FB: Southern Athletic Association

[awadelewis]

With all of Sewanee's football history, and I get you guys are a very tough academic school, how do you not field a team of more than, what, 45 kids???  I realize D3 is "what it is" but can y'all not put a little more effort into it???

Caveat: Solely my opinion, and stating these opinions in the past has upset a number of the nabobs and poobahs on The Mountain.   So do take the upcoming rant for what it's worth...

You are seeing the effect of thirty years worth of Vice Chancellors and a long-serving Athletic Director treating football with a "just don't make us look too bad" mentality. There's been a "just beat Rhodes and every now and then beat W&L and you'll be OK" mindset about football on The Mountain since I was student in the early 1980s.     Bill Samko had a start at building a winning program at Sewanee in the early 1990s but I was told that a feeling of lack of support from his bosses got him looking around and getting that job at Tufts.   But there's been some rather less than successful coaching hires in the time since then.   

We've had a change in ADs in the past three years and I thought the hire of Travis Rundle good for bringing in a coach with playing and coaching experience in a successful program.   But Covid and the lack of success over the past few years has just sapped interest on campus in the program.  But there wasn't a lot of that interest in place to begin with.   And I've seen some poor recruiting, particularly on the defense side of the ball,  and watched a bunch of kids leave the team because of friction with the staff in that time.

Sewanee can put winning programs on the field.  We just had a pair of kids win a National Championship in doubles tennis as part of a tennis program that's been good for over thirty years,  women's soccer is the #1 seed going into SAA championship, men's soccer has been competitive this year, and we get really good support from the student body for both men's and women's basketball. 

I'm curious to see what happens in the off-season.  I figure, unless something unexpected happens in Memphis next weekend,  that we'll end up with a 2-8 record this season.  I think that Coach Rundle got a mulligan because of the pandemic but I don't know if going from 0 wins to 2 wins (with no wins again in conference with some ugly beatdowns) will be enough to keep him in the job.   OTOH, we have history of keeping coaches longer than what we should at times.

On we go.

[HSUCowboy2015]

O hell, I thought UWP only had two losses; they have three.  Gonna be hard to get in the regional rankings even if they don't lose again.

They have three, but one is to a DII school at the beginning of the year.

[Ron Boerger]

With all of Sewanee's football history, and I get you guys are a very tough academic school, how do you not field a team of more than, what, 45 kids???  I realize D3 is "what it is" but can y'all not put a little more effort into it???

Caveat: Solely my opinion, and stating these opinions in the past has upset a number of the nabobs and poobahs on The Mountain.   So do take the upcoming rant for what it's worth...

You are seeing the effect of thirty years worth of Vice Chancellors and a long-serving Athletic Director treating football with a "just don't make us look too bad" mentality. There's been a "just beat Rhodes and every now and then beat W&L and you'll be OK" mindset about football on The Mountain since I was student in the early 1980s.     Bill Samko had a start at building a winning program at Sewanee in the early 1990s but I was told that a feeling of lack of support from his bosses got him looking around and getting that job at Tufts.   But there's been some rather less than successful coaching hires in the time since then.   

We've had a change in ADs in the past three years and I thought the hire of Travis Rundle good for bringing in a coach with playing and coaching experience in a successful program.   But Covid and the lack of success over the past few years has just sapped interest on campus in the program.  But there wasn't a lot of that interest in place to begin with.   And I've seen some poor recruiting, particularly on the defense side of the ball,  and watched a bunch of kids leave the team because of friction with the staff in that time.

Sewanee can put winning programs on the field.  We just had a pair of kids win a National Championship in doubles tennis as part of a tennis program that's been good for over thirty years,  women's soccer is the #1 seed going into SAA championship, men's soccer has been competitive this year, and we get really good support from the student body for both men's and women's basketball. 

I'm curious to see what happens in the off-season.  I figure, unless something unexpected happens in Memphis next weekend,  that we'll end up with a 2-8 record this season.  I think that Coach Rundle got a mulligan because of the pandemic but I don't know if going from 0 wins to 2 wins (with no wins again in conference with some ugly beatdowns) will be enough to keep him in the job.   OTOH, we have history of keeping coaches longer than what we should at times.

On we go.

I hope your administration (and AD) give your new coach some time.  It takes a while to rebuild a program and hopefully your staff can point to the progress made this year to attract a few more players next season and retain those who are already there.  I counted 15+11+26+20 on the roster; if your #1s have any injury issues the depth runs out quick.  It took Trinity close to two decades (after a president took over that didn't care much for football) to get back to where they are today.  I've seen TU's new president at more games in the four I've attended this year than in all his decade of service ...

Speaking of injuries, I sure hope Trinity can get some of their guys back on the offensive side of the ball before season's end.  One reason for the offensive struggles as compared to last year are the number of receivers and linemen who have lost significant playing time.

Officiating in San Antonio was ... well, they say you get what you pay for in D3.  I think the INT in the end zone was correct (the Berry player was on top of the receiver who was on the ground in the end zone when he ripped the ball away; doesn't that count as in-bounds?) but there was a very iffy interference call in the same end zone corner that led to Berry's only offensive TD, an offensive hold called on a pancake block that wiped out a first down in the second half, the blown fumble at the end of the first, and an even more egregious PI call that was thankfully waved off.  I'm not sure Trinity's last reception was a catch or a trap, either; certainly the Berry players felt the latter as it got pretty heated and the guy that had the PAT block last week ended up getting ejected after being rung up twice for unsportsmanlike conduct, apparently the ref didn't like what he heard as there was nothing physical.   

Got to see the drone video on the replay ... pretty cool.  Didn't hear or see it but I guess I was looking down at the field all game instead of up into the air.   What a nice addition to what is already a pretty good broadcast. 

[BSCpanthers]

Some of the conference does a great job with their broadcast, some not so much.  Some seem to just have the one camera at the 50 that moves back and forth to the games that have multiple views with replays.  Not sure which school does it, might be Trinity, but has the radio broadcast guys calling the TV game, that, I thought, was excellent.  Probably the best audio of any of them. 

[awadelewis]

I hope your administration (and AD) give your new coach some time.  It takes a while to rebuild a program and hopefully your staff can point to the progress made this year to attract a few more players next season and retain those who are already there.  I counted 15+11+26+20 on the roster; if your #1s have any injury issues the depth runs out quick.  It took Trinity close to two decades (after a president took over that didn't care much for football) to get back to where they are today.  I've seen TU's new president at more games in the four I've attended this year than in all his decade of service ...

This is year 2 for our new AD but he's been involved in the Department for ages as he and his wife were the coaches responsible for building the tennis program into what it is today.  Coach Shackelford was convinced to come out of retirement for the AD job and is rather well respected both internally and externally.   

Bit of a leadership vacuum at the moment on the Mountain as our Regents made the wrong hire with our previous Vice Chancellor by going for style rather than substance.  Search process is on-going and I expect a new person to be wearing that ermine robe at Convocation next year. To our Interim VC's credit, I've seen Dr. Berner attending more games than her predecessor and showing up for games even when there isn't a large group of alumni to schmooze for donations unlike the long serving predecessor of her predecessor.

Like a lot of things around Sewanee,  culture change in the football program is needed to get a culture of winning imbued into the program.   So, my guess is that they'll give Coach Rundle one more year to get to his fifth year in the program.   But I think he will feel some heat in the seat if we don't see a movement towards at least 0.500 in the program next season. 

On we go...

[Ron Boerger]

15 years ago today () and still the only regular-season Trinity sporting event I've attended outside of Texas: 

Oct. 27th, 2007, The Mississippi Miracle // 2 seconds left, trailing 24-22, @TrinityUTigers with the ball on its own 40 "CURRY SCORES, CURRY SCORES ON THE LATERAL" 

#SCACPride | #WhyD3

https://twitter.com/SCACStatsInfo/status/1585648232633626630

[tigerguy]

Centre broadcast been hard to watch thus far. I don't know if they are in different locations or something, but the color commentator is talking all over the play-by-play guy. Play by play guy is great though. Camera guy seems to be watching the game rather than looking at what's going on in the lens.

[tigerguy]

Quickly 14-0 Centre. Blown coverage led to a long TD over the top for Centre, followed by (I think?) I tipped INT that was intended to the RB on Trinity's 9 yard line. Sloppy start for Trinity overall - receivers once again don't seem to be getting open.

[tigerguy]

Quickly 14-0 Centre. Blown coverage led to a long TD over the top for Centre, followed by (I think?) I tipped INT that was intended to the RB on Trinity's 9 yard line. Sloppy start for Trinity overall - receivers once again don't seem to be getting open.

Huge Pick-6 by Trinity to end the half makes it 17-14 Tigers at the break. After scoring two quick TD's, things calmed down a bit for Centre as they didn't score the rest of the half, although they had a good drive going in the last minutes of the 2nd before the pick-6. Trinity's O-line, who is starting two freshman this week, hasn't played great on the run. Trinity all but abandoned the run in the 2nd half, and they have a whooping -1 rushing yards in the 1st half. Conversely, Urban is having Horn sling the heck out of the ball as he is 19-29 for 178 yards in the first half. Horn looked much more comfortable in the 2nd quarter and made some great throws, but got plagued by some bad drops. Would still love one game where we have our WR core at full strength before we get to the end of the season.

Centre's run game looked solid to start the game, but Trinity's defense has tightened things up overall after the quick 14 points against them. Hoping Trinity keeps the pedal on the metal in the 2nd, although Centre gets the ball to start.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity is getting zero pressure on the Centre QB (and now looks like Osterman got hurt as Buchanan played most of the second quarter) whereas the Colonel defense is getting after Horn with four sacks, two of which came on fourth downs.   It look like we made some adjustments in the second quarter, more quick hit passes, but it's surprising how fast we abandoned the run. 

[Ron Boerger]

But man this camera work is weak.

I will give the Centre announcers props for doing some research about the opposing team's players and interjecting nice facts about them!

[tigerguy]

But man this camera work is weak.

I will give the Centre announcers props for doing some research about the opposing team's players and interjecting nice facts about them!

Yes - I'm very impressed with the play-by-play guy's preparation for the game. And he has saved content to spread across all four quarters. Have really enjoyed him calling the game.

[tigerguy]

41-21 final in Danville. Trinity kept the momentum going in the 2nd half, with Centre's only score being a bomb on a flea-flicker-esque play. Trinity's secondary has really got to clamp down on the big plays, which has been problematic for them all year. Take out the two big plays over the top, and Centre didn't have much success at all on offense. Centre's O-line came as advertised, as Trinity's D didn't get much pressure at all in the backfield.

[Pat Coleman]

But man this camera work is weak.

I will give the Centre announcers props for doing some research about the opposing team's players and interjecting nice facts about them!

Agreed -- I was surprised to learn about who likes to go to the beach, for example.

[tigerguy]

I get why they are doing it, but from a competition standpoint, I'm pretty bummed about Trinity reverting back to playing football in the SCAC. The level of play in the SAA has risen dramatically in the last five years, to the point it is now a well-respected football conference. Obviously, I'm sure that BSC and others might be somewhat relieved that they won't have to play Trinity anymore from an AQ standpoint. But, obviously the better the conference, the higher the chance that you get a second pool C bid. Hopefully Trinity continues to play some of the SAA schools after 2024, but I'm sure those rivalries will drift away just like Trinity's rivalries against Depauw, etc.