Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[5 Words or Less]

Luther hires Aaron Hafner

[doolittledog]

Luther hires Aaron Hafner

I was just writing that I was anxiously awaiting 5wol, norsanity, or floyd to comment on the new hire at Luther.  So what are your thoughts???

[5 Words or Less]

Luther hires Aaron Hafner

I was just writing that I was anxiously awaiting 5wol, norsanity, or floyd to comment on the new hire at Luther.  So what are your thoughts???

Luther will rush more

[Old Dutch]

Sounds like a good hire for Luther. I wonder what the NAIA faithful will say about a defection to DIII?  To me anyone who can rebuild at Billy Penn has some skills.  His new neighborhood in Decorah should help the recruiting more than Oskaloosa would for sure. 

[5 Words or Less]

Luther hires Aaron Hafner

I was just writing that I was anxiously awaiting 5wol, norsanity, or floyd to comment on the new hire at Luther.  So what are your thoughts???

Oh sure, once again I get completely overlooked by Uncle Doo-doo ... never-the-less, I sojourn on.

Here's what I know about Luther's new head football coach:  Coach Hafner's resume was the first of about 125 to hit the AD's desk in December.  He wasn't selected as one of first finalists (I assume becuause of the square peg to round hole no scholarship thing), but his brother (HC @ WP) and father (AD @ WP) kept calling to say "Just talk to the guy because he's good and he really wants the Luther job."  They eventually did call and the selection committee must have heard something that they liked because they rushed him up for a Saturday interview. 

He said in his interview that he and the Statesmen players gained a lot of respect for Luther becuase of the discipline and sportsmanship that they displayed despite losing twice to Billy P.  He also likes the acedemics and facilities at Luther, the Decorah community and quality public school system for his family.

There will be several challenges for Coach Hafner in the coming days, weeks and months.  First off, he will have to create a staff - OC, DC & RC.  Then he will have to hit the recruiting trail and sell blue sky to the handfull of midwestern kids who haven't yet decided where to matriculate.  He says that he intends on hitting the traditional territories of IA, MN, WI and IL, but when I look at WP's roster, it's peppered with kids from all over the sun belt.  Perhaps Grey Fox can help develop an All-American pipeline from Texas!    And finally, he'll have to work to retain the underclassmen from the Durnin era.  It's certainly no small undertaking and will take real vision on how to restructure the program.  Best wishes to Coach Hafner and the entire Norse Nation!

Sincerely yours,
5 Words or More

[sjusection105]

Luther hires Aaron Hafner

I was just writing that I was anxiously awaiting 5wol, norsanity, or floyd to comment on the new hire at Luther.  So what are your thoughts???

Oh sure, once again I get completely overlooked by Uncle Doo-doo ... never-the-less, I sojourn on.

Here's what I know about Luther's new head football coach:  Coach Hafner's resume was the first of about 125 to hit the AD's desk in December.  He wasn't selected as one of first finalists (I assume becuause of the square peg to round hole no scholarship thing), but his brother (HC @ WP) and father (AD @ WP) kept calling to say "Just talk to the guy because he's good and he really wants the Luther job."  They eventually did call and the selection committee must have heard something that they liked because they rushed him up for a Saturday interview. 

He said in his interview that he and the Statesmen players gained a lot of respect for Luther becuase of the discipline and sportsmanship that they displayed despite losing twice to Billy P.  He also likes the acedemics and facilities at Luther, the Decorah community and quality public school system for his family.

There will be several challenges for Coach Hafner in the coming days, weeks and months.  First off, he will have to create a staff - OC, DC & RC.  Then he will have to hit the recruiting trail and sell blue sky to the handfull of midwestern kids who haven't yet decided where to matriculate.  He says that he intends on hitting the traditional territories of IA, MN, WI and IL, but when I look at WP's roster, it's peppered with kids from all over the sun belt.  Perhaps Grey Fox can help develop an All-American pipeline from Texas!    And finally, he'll have to work to retain the underclassmen from the Durnin era.  It's certainly no small undertaking and will take real vision on how to restructure the program.  Best wishes to Coach Hafner and the entire Norse Nation!

Sincerely yours,
5 Words or More

From the outside looking in, isn't he at a tremendous disadvantage for 2013- so late in the "recruiting season" and having no staff?
I thought SJU took a long time to name Gagliardi's successor,and that was around Christmas-->kept most of the staff in place (just did some shuffling) and added a new OC who was a former player and former coach at SJU. Luther is Starting from scratch & it's the end of January. Best of luck to Hafner & the Norse.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Luther hires Aaron Hafner

I was just writing that I was anxiously awaiting 5wol, norsanity, or floyd to comment on the new hire at Luther.  So what are your thoughts???

doolittledog,

Unlike so many other sports at Luther, I am clearly in wait and see mode with Norse Football and whether this will be the first coach since Ed Schweizer (1950s-1970s) to really win on any sort of consistent basis.  Luther has great athletic traditions overall and lots of programs have won pretty big over the years, but at some point you start to ask yourself if the school is committed to football or the school can only win with a hall of fame coach like Schweizer or Pete Peterson (1920s-1940s). 

I haven't been excited about any of the last four Luther hires in football other than Paul Hefty in the early 2000s.

I am concerned that Coach Hafner was not among the finalists the first time around, but I don't know if that makes me more concerned about him or the hiring committee.    After all, I wanted Zweifel rather than Durnin in the winter of 2007-2008.  What I do like is that by playing Luther the past couple of years Hafner should know what he is getting into and what the strengths and weaknesses around the program and school are.

Can Hafner recruit and get the type of athletes into school at Luther that they had at Billy Penn?  I am all for running the ball down everyone's throat as I am a big fan of play in the trenches, but other than Chris Reynolds the Norse have not had the kind of backfield talent that other schools have had.  There has been no really talented RB since Sherden in 2007, and the passing game has not been good since Pearson was at WR in 2006.  Pearson is also the last impact recruit I can remember from a sun belt state, but I might be forgetting others.  Luther clearly has not been bringing in kids from Florida like St. Olaf was there for a few years.

I am fine with run the ball all the time stuff if the horses are there on the OL, RB, and at QB.

It would have been an eye opener if Luther hired someone with college head coaching experience and threw real resources at the football program to put together a good staff and a good recruiting budget.  They have done this in recent years in basketball (Coach Franzen was a college head coach before coming to Luther) and baseball (previous Coach Gillogly was a head coach for many years before coming back to Luther).  Coach Hafner may be the guy who can get it done just like Coach Mitchell has in wrestling, but there are a lot of questions.

It is fun watching good running teams though!  Hopefully Luther can become one!

[DutchFan2004]

Sounds like a good hire.  Half the battle is getting someone who wants to be there.  I would be concerned that he was not one of the original finalists.  More with the committee than the candidates as it seems like the screening process is not a good process.  But who knows the whole story as the finalists may have indeed been good candidates but they backed out on Luther.  Time will tell if Luther cracks the upper division and wins the IIAC in the future.

[grboob]

Coe opens against Monmouth in 2013.

What will Coe have returning?

[5 Words or Less]

Hafner interviewed on KWWL tonight.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Hafner interviewed on KWWL tonight.

I thought he impressed on the school website interview.  He is going to have to pull some upsets in recruiting this year, but good first impression!

[DutchFan2004]

Hafner interviewed on KWWL tonight.

I thought he impressed on the school website interview.  He is going to have to pull some upsets in recruiting this year, but good first impression!

I think he just has to keep the kids he has on campus now there.  I think it is very late to land or steal kids now.  If he can be respectable this upcoming season he can work on recruiting for the future later.

[warthog]

Win, lose, or draw, Luther and Decorah will be much better place to call home for Coach Hafner and his family than Wm Penn and Oskaloosa.

[wartknight]

Win, lose, or draw, Luther and Decorah will be much better place to call home for Coach Hafner and his family than Wm Penn and Oskaloosa.

Agreed
not to change the subject - Carver Hawkeye is a great venue when #1 & #3 square off in a dual, especially when the good guys come out on top!!

WK#3 good bud got a major!!

[Old Dutch]

Here's a story that cements my belief in D3 Football and why I'd rather attend games in Pella, Wavery, Storm Lake and Dubuque than Iowa City, Ames, Ann Arbor or Columbus.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/opinion/nocera-academic-counseling-racket.html?ref=joenocera&_r=0

If the all-powerful North Carolina FB program treats its athletes this way, whats going on in Tuscaloosa, Eugene and South Bend?