MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Started by FC News, March 01, 2005, 11:03:19 PM

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Gregory Sager

Bowling is very much an up-and-coming sport in the small-college ranks. This is especially true of women's bowling, which has the dual virtues of being low-overhead in terms of athletics budgets and of providing a favorable add-on to an athletic department's Title IX numbers.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

WUPHF

That makes sense...Fontbonne has a nice bowling alley just down the street too.

RFMichigan

I just saw that Steve Kollar - formerly of Blackburn - was named head basketball coach at Concordia - Chicago. Some insight from the SLIAC folks on the board besides what I read on his bio from Blackburn and Concordia's site would be helpful.

hopefan

#16608
I'd be curious as to how Greg Sager views this move... Coach Kollar certainly impressed me... winning huge games at the end of the season each of the last two years to push Blackburn into the conference tourney... I felt that whenever I went to see BC play, I'd see a competitive BC team that played very hard...
So Greg, why leave?  Concordia Chicago is the bottom of the barrel in the NACC..
I guess possible thinking..
1) closer to "home" and the big city
2) challenge to raise the level of another bottom dweller to become a successful program
3) better conference overall?  I'm not so sure....    but if so, are there recruiting benefits, even at Concordia?
4) money?
5) campus/department atmosphere... let's face it, the best dressed coach in D3 may have had a tough time identifying with the small town country types in Carlinville   (DO NOT take offense, BC people.. I LOVE Carlinville and the BC campus right in the pleasant neighborhood setting)
6) he's not leaving the cupboard bare... in fact, I'd view BC as a strong possibility to once again make the conference tourney next year...
7)  I don't think recruiting at BC is a problem... They've gotten some pretty decent SLIAC level players...

The only thing not to be liked in Florida is no D3 hoops!!!

hopefan

I can think of at least two very qualified SLIAC Asst Coaches who hopefully are interested and become leading candidates for the BC position... they've both put in their time....
The only thing not to be liked in Florida is no D3 hoops!!!

WUPHF

Concordia is a cool institution in one of the more interesting suburbs of Chicago.  If Kollar can win at Blackburn, he can win at Concordia.

hopefan

Quote from: WUPHF on March 29, 2019, 10:20:09 AM
Concordia is a cool institution in one of the more interesting suburbs of Chicago.  If Kollar can win at Blackburn, he can win at Concordia.

Define "cool institution"...???
The only thing not to be liked in Florida is no D3 hoops!!!

Gregory Sager

Quote from: hopefan on March 29, 2019, 08:48:07 AM
I'd be curious as to how Greg Sager views this move... Coach Kollar certainly impressed me... winning huge games at the end of the season each of the last two years to push Blackburn into the conference tourney... I felt that whenever I went to see BC play, I'd see a competitive BC team that played very hard...
So Greg, why leave?  Concordia Chicago is the bottom of the barrel in the NACC..
I guess possible thinking..
1) closer to "home" and the big city
2) challenge to raise the level of another bottom dweller to become a successful program
3) better conference overall?  I'm not so sure....    but if so, are there recruiting benefits, even at Concordia?
4) money?
5) campus/department atmosphere... let's face it, the best dressed coach in D3 may have had a tough time identifying with the small town country types in Carlinville   (DO NOT take offense, BC people.. I LOVE Carlinville and the BC campus right in the pleasant neighborhood setting)
6) he's not leaving the cupboard bare... in fact, I'd view BC as a strong possibility to once again make the conference tourney next year...
7)  I don't think recruiting at BC is a problem... They've gotten some pretty decent SLIAC level players...

Blackburn is a first-rung school. By that, I mean that it's the sort of school that typically hires a young head coach who has no previous head-coaching experience at the college level. As a rural school with limited resources that competes in a low-level conference, this is to be expected. As such, it's also to be expected that these young head coaches will move up the coaching ladder as the opportunity arises (should they prove successful enough to draw interest from other schools, as Steve Kollar has) to bigger schools in more prestigious leagues. And, of course, these prospective second-rung jobs typically pay better and have bigger program budgets as well. So I don't think it's a matter of his being too well-dressed for the good citizens of Carlinville, Illinois. ;)

It's a bit of a surprise that Concordia (IL) is the next rung up for him. Honestly, I thought that he'd be a candidate for the next CCIW job opening. His new gig in River Forest probably pays better than his old one in Carlinville, but with the significant rise in cost of living that he's going to experience being back in Chicagoland, I'm not sure that Concordia (IL) is all that sweet of a deal, monetarily speaking. More to the point as far as coaching is concerned, it's not a plum job. It's true that the NACC is a step up from the SLIAC overall in men's basketball -- nobody in the SLIAC can claim the success that Benedictine had four years ago when the Bennies made it to the national championship game (which was actually the second time that BU has reached the Elite Eight), and Aurora's been known to win a tourney game as well from time to time, including that now-famous upset over Wash U a year ago. I'm not saying that it's a giant step up to go from a SLIAC program to a NACC program, but it is a step up.

But considering where Concordia (IL) is on the NACC men's basketball landscape, I'm not sure that it's even worthy to be called a full step up to a higher rung. The Cougars have never been a powerhouse in that sport, but throughout this decade they've been nothing short of pathetic. Over the past seven years they've gone 36-139 (.207), which means that they're one win above averaging 20 losses per season over that span. It's not the program's first long stretch of bad basketball, either. The only winning season that the Cougars have enjoyed over the past two and a half decades was in 2009-10, and they only went 14-13 that season. There's only been two 20-win seasons in Concordia (IL) history, and they date back to 1961-62 and 1968-69.

It's not unheard of for a Cougars athletic program to have massive success. The baseball Cougars have made it to the D3 College World Series in each of the past two seasons, and they're so good every year that they beat CCIW and WIAC teams with regularity. But baseball may be a sport in which success doesn't necessarily translate across an athletic department; Webster has made a similar amount of noise on the national scene in baseball under first Marty Hunsucker and now Bill Kurich, and that hasn't really led to the Gorloks being a national presence in any other sport.

My guess is that Kollar's making the move because he's a Chicagolander who will be on home turf both in his living situation and with regard to recruiting, and because, despite what it may appear to be at first blush, Concordia (IL) may actually prove to be a strategic second rung in his head coaching career. After all, any headway whatsoever that he's able to make with the Cougars will look pretty good in comparison to the hot mess that Cougars basketball has been over the past seven seasons. Plus, the cupboard that he's inheriting isn't bare, either; he has this season's Central Region Rookie of the Year in 6'5 forward Landen Gladney (17.7 ppg, 12.3 rpg) to build around.

I've had my eye on Steve Kollar for awhile. He's an up-and-comer in the local D3 coaching ranks. As I said, this move is a bit of a surprise, but I can see the potential payoffs for him.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

WUPHF

Cool institution = nice campus in a nice environment with a nice downtown area in neighboring Oak Park and lots of innovative academic programs and relevant Masters degrees (he should probably earn one along the way).

Gregory Sager

I agree with WUPHF's description of Concordia (IL). The campus and the school's academic offerings have a lot going for them. But Steve Kollar's predecessors sure haven't been able to translate those virtues into hoops success. Perhaps he will.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

WUPHF

It will be interesting.

If I could talk to Kollar, I would ask about how the move to a work college by Blackburn helped or hindered him at Blackburn and whether or not the significantly higher sticker price at Concordia will matter.

hopefan

#16616
With the completion of the 2018-19 season, here is where the SLIAC Coach's Total W/L records stand:

Each Coach has been a head coach only at their present SLIAC college...


coach  school  wins  losses  WP
Bunch  Webster  264  179  .596
Gray  Spalding  309   272  .532
Barber  Greenville  270  243  .526
Mitchell  Westminster  281  262  .517
Kollar  Blackburn    50    53  .485
Wilde  Eureka  147  162  ,476
Creal  MacMurray  134  173  .436
Huisman  Iowa Wesleyan    55    72  .433
Zimmerman  Principia    28    45  .384
Thornhill  Fontbonne    26    74  .260


Sliac coaches performance in Conference tourney

Bunch Webster  17 seasons coached, 15 seasons when there was a conference Tourney
                          13 Conference Tourney appearances  (86.7%)
                           4  Conference Championship game appearances
                           2  Conference Tourney Championships
                             win loss record in Conference Tourney 6-11   (.353)

Huisman Iowa Wesleyan  5 seasons coached, Iowa Wesleyan was provisional, ineligible for conference tourney... 1-1 in USCAA Tourney...
                         
Gray Spalding  7 seasons coached that Spalding was eligible for Conference tourney
                          4 Tourney appearances  (57%)
                           4  Championship game appearances
                           2  Tourney Championships
                             win loss record in Conference Tourney 6-2   (.750)

Mitchell Westminster  21 seasons coached, 16 seasons when there was a conference Tourney
                          12 Tourney appearances  (75%)
                           7  Championship game appearances
                           4  Tourney Championships
                             win loss record in Conference Tourney 11-8   (.579)


Barber Greenville  20 seasons coached, 15 seasons when there was a conference Tourney
                          5 Tourney appearances  (33%)
                           2  Championship game appearances
                           1  Tourney Championships
                             win loss record in Conference Tourney 3-4   (.429)


Zimmerman Principia  3 seasons coached
                          1 Tourney appearances  (33%)
                           0  Championship game appearances
                           0  Tourney Championships
                             win loss record in Conference Tourney 0-1   (.000)

Wilde Eureka  12 seasons coached
                          5 Tourney appearances  (42%)
                           3  Championship game appearances
                           1  Tourney Championships
                             win loss record in Conference Tourney 4-4   (.500) 


Creal MacMurray  12 seasons coached
                          6 Tourney appearances  (50%)
                           1  Championship game appearances
                           0  Tourney Championships
                             win loss record in Conference Tourney 1-6   (.143) 

Kollar Blackburn  4 seasons coached
                          2 Tourney appearances  (50%)
                           1  Championship game appearances
                           0  Tourney Championships
                             win loss record in Conference Tourney 1-2   (.333)

Thornhill Fontbonne has coached 4 years, not yet made the tourney


(modified by GS because it's a great chart and he thought that hopefan might like it tidied up a bit)
The only thing not to be liked in Florida is no D3 hoops!!!

hopefan

yes, as can be seen from previous post, hopefan is back, all is fine....details to follow...
The only thing not to be liked in Florida is no D3 hoops!!!

Smitty Oom

Quote from: hopefan on April 01, 2019, 11:33:11 AM
yes, as can be seen from previous post, hopefan is back, all is fine....details to follow...

Great to hear all is fine!

hopefan

Well Smitty... all is fine... because our house in Eureka Missouri sold last week!!!... We (Ms. hopefan and I) are now permanent residents of Tierra Verde. Fl.
The sale, the inspection fixes, the getting rid of 46 years of stuff created tremendous upheaval.. it was just wise to concentrate on all that needed to be done and not to be on the computer D3-ing away

So I'm in the land of no D3 schools...BUT

1) I have access to all SLIAC game videos... I'll continue to be the SLIAC's no 1 fan and call them as I see 'em... though admittedly, watching on the internet is not nearly as conducive to evaluating as being there in person..
2) I'll continue to input into the D3 boards in the multi-region section that I always have
3) I might even jump back into the pick em contest that I used to be a part of...

and I'll look forward to seeing a D3 tourney or 2 down here in Florida... though I fear most of them will be played near the holidays when we'll likely be visiting family...

Going to D3 games has been a major part of my life... I'll miss it tremendously... from Coaching at RPI, to becoming a Hope fan in the 80's, to a Wash U fan in the 90's, to a Maryville (Mo.) fan for a few years in the early 2000's, and then a SLIAC fan since... D3hoops has always been there...Thank goodness the internet can keep me up to date with the goings on... also, I have D2 Eckerd College right down the road... Eckerd would be a perfect D3 school, facilities, education etc, but it's not to be in Florida.... they have been pretty good the last two years, very entertaining to watch, but graduation losses will put them in a deep hole next year...

So readers, count on it... I'll be here!!!!
The only thing not to be liked in Florida is no D3 hoops!!!