FB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Browneagle64]

Brady---- I think i can add a little to what you had asked in a previous post.
The reason why Oxy has built a strong football program the past five years is because of the following reason's.

   1)A lot of guys that worry about academics-and athletics love to see how the coaches preach about the Occidental Education.
   
  2) On the recuirting trips, a lot of the guys get to see the professor face to face and hear some really good things about the Oxy experience.

3) The young kids are treated to some really nice Food on campus (Which, yes is a part of the experience for about two years until you hate the same food)

4) The kids get to listen to the older guys about what a great time they had learning both from an academic and social life at oxy... (Especially about the girls)

5) When you really want to get a great education at a small setting oxy just catches your eye.

6) And lastly, when the coaches are Honest with you reagarding what the daily life of an oxy football player will be like, the kids undertand that their is a goal. And thats to be A SCIAC champ.

THese are just a few of the reasons that i Could remember back in 1999 when i visited Oxy as a high school senior. All these reason helped the 2000 season go from 2-9 to 5-4. And the rest, well the rest is history of how Oxy football has built a program that is leading to success. Hopefully some of this answers your questions Brady.

[Cord Glory]

OxyBob -

In 10 degree weather, I think the idea was that Oxy would not have been the better team on the field. But thats what the Cobber fans thought.  Its hard not to think that the weather would have effected how Oxy played since they probably had not experienced that kind of weather before.

But whatever - like I said none of that matters.  So calm down.

[OXY Oswald]

Cord Glory - maybe we'll fly the Cobbers out here for an exihibition game in some of that famous California sunshine... I doubt your guys have seen the likes of that before, I'll thank my lucky stars now that we don't have the option to play in a dome (you might upset us!  )

[Sabretooth Tiger]

While you're right that no current Oxy players would have experienced that type of cold, the current coaching staff faced the 71-0 drubbing delivered by Central (Iowa) of Oxy in the 1985 DIII playoffs when the field was a frozen wasteland and the Tigers had only their regular cleats on which to slip and slide . . . I think that some changed to tennis shoes . . .

So the coaches had, at least, been there and done that . . .

Regardless, it was a nice thing that we got to play at the Fargo Dome last year . . . was that better for Oxy than outdoors in Moorhead?  No question.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda, Oxy won and got to face Linfield in the regional finals . . . finding their playoff run terminated at that point . . . as did the Cobbers this year in the round of 16.

Based solely on the respective results, however, I'd guess that this year's Cobbers were an improved version over last year . . . who knows what would have happened if we'd have had a rematch?  Only the shadow knows . . . maybe next year.  

[Cord Glory]

Cord Glory - maybe we'll fly the Cobbers out here for an exihibition game in some of that famous California sunshine... I doubt your guys have seen the likes of that before, I'll thank my lucky stars now that we don't have the option to play in a dome (you might upset us!  )

I'm not saying you upset us last year - we were two pretty evenly matched teams. Oxy obviously played a better game when we played.

And just for the record, we in Minnesota are unlucky enough to get heat (upwards of 95 degrees with alot of humidity) and cold (10 degrees) during the season.  So i guess we've seen all kinds of weather. maybe if it was november, and we were used to cold games, then playing out in Cali might have effected our endurance.  So i guess maybe this weather thing works two ways.

[Tom Brady]

Browneagle- Thanks for the reply.  Sounds like they have a pretty good routine going on down there at OXY.   For a minute there I thought we might be looking at another Colorado type scandal .  I bet there are some pretty hot (and very smart) girls that would  be happy to get some football players to come there.  Either that or they take them to some skanky nuddie bar in Pasadena.  Good luck with the off-season.

[Sagecock]

Tom-

Not to start another debate, but I think the rundown Browneagle gave is pretty standard for any school.  The difference is simply the level of support the admissions office/administration is willing to give a program.  And yes, this sometimes involves bending the academic requirements somewhat.  There is a reason after all the some teams in SCIAC have 100 players and others 45.  Don't forget that Oxy's basketball team went pretty deep into the tourney a few years ago either, so it's definitely cyclical.

IMO, the reason you see so many players slip through SoCal D3 schools fingers compared to back east is that the JC system in California is huge.  Talented players that would go to d3 schools back east have other options.  Additionally, I'd wager that the academic standards of many of the eastern schools do not approach those of at least half the SCIAC (not trying to make a blanket statement, but an educated guess). 

[Tom Brady]

Sagecock- I got ya.  I agree with the whole JC thing out here in So Cal.  It almost sounds like the JC system is pretty much non-existent on the East Coast.  I understand the "typical" recruiting trip but was just wondering why many of the other sports at OXY are so terrible.  Thanks for the reply though

[RFB]

The JC argument is a valid one. There are over one hundred JC's in California that field football programs. This makes recruiting for the SCIAC very difficult. Teams in the NWC do not have to fight against local JC's like the California schools do. I do think that the SCIAC schools are doing a good job of recruiting at the JC level though. When I played at Redlands we had some very good JC transfers. With that said the SCIAC schools can't use the JC competition as an excuse. They need to step up recruiting and get it done.

[rockcat]

I think the JC argument is a very good one.  The admission standards is a copout though.  There are a lot of really good athletics departments at highly competative d3 schools.  Willamette is just as selective in admissions and are a consistent playoff team.  Wheaton College in Illinois is more selective than all SCIAC schools with the exception of maybe Pomona (but the kids could probably get into Pitzer if they couldn't get into Pomona) and Wheaton is a power in a multiple sports.  They have been in the football playoffs a number of times in recent years, though they seem to get rolled early because they seem to get stuck playing some team called Mount Union.  It seemed to be an Oxy-Linfield type draw for a few of those years.

The difference between Oxy and some of the other SCIAC schools is that whatever they are doing is working....and it may just be effort.  Prior to this fall I worked in admissions at a d3 school and was the department liason to the athletics department.  My experience showed me that coaches who put the effort in and also know how to recruit get good recruits.  Those who put in little effort, which is suprisingly a lot of coaches, end up in the bottom of the conference. The school I worked won a national championship in one sport and was a top-ten team in another.  The rest of the teams were mediocre at best.

There are enough potential student athletes out there who are just waiting to get courted by a team, even when there is a strong JC system like in California.  There may be a ton of JC's with football but there are also 15 million people in the LA area alone.

[D O.C.]

...and most of them play soccer nowadays.

[desertcat1]

Wow, they saddled you guys with SCIAC officials?  Holy mother of G-d!  It's not a broadcast by us until we make some snide comment about the SCIAC officiating crews.  Yeesh.

Oh and btw, the crew at the Linfield/Oxy game was nothing to write home about either.

I guess that could be the point both games were bad for the stripes.  The films show many missed calls on both sides of the ball.

[cawcdad]

I teach at a high school in CA and continually preach the merits of a small school education. This includes trying to get athletes to go to these schools. Despite all the financial aid available, many go to the JCs to save some money. They also hope the athletic experience / exposure will land them an athletic scholorship in D-I or D-II. I have been talking to a JC kid about Linfield but it looks like he is going to an NAIA school because they will pay for his education. I think that coaches / recruiters would do well in knowing about and explaining financial aid to recruits. Just because there is no athletic scholorship doesn't mean you can't afford it.

[Sabretooth Tiger]

I think another factor in Oxy's success . . . notwithstanding the lightening strike of picking up Andy Collins . . .  was the fact that we got a new president in 1999 who valued athletics . . . something his predecessor did not (IMO).  The new administration built a team that shared those values (athletics as a key component of a solid liberal arts education) . . . and it's paying off now.  Hopefully the ball will keep rolling with the new presidential search.

[Tom Brady]

Sabretooth-  Great point about the Presidents.  In my opinion it is very important to have a President that values athletics because lets be honest here, many of us would not have gone to a small school if we did not play a sport there.  I will have to say in my observations that the President at Cal Lu could care less about sports (maybe thats why it takes FOREVER to get anything done on the other side of campus).  It does not seem like he supports all of the teams either.  Not too sure if I have ever seen him anywhere but a football game, and even those sightings are few and far between.  Can we borrow the guy from OXY for a while?