FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[HSCTiger fan]

This is a much different dynamic than when Mirello left.

[jknezek]

This is a much different dynamic than when Mirello left.

No doubt. My point was, this doesn't happen often at W&L. The coaches, across all sports, tend to stay a long time. So this really is a tough situation.

[Scots13]

The timing of his departure is tough. Right smack in middle of recruiting season for D3. Last year WL had less than 20 recruits. This year I would have assumed to be a very important year. Never easy to lose a good coach.

Yeah. That has me concerned as well. Though I think the problem at W&L has always been getting the athletes through admissions, not getting them to apply. I could be wrong and we will see. I'm torn between hoping W&L acts fast and wanting them to take the time needed to get the right people.

I will say, Hathorn as AD has been darned effective at hiring coaches since she took over 11 years ago. Only the basketball programs still lag the top of the ODAC, and even those are looking much improvede  this year though it is early.

The additional concern in recruiting is that Davidson and WL recruit many of the same players. I'm sure WL will find a great coach. But IMO they need to act as quickly as possible.  If in fact the other coaches are going with Abell then no one is even talking to potential players.  The players the coaches have already spoken to are now their best prospects for Davidson.  Tough situation for WL.

It always is when the coach leaves. It's not something W&L has to deal with too often though. Abell was only the third coach since 1978. Fallon and Miriello both coached for 17 seasons.

That's impressive.

Something else I find impressive is the sustained success Coach Abell had at W&L throughout his tenure (including OC years).
According the generalssports.com, the most wins W&L has had in any one single decade is 58 between 1910-1919. With 20 more guaranteed games in this decade, W&L will smash that record. W&L is listed as 55-29 in the current decade.

[jknezek]

The timing of his departure is tough. Right smack in middle of recruiting season for D3. Last year WL had less than 20 recruits. This year I would have assumed to be a very important year. Never easy to lose a good coach.

Yeah. That has me concerned as well. Though I think the problem at W&L has always been getting the athletes through admissions, not getting them to apply. I could be wrong and we will see. I'm torn between hoping W&L acts fast and wanting them to take the time needed to get the right people.

I will say, Hathorn as AD has been darned effective at hiring coaches since she took over 11 years ago. Only the basketball programs still lag the top of the ODAC, and even those are looking much improvede  this year though it is early.

The additional concern in recruiting is that Davidson and WL recruit many of the same players. I'm sure WL will find a great coach. But IMO they need to act as quickly as possible.  If in fact the other coaches are going with Abell then no one is even talking to potential players.  The players the coaches have already spoken to are now their best prospects for Davidson.  Tough situation for WL.

It always is when the coach leaves. It's not something W&L has to deal with too often though. Abell was only the third coach since 1978. Fallon and Miriello both coached for 17 seasons.

That's impressive.

Something else I find impressive is the sustained success Coach Abell had at W&L throughout his tenure (including OC years).
According the generalssports.com, the most wins W&L has had in any one single decade is 58 between 1910-1919. With 20 more guaranteed games in this decade, W&L will smash that record. W&L is listed as 55-29 in the current decade.

We had clawed our way back to within 17 games of .500 for the life of the program. I still am hopeful that deficit will be eliminated along the next decade or so, but I'm less certain of it than I was before. This transition has me concerned.

[Scots13]

I feel your pain. W&L and MC are in a similar boat in terms of wanting to get to an overall .500 record (or at least same wins and losses record).
MC will have to go 8-2 for the next 7 years to get to 535-535-36. Currently we are 479-521-36.

[Scots13]

Just for a little off-season delight, I went back and looked up the overall records for several schools in the region that have fielded a team for many years.

School, record, total games
W&L: 517-530-39 (1086)
Maryville: 479-521-36 (1036)
E&H: 528-433-19 (980)
HSC: 554-463-38 (1155)
Bridgewater: 273-410-13 (696) Does anyone know if BC had a gap in their program?
Centre: 577-408-39 (1024) Don't know what year this was calculated so accuracy is up for debate.
Sewanee: 485-522-39 (1046)
RMC: Couldn't find a record.

I'm a little surprised at the lopsided record for Bridgewater and that fact E&H isn't over 1000 games. Also kinda funny the total ties are so close for most of the schools.

[jknezek]

Just for a little off-season delight, I went back and looked up the overall records for several schools in the region that have fielded a team for many years.

School, record, total games
W&L: 517-530-39 (1086)
Maryville: 479-521-36 (1036)
E&H: 528-433-19 (980)
HSC: 554-463-38 (1155)
Bridgewater: 273-410-13 (696) Does anyone know if BC had a gap in their program?
Centre: 577-408-39 (1024) Don't know what year this was calculated so accuracy is up for debate.
Sewanee: 485-522-39 (1046)
RMC: Couldn't find a record.

I'm a little surprised at the lopsided record for Bridgewater and that fact E&H isn't over 1000 games. Also kinda funny the total ties are so close for most of the schools.

Bridgewater, before the halcyon years, was almost uniformly through its history an abysmal program. As those glory years wore off, it has still generally been a better program under Clark than it ever was before.

[Scots13]

Must have been the definition of abysmal. 
E&H must've hand one helluva winning percentage back in the day, pre-2000.

Do you, or any one else, have any others that might fit on this list? Let's shoot for pre-1900 or 1000 total games, current D3, South Region.

[jknezek]

Must have been the definition of abysmal. 
E&H must've hand one helluva winning percentage back in the day, pre-2000.

Do you, or any one else, have any others that might fit on this list? Let's shoot for pre-1900 or 1000 total games, current D3, South Region.

I'm thinking some of the Centennial teams go back that far. Dickinson, F&M and Gettysburg were certainly around. From the PAC I know W&J goes back that far. As do either Case or Western. Grove City played some games in the 1890s I believe. Southwestern (Rhodes) maybe? You'd have to look, but I'm betting a bunch of the PA schools qualify.

[Ralph Turner]

Must have been the definition of abysmal. 
E&H must've hand one helluva winning percentage back in the day, pre-2000.

Do you, or any one else, have any others that might fit on this list? Let's shoot for pre-1900 or 1000 total games, current D3, South Region.

Howard Payne began in 1903. They are 470-455-41 (956 games).

Trinity began in 1900. They played no games in 1906 and 1942-46.  They are 513-465-49. (1027 games).

Austin College is the only other D3 in Texas to have been playing football in the early 1900's (or maybe before). The AC website gives no archival data before 2002. HSU played major college football (Arizona, ASU, UNM, NMSU, UTEP, Texas Tech in the Border Conference after World War 2) until 1963 but had a 27 year hiatus. McMurry and SRSU began in 1923.

[Scots13]

+k for the TX info, Ralph.
I might make it a weekend task to go through the South Region and compile as much of this as I can. Lord knows it too dang cold to do anything else.

I did look at W&J yesterday afternoon. Can't find what I did with those numbers, but they're impressive to say the least. Something like 18 10-win seasons.

[jknezek]

According to the job posting on the NCAA site, W&L is looking for a coach with a minimum of 5 years college coaching experience. I get this because the person is going to have to jump in at the deep end and build a staff if the report of Abell taking the staff with him is correct.

[Birddawg79]

Here is a link to the 5 remaining coaches at W&L: http://generalssports.com/sports/fball/coaches/index

Coach Mathews is a part-time coach but would be good to have him full-time as he is a lot of fun and the boys enjoy his presence on game days.

The boys are anxious as to be expected but excited at the same time. Learning new terminology and scheme will be the hardest for the offense but these guys are pretty smart and should pick-up things quickly. They have strong leadership and the team is close. Talk has been they will do their best not to miss a beat in the weight room and will be prepared for Spring practice.

Even if the the new HC is tied to an option approach similar to Abell I personally hope we can air the ball out a little more.

[HSCTiger fan]

Here is a link to the 5 remaining coaches at W&L: http://generalssports.com/sports/fball/coaches/index

Coach Mathews is a part-time coach but would be good to have him full-time as he is a lot of fun and the boys enjoy his presence on game days.

The boys are anxious as to be expected but excited at the same time. Learning new terminology and scheme will be the hardest for the offense but these guys are pretty smart and should pick-up things quickly. They have strong leadership and the team is close. Talk has been they will do their best not to miss a beat in the weight room and will be prepared for Spring practice.

Even if the the new HC is tied to an option approach similar to Abell I personally hope we can air the ball out a little more.

Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting the three most important words in college football success. Can WL overcome this hurdle this year?  The returning players working hard and their commitment is no surprise. 19 players last fall did not leave much room for error this year.

[Swish3]

It definitely starts w/recruiting...given W&L's admission standards, they'll need to find a coach that's aware of and up to the challenge they present.