FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[exmajor]

If I was a considering MC as an incoming fresh or transfer, I'd have to think long and hard about my athletic vs. academic goals........at least right now.

I understand the thought here, but let's be real about Millsaps.  The school has never been, nor will ever be a breeding ground for playing beyond the college level.  It provides students the chance to continue playing a sport they love, but they are students first.  I did choose Millsaps partly because it allowed me to have a chance playing football, but really more for the education along with it.  I can honestly say that the coach did not have a major impact on my decision to enroll.  Now, Coach Dubose is a slightly different story and likely did draw in players who would have not come otherwise, but regardless of their success on the field, they still had to make the grades, not easy in SCAC schools!  All this to say, I agree with Frank, let's be smart in our decision here and bring in the right guy and do our best to avoid any band-aids that do not last.

[Patriot_Pride]

He may not have been there long enough to build a program.

If I had to fight the Millsaps adminstration year in and year out, I'd be gone sooner than four years too as head coach. I assume DuBose wanted to stay longer, but just couldn't deal with the bs anymore.

He'll be very disappointed the way this all plays out, but now has bigger fish to fry at a place like Memphis who gets the same minimal support from its administration. For those of you who didn't see Tommy West go off on his school it's below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLk06dQlyAE

[Tex]

In the South, DuBose's name carried weight and got the attention of recruits.  Hopefully no one denies that.  I have no idea what issues he faced in dealing with the administration, but I can only imagine.  I had some conversations with Todd Graham after he left Rice for  Tulsa.  Being a coach at an "academic-based" institution is difficult.  The powers that be oft look at football as a neanderthal event that doesn't deserve true administration support.  I probably didn't phrase that too well, but I can only imagine that magnified in D-3 versus D-1.  

I wish DuB well in Memphis.  It was only a matter of time before he headed back to the "big show".  I didn't think he'd be at MC this long.  The guy can obviously coach his ass off and motivate his players big time.  That's a great combination that any team (like Memphis) would love to have.  

I doubt very seriously any current players leave the program.  I also doubt any serious recruits are suddenly going to ignore MC.  A year from now, recruiting will likely be more difficult without a former head coach of Alabama opening recruiting doors. 

[cush]

milsaps could always try to hire a former auburn coach now...maybe tommy tuberville would coach pro bono for a year or two.

[pbrooks3]

Alonzo Stagg Bowl is over & Wisconsin-Whitewater has its 2nd D3 Football championship in the past 3 years, beating Mt Union 38-28.  Good game with 16" of snow on the ground in Salem.  This was the kind of slugfest you would expect from these 2 teams.

[Patriot_Pride]

Four from the SCAC named D3football.com All-Americans: http://d3football.com/tow/09/allamericans.htm

Congrats to First Teamers Alex Koors of DePauw and Will Hawkins of Millsaps, along with special teamers Garrett Biel and Kyle Trella of Trinity to the Third Team, respectively.

Should be a lot of shakeup next year in the league with DuBose leaving and a lot of teams losing key players.

[Ron Boerger]

Four from the SCAC named D3football.com All-Americans: http://d3football.com/tow/09/allamericans.htm

Congrats to First Teamers Alex Koors of DePauw and Will Hawkins of Millsaps, along with special teamers Garrett Biel and Kyle Trella of Trinity to the Third Team, respectively.

Should be a lot of shakeup next year in the league with DuBose leaving and a lot of teams losing key players.

Actually this brings up a question.  The first-team all-AA punter only played five games this year due to injury and had a solid average (just over 40 yds per punt).  I did see that he dropped half his punts inside the 20 but it seems odd for a guy who only played half a season to get a first-team nod.    This is what the school's web site says about the young man:

*** was limited to just five games in 2009 before his season and career were cut short due to an injury. A two-time All-American and the 2007 Gilburg Award recipient, he was named to the All-SCIAC line-up for the fourth time in his career, this as a First Teamer. After finishing his 2008 campaign among the nation's leaders and looking to defend his title, *** fell short of the minimum punts required and was taken out of the running in the final week of the season.

If he had enough punts to qualify, he would have placed sixth in punting yardage, nearly four yards per punt behind the leader (who was named second-team AA).   I know stats don't tell the whole story, but the statistical difference combined with the half-year status makes this seem odd.   It seems like he was given credit for having great years in 2007 and 2008 rather than be recognized for his actual 2009 performance. 

Thoughts from those who know more than I do about this specific case?   

[Tacttm1]

Ron:  Good observation.  I think it is called the "Halo Effect"

[Patriot_Pride]

Unfortunately, Ron it happens all too often I'm afraid and I'm glad you said something on here.

I've noticed a lot of that happening on D3football.com Team of the Week, All-South Region and All-American honors. It's all about past names dropped and not actually finding the best players out there.

For instance, OL John Shivers at Millsaps is NOT our best lineman, but he got recognition as a sophomore from the SCAC in 2008 and in turn from D3football.com on the All-Region Team. He was also named a Preseason All-American this year from three different organizations, including D3football.com, which is strictly on past efforts from one decent season. Easily Oliver Galicki or Adam Williams should've been on the All-Region Team, but that would require voters actually coming to a game or asking around at the schools which is impossible.

Glad to see a Millsaps player again this year, however, as it's well deserved from Will Hawkins' effort.

[Pat Coleman]

It was five of nine games, and that's our minimum standard: five of nine or six of 10.

He still had a per-kick average of more than 40 yards per punt, even though he was clearly kicking on a short field the majority of the time, with half of his kicks landing inside the 20. There's no precise formula that makes that calculation as to what's more valuable, but we do definitely look at accuracy, so to speak, in that sense. Or, I guess, if there were a yardline-punted-from stat, a ratio that told us how many of the available yards the punter kicked for, that would be perfect.

He was third among our All-Region punters in yardage and far and away first in average landing inside the 20. Most were in a range between 34 and 37 percent.

[Pat Coleman]

For instance, OL John Shivers at Millsaps is NOT our best lineman, but he got recognition as a sophomore from the SCAC in 2008

If he's not your best lineman then why are the coaches in the SCAC putting him on the All-Conference team? Why is your not-best lineman getting nominated for our All-Region team?

If you want to call out something as happening "all too often" please give me something other than an offensive lineman to look at. Who's got the definitive offensive lineman stat that makes this decision easy, anyone?

[frank_ezelle]

I think Adam Williams and Oliver Galicki are terrific players and Millsaps also started two very talented freshmen this year.  I'm just not sure about the rational of promoting players by saying their teammate is overrated.

By the way, there's a story on the Millsaps website saying that John David Caffey, the offensive coordinator, was named as the acting head coach on December 11.  There's not much to the story other than a profile on John David.  Here's the link:

http://www.gomajors.com/staff.aspx?staff=31&path=football

[Patriot_Pride]

If he's not your best lineman then why are the coaches in the SCAC putting him on the All-Conference team? Why is your not-best lineman getting nominated for our All-Region team?

If you want to call out something as happening "all too often" please give me something other than an offensive lineman to look at. Who's got the definitive offensive lineman stat that makes this decision easy, anyone?

It's called a Northern bias towards teams NOT in your neck of the woods.

Obviously I don't have a vote in the matter, but it is beside me why two other guys didn't get nominated on the OL. Also, I'm shocked RET/WR Michael Galatas, the two-time SCAC Special Teams Player of the Year, didn't make at least the All-American Third Team after 632 yds receiving and 9 TDs and 687 kick return yards (25.4 avg) and two TDs. Anyone in the SCAC will tell you he's one of the most dangerous returnmen in the country. Northern bias again maybe??

And on the punter situation, that's ridiculous a guy can play in five games and be named an All-American. Don't most conference offices not even post stats on a player unless he's played in AT LEAST 75 percent of his teams' games?

[Pat Coleman]

Our standard has been previously set as six in a 10-game season (Menlo quarterback Zamir Amin) and five for a team limited by conference rule to nine games seemed like a reasonable extension of that.

We don't consider receiving yards or receiving touchdowns in the return man decisions. Everyone we named also had two return touchdowns, just like Galatas did, other than Chamblee, who was Division III's leader in punt return yardage.

[D3_DPUFan]

Pat Coleman and the group at d3football do a tremendous job and thant includes in choosing the All American team. Do great players get left out? Of course. It's the nature of the beast. But I don't know of too many people who see more games or are exposed to more coaches, SIDs, etc. than Pat and the folks at D3. Their perspective is much more representative than the narrow interests of most of us on this board. I also hate to see the discussion denegrate to calling out players and wondering why Johnny didn't make the team and Bobby did. Seemed more like the discussions we used to hear after the high school all-state teams came out.