FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[FBCleatus]

Any  word on the recruiting class at Austin College?  Looking forward to seeing the Roos in action in 08.  I am excited about Coach Gages' 3rd year.  He and his staff run a good program.  Will miss Coach Dawson though!

[Knightstalker]

In the month of May the VFW distributes Buddy Poppies.  Please take time to give a dollar and take a poppy.  The proceeds of this go to aid the Disabled Vets

Mike Dougherty
Commander VFW Memorial Post 3776
Secaucus NJ


In Flander's Field
by John McCrae
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw,
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us, who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields.

[TigerDad]

Trinity junior RB Chris Baer was named to compete in the Men's Javelin Throw at the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships will be held on May 22-24 at UW-Oshkosh.  His toss of 204' 02" (62.24m) is currently the 5th best in Division III this season.

Chris will be joined by three TU teammates at the national meet ... Todd Wildman (high jump and 110 hurdles), Zach Brush (800m), and Emily Loeffler (3000m steeplechase).

I believe Chris is the only SCAC football player scheduled to compete in Oshkosh. 

Ralph, I spotted several McMurry athletes on the list.  Looks like Hanneus Ollison must be one heckuva sprinter ... he's listed as #1 in the 400 and long jump.  He'll be attempting a repeat as champ in the 400 won't he?

I checked carefully, but apparently the meet's not gonna be webcast.    

[Ralph Turner]

Congratulations on Chris!

Trinity has a good chance to break into the Top 20 with stellar individual performances by two athletes (to get out of single digits).

Trinity will like those Directors' Cup points that they get, too.

Yes, Hanneus Ollison is a great find,  Coach Crousen has done a great job of developing his talent.  He is quite young.  He qualified in 3 sprints (100M, 200 M and 400 M) two relays (4X100 and 4X400) and the Long Jump.  He will forgo the 100M and the 200M in favor of the other events.

If McMurry can get support from Zach Shew in the High Jump, a good 100 Meters from Bert Green, do well in Hann's four events and see a dilutional effect from other performers on the field, then I would hope that McMurry might score 30-35 points.  That might do well as a team total.

I think that Ollison becomes a better 400M sprinter as he gets older!  We are attempting a repeat in the 4X100.

[evacuee]

From the Times-Picayune this morning:

Northshore (LA) running back JB Verzwyvelt will sign with Millsaps at the campus in Jackson today, Northshore coach Mike Bourg says.

I couldn't find anything about him on the web, but good for the Majors I guess.

[Ron Boerger]

From the Times-Picayune this morning:

Northshore (LA) running back JB Verzwyvelt will sign with Millsaps at the campus in Jackson today, Northshore coach Mike Bourg says.

I couldn't find anything about him on the web, but good for the Majors I guess.

It's apparently JP Verzwyvelt, not JB.  Second-team all-district 7-5A.   5'10", 178#, 4.78 in the 40.  Video here - have not looked at it.

[frank_ezelle]

A pre-med student with a 3.75 GPA is the type student-athlete I like to see at Millsaps.  I've heard some things here and there about football prospects that are supposedly coming to Millsaps next season, but with D3 you really don't now who you have until they show up and go to class.

I find it interesting that Birmingham Southern does write-ups on their recruiting commitments (http://www.bscsports.net/), something that Millsaps has never done and I don't think that many SCAC teams post this type of releases.  I can understand why the schools don't do write-ups, but I think they are nice for the incoming athletes and the fans.  I kind of wish Millsaps put out some info on new faces expected for the coming season.

[Ron Boerger]

I think it's a product of the school's D1 athletic heritage, Frank.   Additionally, many D3 schools don't know for sure who is going to show up for sports until they actually show up on campus.   

[frank_ezelle]

Ron, I thought the same thing about it being a case of continuing to handle these stories like they did when they were a D1 program and scholarships were involved. 

We now have about 100 days till the start of the 2008 season.  While it seems a little early for any 2008 previews, their is a 2008 football preview on the Millsaps website ( http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/football/08Preview.shtml ).  It is somewhat of a combination that recaps the 2007 season and talks about the possibilities for 2008.

Mostly what you'll get from the preview is a summary of the coaching changes and an idea of who Millsaps has returning at what positions.  It is written along the lines of what Millsaps would have if they started the season today.  Obviously there will be a new group of recruits that will play into the mix.  For example, I seriously doubt that Burt Pereira will be the backup quarterback next season since he and Juan Joseph will both be seniors.  I suspect an incoming freshman will have the backup position in an attempt to get them ready for the starting role in 2009.  So, take it all with a grain of salt--it's a good starting point of how the Majors will look in 2008 but at this point in time it can hardly be a complete picture.

[DPU3619]

Three straight President Trophy wins!

Can't say I saw this coming in 05-06 when DPU snuck up on everybody by cleaning house at the Sports Festival and took the thing.  What a great streak for all DePauw athletics.

[Pat Coleman]

Plus, if I started doing it for football, you better believe EVERY sport would want it done. 

As a former SID, I can tell you that this is absolutely 100% true, and it's a major consideration in everything an SID does for football. If I, as an SID, did something for football, I had to be sure that I could do it for my other 18 sports or that I could justify not doing it.

For me, that line was drawn at putting the assistant coaches' bios on the Web site. Basketball wanted its assistants' bios on the site, but if I did it for two basketball assistants, I'd have to do it -- and keep it updated -- for 10-12 football assistants every year. It simply wasn't an option.

I know that's kind of an opposite example, but still.

[frank_ezelle]

I find it interesting that Birmingham Southern does write-ups on their recruiting commitments (http://www.bscsports.net/), something that Millsaps has never done and I don't think that many SCAC teams post this type of releases.  I can understand why the schools don't do write-ups, but I think they are nice for the incoming athletes and the fans.  I kind of wish Millsaps put out some info on new faces expected for the coming season.

As we all know, I have a tendency to write long posts and part of the reason is to make sure that people don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say.  I can see how my previous post could come across as implying that Millsaps (aka Major_Fan) should be doing those stories.  That wasn't an impression that I was trying to give.

Mostly I was just making a casual observation about BSC having those write-ups which I find odd since when you ask most D3 coaches about recruits coming in, they say that they'll only know for sure when the player takes a class.  So while it is nice for the players to see their name on the school website, and it is of some interest to the fans, these stories are about people who might never spend a day of their life at the school.  The other odd thing is that when a coach does tell me about a hotshot recruit that they think is coming for next year, they usually follow that up by saying, "Now don't mention this on the D3 message board".  I understand where they are coming from, that you don't want to get talk going about someone before you are 100% sure that they are coming to the school.

As for the SID department at Millsaps, it's a shame that I'm not one of the alums giving back big bucks to the school because I would funnel some of it into the SID department.  There should be a second person at the very least working on sports information and that money shouldn't have to come completely (or at all) out of the athletic budget.  Getting out more information to newspapers and alums about the successes of the athletes would benefit the school in general and I think the school is missing the boat by not having the staff on hand to do more.  It has made a huge, positive difference that the school changed the SID position from part-time to full-time.  I think we would see the same positive difference if they added a second person to help out with the overwhelming work load.

[Ralph Turner]

Frank, my suggestion to you is to endow the support activities for the SID.

Make the endowment very tightly worded so as to be used only for the support of SID activities, without drawing away resources necessary to the SID.  If they don't fund the SID activities at the level described in the endowment, then the monies are re-invested to build the corpus!  A board of the foundation or of the gift could perform oversight duties as the appropriate nature of the use of the funds.

That can be an internship, scholarships, work-study grants towards a directed educational activity that clears NCAA muster, etc., but accomplishes what Millsaps friends, parents and former athletes see as a need at Millsaps.

[TigerDad]

Trinity RB Chris Baer finished 5th today in the Men's Javelin Throw at the 2008 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships in Oshkosh.  Baer threw a personal-best 62.55m (205' 2") to set a new Trinity school record (again) and score 4 points for the Tigers.  Teammate Zach Brush finished 6th in the 800m (3 points) and Emily Loeffler placed 3rd (6 points) in the Women's 3000m Steeplechase.  All will be honored as All-Americans!  WAY TO GO, TIGERS!!!

McMurry University won the men's team title with 35 points, paced by a strong showing by Hanneus Ollison, who won the 400m, placed second in the Long Jump, and ran in the 4X100 and 4x400 relays.  Congratulations to them as well!

[Ralph Turner]

CONGRATULATIONS, Tiger Dad!

Kinda fun, wasn't it!