MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Pat Coleman]

Transferring from D-III to D-I requires it.

[Gregory Sager]

Greg,

That's the first time that I have seen a gas consumption rating used to evaluate a basketball player's performance.  23 mpg is not bad for a pick-up truck, say, but not good for a smaller car.  Perhaps Millikin is looking to switch to more hybrid models for better mpg ratings out of their players.

Silly Joe. You know very well that in a basketball context, mpg refers to "minutes per Gatorade".

2. Additionally, do you feel a woman just isn't qualified to administer men's programs or just that Kerans generally doesn't know her ass from a hole in the ground and is not qualified to lead either the men's or women's programs?

What little commentary has emerged on CCIW Chat from the Millikin camp since the Littrell firing has been unequivocally critical of Lori Kerans. However, while some people are critical of her competence as an AD, I don't think you'll find anyone daft enough (either inside or outside the Big Blue camp) to suggest that she "doesn't know her ass from a hole in the ground" where coaching is concerned. She has won 11 of the 21 titles that the CCIW has handed out since the league started sponsoring women's basketball as a sport in 1986-87; her Millikin teams have enjoyed the best winning percentage of any CCIW program over that span (over .750) in league play; and she's got the Ultimate Bling on her finger -- a national championship ring from Millikin's 2005 D3 title run.

That doesn't necessarily make her a great AD, of course; as Joe Hakes will attest, those two jobs require two completely different skill sets. There have been plenty of great coaches who were lousy ADs, and vice versa. But I don't think you'll find anyone dumb or gullible enough to suggest that Kerans can't coach, even among the Littrell loyalists who dislike her for having fired him.

Another huge loss is Vincent Brock.. Coach Littrell and him have been very close since before he left for Iraq.  I would assume that Coach Lit being fired was his main reason for not playing, besides just wanting to be done with college.

Well, you know what they say happens when you assume.

Vincent Brock has a family to support, an active-duty military commitment, and he's a full-time Millikin student to boot. I was astonished that he was able to fit basketball into his busy life last year. Be careful about leaping to conclusions as to why Brock has decided not to play for the Big Blue this coming season.

Not only does the firing cause MU to lose Gensler

This appears to be a bit of an assumption, too. I don't doubt for one minute that Gensler, like Brock, was close to his coach. But the newspaper article's main point was that Gensler found the prospect of a D1 playing career to be very enticing, and that seems like a quite plausible excuse for him to leave Millikin. Do you have any proof that the article was wrong, and that Littrell's firing rather than the opportunity to play D1 ball was indeed the reason why Gensler put Decatur in his rear-view mirror?

Littrell was in on several good 2007 players from around the state, at least two of whom will be suiting up for IWU this season.

Titan Q has already stated on CCIW Chat that Travis Rosencrantz, one of those two players to whom you've referred, eliminated Millikin fairly early in his selection process and for academic reasons rather than coaching reasons. Given how close Bob is to the Illinois Wesleyan program, I'll take his word for it when it comes to why Rosencrantz chose Illinois Wesleyan over Millikin.

I just felt the Littrell firing raised a lot of questions that were never fully answered. While I didn't have a strong opinion one way or the other on his coaching ability, I did find it odd that he was fired after bringing in prob MU's best recruiting class in a long time prior to last season.

Everyone found it very odd... And we still don't know any of the reasoning behind it. 

To use a phrase I wish Michael Vick had heeded, I have no dog in this fight. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other who coaches Millikin, and I have no feelings pro or con towards Tim Littrell, Lori Kerans, or Marc Smith. But this discussion clearly needed a devil's advocate, which is the reason behind this post.

This is Millikin's record over the past seven seasons:

season	overall	CCIW	place
2006-07	9-16	2-12	8th
2005-06	10-15	3-11	7th
2004-05	12-13	4-10	7th
2003-04	14-11	6-8	5th
2002-03	7-18	2-12	7th
2001-02	8-17	3-11	8th
2000-01	10-15	3-11	7th

That's a very poor stretch of seven years by almost anybody's standards. And while winning and losing isn't the be-all and end-all of what being a head coach on the D3 level is all about, it's nevertheless true that success in competition is a very important component of how a coach's job performance is assessed -- even in D3. I don't think it's likely that many coaches, outside of an extraordinary situation like Caltech's, would be able to avoid being fired after chalking up this sort of W-L record over such a long span of seasons.

I'm not using Tim Littrell's record to question his competence as a basketball coach, mind you. But I am saying that there's nothing odd about his firing. The reason is patently obvious: His teams kept losing, year after year, and even on the D3 level that sort of thing tends to lead to a pink slip.

[martin]

Idaho Statesman has a story with more details of why Gensler is heading to Idaho:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/story/120994.html

Personally, I think he intends to go out for the football team so he can play on a blue field and propose to a cheerleader after scoring a game winning touchdown.

[robberki]

Does anyone else find it funny that the MU AD/women's coach allegedly wants her name in the paper and her face on tv? At the d3 level? Come on, where is that sign up sheet, I'd like my name on it please.

[BeastMaster]

First thing is that I am no longer a big blue fan so please disregard the screen name. 

Greg- I have a few problems with your post.  First off, Vince Brock does not have a family to support so I think you should get your facts straight before posting that.   Do not talk about something you do not know like Vince's personal situation. 

Secondly, if you look deeper into the AD situation at Millikin, you can easily look back to Doug Neibuhr's stint at the helm.  Many of the programs saw a much higher win % in that time period when Lori Kerans had a different position.  I do not know what the biggest difference has been, but I have a few ideas.  I think that an AD should be supportive of her coaching staff and know that there job is secure.  Coach Neibuhr did an excellent job at the helm of the Athletic department opposed to Lori Kerans.  Also, I did not see anywhere on anyone's post where it said Lori Kerans can't coach.  I think that everyone who responded was commenting directly towards her ability to run an athletic department.

Also, I am personally close to all of the MU players and do know for a fact that many people have been unhappy since Coach Littrell's firing.  I do think that part of Gensler's decision was based on Lit getting canned as well as Vince's.  I have stated how much I admire Coach Littrell on here before and this is honestly the first time I have even visited this site in a few months.  I always enjoy reading some posters comments, but sometimes, I think that people do not have a single clue about the game or how to run a program.  That is all.  Thank you

[AndOne]

2. Additionally, do you feel a woman just isn't qualified to administer men's programs or just that Kerans generally doesn't know her ass from a hole in the ground and is not qualified to lead either the men's or women's programs?

What little commentary has emerged on CCIW Chat from the Millikin camp since the Littrell firing has been unequivocally critical of Lori Kerans. However, while some people are critical of her competence as an AD, I don't think you'll find anyone daft enough (either inside or outside the Big Blue camp) to suggest that she "doesn't know her ass from a hole in the ground" where coaching is concerned. She has won 11 of the 21 titles that the CCIW has handed out since the league started sponsoring women's basketball as a sport in 1986-87; her Millikin teams have enjoyed the best winning percentage of any CCIW program over that span (over .750) in league play; and she's got the Ultimate Bling on her finger -- a national championship ring from Millikin's 2005 D3 title run.

That doesn't necessarily make her a great AD, of course; as Joe Hakes will attest, those two jobs require two completely different skill sets. There have been plenty of great coaches who were lousy ADs, and vice versa. But I don't think you'll find anyone dumb or gullible enough to suggest that Kerans can't coach, even among the Littrell loyalists who dislike her for having fired him.

Gregory------

Just for clarification, if clarification is needed------

I did NOT, nor did I even INTEND to suggest Kerans can't COACH. I merely asked mubigbluefan, and any other poster close to the MU program, if he (they) felt she isn't qualified to lead either the men's or the women's program, or both. Nothing about coaching---ALL about being AD.

[Gregory Sager]

Greg- I have a few problems with your post.  First off, Vince Brock does not have a family to support so I think you should get your facts straight before posting that.   Do not talk about something you do not know like Vince's personal situation. 

I was told by one of the NPU coaches who spoke to Brock after the MU @ NPU game last winter that Brock had told him that his Army income was being used to help support his family as well as pay for his schooling. I consider that a fairly direct source.

Secondly, if you look deeper into the AD situation at Millikin, you can easily look back to Doug Neibuhr's stint at the helm.  Many of the programs saw a much higher win % in that time period when Lori Kerans had a different position.  I do not know what the biggest difference has been, but I have a few ideas.  I think that an AD should be supportive of her coaching staff and know that there job is secure.  Coach Neibuhr did an excellent job at the helm of the Athletic department opposed to Lori Kerans.

I don't see how this is grounds for your having a problem with my post. I in no way defended Lori Kerans's record as Millikin's athletic director. In fact, I went out of my way to say that being a good coach doesn't necessarily make her a good AD. I made no statements one way or the other about her performance as Millikin's AD.

Also, I did not see anywhere on anyone's post where it said Lori Kerans can't coach.

Nobody did. But neither did I accuse anyone of doing so. My response was to AndOne's opinion-soliciting question that concluded, "Do you feel that women are not qualified to administer men's programs, or just that Kerans generally doesn't know her ass from a hole in the ground and is not qualified to lead either the men's or women's programs?"  Because he changed the verb from "administer" to "lead" in the second clause of his question, I took it to mean that AndOne may have possibly implied a coaching component in the second clause.

Also, I am personally close to all of the MU players and do know for a fact that many people have been unhappy since Coach Littrell's firing.

Not surprising. Coaches often inspire great loyalty in their players, loyalty that can last a lifetime. For instance, there are some North Park basketball alumni from the '80s who remain estranged from their alma mater to this day because the school fired their former coach, Bosko Djurickovic. And this kind of loyalty towards one's coach (or former coach) frequently doesn't have anything to do with whether or not the coach's teams are or were successful, either. I remember that when Keith Peterson was fired by NPU in the spring of '98, a number of his players went into President Horner's office and tried to get him to change his mind and reinstate Peterson -- and this was the same coach who had basically driven the Vikings basketball program into the ground in the span of four short years. That didn't matter one bit to the players. They simply wanted their coach back.

I do think that part of Gensler's decision was based on Lit getting canned as well as Vince's.

The words "part of" put you in a different camp than mubigbluefan, who unequivocally stated that Littrell's firing was the reason why Gensler was leaving the team.

What you're saying may very well be true. But Gensler's public statements about his transferring do not include any mention of Littrell or the coaching change. He may have privately confided to people that Littrell's being canned had something to do with his decision to transfer to Boise State -- although, as I said, it seems plausible that he might feel that the chance to play D1 ball is reason enough for him to transfer in and of itself -- but if he did say that about Littrell's firing, then his private words do not sync up with what he's told the reporters from the Decatur Herald-Review and the Idaho Statesman.

Can you substantiate that Gensler did indeed tell people that Littrell's firing was part of his reason for leaving, or are you guessing at that?

Gregory------

Just for clarification, if clarification is needed------

I did NOT, nor did I even INTEND to suggest Kerans can't COACH. I merely asked mubigbluefan, and any other poster close to the MU program, if he (they) felt she isn't qualified to lead either the men's or the women's program, or both. Nothing about coaching---ALL about being AD.

As I said, I didn't make any such implication. The reason why I was uncertain as to what sort of response you were trying to elicit from the Millikin supporters was, as I said to gobigblue, because you changed the verb from "administer" to the more ambiguous "lead" in that second clause. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Pat Coleman]

First thing is that I am no longer a big blue fan so please disregard the screen name.

You should be able to edit your profile and change it.

[markerickson]

What on God's blue turf prompted the NCAA to require a D3 transfer to sit a year when transferring to D1?  That rule makes absolutely no sense to me.

I still can't believe the last plays of the Sooner/Bronco football game.

[joehakes]

The idea of a year's residency for that kind of transfer is to keep DI's from raiding DIII's.  In the old days that was a lot more commonplace.  Any transfer to a DI program requires a year of residency at the new institution before participation. The only exceptions would be in cases like those student-athletes who were displaced by Katrina, for example.

[Knightstalker]

It is designed to keep D-I schools from stashing a kid at D-III for a season for experience or grades and then bringing them right in.  I believe the NCAA does this with all transfers to D-I institutions either parallel or moving "up" in divisions.  It also keeps the D-II and D-III programs from getting raided for overlooked players.

[Titan Q]

Titan Q has already stated on CCIW Chat that Travis Rosencrantz, one of those two players to whom you've referred, eliminated Millikin fairly early in his selection process and for academic reasons rather than coaching reasons. Given how close Bob is to the Illinois Wesleyan program, I'll take his word for it when it comes to why Rosencrantz chose Illinois Wesleyan over Millikin.

The other player Millikin was in on that ended up selecting IWU was Sean Johnson (Washington, IL).  I think it would be a huge stretch to suggest that Johnson would have ended up at Millikin had Tim Littrell not been fired.  By sometime around February 1, everything I heard on Johnson was "IWU or a DI/DII full ride" -- and that came from people close to Sean.

I do know that Sean Johnson liked Tim Littrell very much (per Sean's high school basketball coach Kevin Brown, who I know pretty well).  I also know that the list of All-CCIW players that liked Tim Littrell a lot and thought he was a great guy (which, by the way, he is) and then went on to play at Illinois Wesleyan is a long one, including guys like Mark Edmundson, Brent Niebrugge, and Todd Wente.

And yes, I am 100% sure that Travis Rosenkranz was never intending to go to Millikin...even with his close ties to the Littrell family and the fact that both parents went to MU.  Based on his pre-med plans, Millikin was not the fit that IWU and Chicago were.

[John Gleich]

It is designed to keep D-I schools from stashing a kid at D-III for a season for experience or grades and then bringing them right in.  I believe the NCAA does this with all transfers to D-I institutions either parallel or moving "up" in divisions.  It also keeps the D-II and D-III programs from getting raided for overlooked players.

It actually is DIII to DII, DIII to DI, and DII to DI, as well as parallel for the scholarship-offering divisions.

[AndOne]

It is designed to keep D-I schools from stashing a kid at D-III for a season for experience or grades and then bringing them right in.  I believe the NCAA does this with all transfers to D-I institutions either parallel or moving "up" in divisions.  It also keeps the D-II and D-III programs from getting raided for overlooked players.

It actually is DIII to DII, DIII to DI, and DII to DI, as well as parallel for the scholarship-offering divisions.

Point----

Thanks for the information. I was pretty sure that the rule applied for DIII to DI.
However, I thought a DIII player could transfer to a DII school without sitting out for a year.

[AndOne]

WESLEYAN news heard thru the grapevine----------

1. Soph Sean Dwyer has sustained either a re-injury or a new injury to his foot, and will be out for an indefinite length of time.

2. Promising incoming 6'5" frosh Dan Schouten out of Downers Grove South had shoulder surgery and will be lost until at least January.

Confirmation or not from any IWU fans?