 12, 2006 without prior college level head coach experience.

[Gregory Sager]

It will be interesting to see if MU goes with someone who is currently an assistant. We've discussed this before, but the last head-coaching hire by a CCIW school who had no prior head-coaching experience on the college level was Paul Brenegan at NPU in 2004.

Ron Rose?

Correct, Rose hired May 12, 2006 without prior college level head coach experience.

Yep. My bad.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Just shared this on the MIAA page - thought it might interest some here:

So Wartburg and Augie shared some common opponents this season as well.  Stats below for those games:

Offense	% 2pt	% 3pt	% FT
Wartburg	46.5	42.8	75.8
Augustana	50.7	35.5	81.1
------
Defense	% 2pt	% 3pt
Wartburg	46.5	40.7
Augustana	46.7	33.7
------
Rebounding	Team	Opp	Margin
Wartburg	38.2	40	-1.8
Augustana	34.4	35	-0.6
------
Scoring	Team	Opp	Margin
Wartburg	87.8	87.2	0.6
Augustana	76.6	68.6	8.0
------
3 point shooting	Made/game
Wartburg	11.2
Augustana	5.4
------
Ball Control	Blks/game	Stl/game	TO/Game
Wartburg	2.2	4	8.4
Augustana	4.2	8.4	13
------
Assists	Per Game	A/TO
Wartburg	14.2	1.69
Augustana	12.8	0.98
------
Vs. Opponents	UWO	NCC	Central
Wartburg	1 - 0	0 - 1	1 - 2
Augustana	1 - 0	2 - 1	1 - 0
------
Record vs common
Wartburg	2 - 3
Augustana	4 - 1

[Gregory Sager]

Massey:

13. Augustana
14. Hanover
15. Hope
20. Wartburg

Augustana 80, Wartburg 78 (AC 53%, WC 47%)
@ Hope 76, Hanover 71 (Hope 67%, Hano 33%)

Ken's HAL 9000 supercomputer is not sanguine about the chances for the national champion to come out of this sectional:

Hope -- 5.24%
Augustana -- 4.68%
Wartburg --  3.35%
Hanover -- 1.35%

[cardinalpride]

I figured that Steve Kollar would throw his hat into the ring at Millikin, not just for the reasons that Mark mentioned, but also because he's an Elmhurst grad. It's pretty typical for CCIW alumni to want to get back into this league. He also coached at several west suburban high schools prior to being hired as an assistant to John Baines at St. Francis, so he holds promise for Millikin in terms of his potential to recruit in Chicagoland.

Joe Fano's been a big part of two very successful back-to-back seasons at two different schools, and he knows his stuff, so he's a solid candidate as well.

Todd Creal at MacMurray is another guy I could see going for the MU job, as he was an assistant there under Tim Littrell and before that had served for a couple of years under Grey Giovanine at Augustana. He's coming off of a tough 5-20 season, though, which might make it harder for him to plead his case in an interview. Chris Martin's only been at Loras for one season, so it might be too soon for him to contemplate a change if he's interested in eventually returning to the CCIW. And I always wonder if a coach who's been successful in one of the local lower-echelon D3 leagues, such as Chris Bunch at Webster, Ken Davis at Lake Forest, or Ryan Kane at Ripon, might be interested in a CCIW job. Kane would be an attractive candidate for Millikin; he's in his late thirties, he just enjoyed a D3 tournament season at Ripon, and he spent five years sitting second chair beside Mark White at Dominican, so he knows Chicagoland recruiting, too.

I still think that this is Todd Kelly's job to lose, though. He led Illinois Tech to a 22-6 record this year, as the Scarlet Hawks finished as the runner-up in the USCAA national tournament in spite of the fact that their best player, Anthony Mosley, missed the end of the season with a knee injury. IIT, in its own way, is a tough gig for a coach in terms of recruiting, and yet Kelly built a really good team there. Todd's a Millikin basketball alumnus, which would make it easier for the community to rally around him in the wake of the departure of the very popular Matt Nadelhoffer.

Despite the widely held belief that Todd Kelly is not only the most logical and likely candidate, but also the odds on favorite to actually get the job, I have just heard from an unimpeachable source that not only has Todd Kelly NOT applied for the Millikin job, but also, that he has no interest in doing so. It seems there are as many as three major factors accounting for his disinterest.

I've heard the same thing tonight, from a likewise unimpeachable source. I was surprised by it, because it appeared that in so many ways this would've seemed like a golden opportunity to him. But one man's gold is another man's dross ... or perhaps the gold standard has sunk that low in Decatur.

Furthermore, the MU selection committee was to meet either yesterday or today to discuss what applicants they want to invite to campus to interview.
My source also indicated that while some applicants are no doubt currently on staff at other CCIW schools, he would expect that even more were from other conferences like the Midwest, and especially, the SLIAC.

Like I said, I see this as a job that someone from a lower-tier league might view as a step up.

It will be interesting to see if MU goes with someone who is currently an assistant. We've discussed this before, but the last head-coaching hire by a CCIW school who had no prior head-coaching experience on the college level was Paul Brenegan at NPU in 2004.

In regards to Todd Kelly,
Just taking a look at his situation from a far, it really wouldn't make a ton of sense for him to leave IIT for Millikin at this point. He has some nice talent returning. IIT will be eligible for the NCAA tournament as an independent next year.  With another solid recruiting class coupled with another great season, he could find his team in the big dance as early as next year. It would take him 3-4 years at the earliest to get Millikin to a similar position.

[iwumichigander]

I figured that Steve Kollar would throw his hat into the ring at Millikin, not just for the reasons that Mark mentioned, but also because he's an Elmhurst grad. It's pretty typical for CCIW alumni to want to get back into this league. He also coached at several west suburban high schools prior to being hired as an assistant to John Baines at St. Francis, so he holds promise for Millikin in terms of his potential to recruit in Chicagoland.

Joe Fano's been a big part of two very successful back-to-back seasons at two different schools, and he knows his stuff, so he's a solid candidate as well.

Todd Creal at MacMurray is another guy I could see going for the MU job, as he was an assistant there under Tim Littrell and before that had served for a couple of years under Grey Giovanine at Augustana. He's coming off of a tough 5-20 season, though, which might make it harder for him to plead his case in an interview. Chris Martin's only been at Loras for one season, so it might be too soon for him to contemplate a change if he's interested in eventually returning to the CCIW. And I always wonder if a coach who's been successful in one of the local lower-echelon D3 leagues, such as Chris Bunch at Webster, Ken Davis at Lake Forest, or Ryan Kane at Ripon, might be interested in a CCIW job. Kane would be an attractive candidate for Millikin; he's in his late thirties, he just enjoyed a D3 tournament season at Ripon, and he spent five years sitting second chair beside Mark White at Dominican, so he knows Chicagoland recruiting, too.

I still think that this is Todd Kelly's job to lose, though. He led Illinois Tech to a 22-6 record this year, as the Scarlet Hawks finished as the runner-up in the USCAA national tournament in spite of the fact that their best player, Anthony Mosley, missed the end of the season with a knee injury. IIT, in its own way, is a tough gig for a coach in terms of recruiting, and yet Kelly built a really good team there. Todd's a Millikin basketball alumnus, which would make it easier for the community to rally around him in the wake of the departure of the very popular Matt Nadelhoffer.

Despite the widely held belief that Todd Kelly is not only the most logical and likely candidate, but also the odds on favorite to actually get the job, I have just heard from an unimpeachable source that not only has Todd Kelly NOT applied for the Millikin job, but also, that he has no interest in doing so. It seems there are as many as three major factors accounting for his disinterest.

I've heard the same thing tonight, from a likewise unimpeachable source. I was surprised by it, because it appeared that in so many ways this would've seemed like a golden opportunity to him. But one man's gold is another man's dross ... or perhaps the gold standard has sunk that low in Decatur.

Furthermore, the MU selection committee was to meet either yesterday or today to discuss what applicants they want to invite to campus to interview.
My source also indicated that while some applicants are no doubt currently on staff at other CCIW schools, he would expect that even more were from other conferences like the Midwest, and especially, the SLIAC.

Like I said, I see this as a job that someone from a lower-tier league might view as a step up.

It will be interesting to see if MU goes with someone who is currently an assistant. We've discussed this before, but the last head-coaching hire by a CCIW school who had no prior head-coaching experience on the college level was Paul Brenegan at NPU in 2004.

In regards to Todd Kelly,
Just taking a look at his situation from a far, it really wouldn't make a ton of sense for him to leave IIT for Millikin at this point. He has some nice talent returning. IIT will be eligible for the NCAA tournament as an independent next year.  With another solid recruiting class coupled with another great season, he could find his team in the big dance as early as next year. It would take him 3-4 years at the earliest to get Millikin to a similar position.

Good points CP.  I think IIT is more committed to its program and Kelly than would Millikin.  From a recruiting perspective, I would rather have the Chicago area in my backyard than Decatur.