Let's go Coe!

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on November 19, 2025, 08:57:40 PMI haven't seen a post about the vacancy but I recently ran across the job posting for a new athletic director at UD. Not sure what the background story is there, but they just hired an athletic director in 2022.

https://ncaamarket.ncaa.org/jobs/21785808/director-of-athletics

He was also a Dean at the school and his wife was a higher up as well.  I haven't heard anything so will do some digging. 

DriftlessDuhawk with the scoop that Coach Helminiak has been let go at Loras.  Earlier it came out that Coach Keller at NWU is retiring at the end of this season.  When there was decent turnover in the coaching ranks back in 2008-2009 era there was some discussion on here about HC pay in the conference. 

The story went the conference had a lower tier, a middle tier, and an upper tier.  I think when Osterberger left BVU to take over at Loras it was said he went from 40k to 60k. That same year, Luther noted when they hired Mike Durnin the conference average was 65k and they were competitive.  The word was when Simpson was hiring that same year they offered 80k to either the Dowling or Valley HC (I can't remember which) and he turned them down because he was making more at the high school.  Cornell had been paying in the 45K range that time as well. 

With that information being almost 20 years old, I would be curious to know what typical HC or coordinator pay in the conference is these days.

MediaGuy brought up the possibility of the conference using the UNI-Dome in a bid to the the D3 championship game, I believe with the recent renovation the capacity has been reduced to the 12,500 range.  Which would work even better.

And I see we have the reincarnation of Alfred E. Neumann.  Welcome back!   

Quote from: Spurrier on November 10, 2025, 05:54:15 PMQuestion...Best Town for a retired couple in Eastern Iowa?

Hmm, let me think.  Would 1/2 of that retired couple be interested in the roll of volunteer assistant football coach at a D3 school in a historical river town?  At a school that may or may not be their alma mater?

Dubuque concludes their season with a 27-20 victory over Luther.  Good luck to Luther next year in their move to the MWC. 

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on November 06, 2025, 01:40:59 PM

Quote from: Fannosaurus Rex on November 05, 2025, 03:02:05 PMI'm glad we are on to numbers because, this being rivalry week and all, I am reminded of the Simpson grad who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. So, when the boy was 18 the dad took him to the Simpson admissions office. The admissions officer said, "we just have one test, what is two plus two?" The boy scratched his head and thought and counted on his fingers and finally he said, "uhhhh, four?" And the dad said, "Ah come on, give him a second chance."

Well I was told once that the admissions test at Loras used to be placing a mirror 3 inches in front of the applicant's face. If the mirror fogged up the young student was granted admission. If it did not fog up they were then accepted at UD. 

I believe my dads response to me getting into UD was something along the lines of "Whew, thank god there was one college out there for you" 

Quote from: DriftlessDuhawk on November 03, 2025, 09:26:27 PMThe Duhawks, led by third-string QB Jacob Richtman, scored 4 fourth quarter TDs to provide a lot of excitement in Dubuque on Saturday. Unfortunately, a blocked PAT following the last score with 1:11 left in the game sent all of the Loras fans home with an unfortunate taste in their mouths...

I had three large takeaways from the game. The first being that Loras has not had a designated Special Teams Coordinator in at least 7 years. The staff breaks up who coaches which unit, and there is no unifying voice behind special teams. This has been apparent for years by subpar special teams play, but certainly showed in the biggest moments over the weekend with two PATs blocked. The next one is that the Loras offense always seems to start as a cookie-cutter offense that just struggles to move the ball, and then as the year evolves, it turns into a multidimensional offense that plays to its players' strengths. While it is always pleasing to see a team get better during the course of the year, the fact that it has consistently taken 6-7 weeks for the offense to best utilize its players strengths is concerning.

And the last point is one of math and just changing with the times. It has pretty much become common practice that if you are down 14 points late in a football game that upon scoring a TD you should go for two. If you get the two point conversion you are now down 6 points and can win the game with a TD and a PAT. If you do not get it then you will have to score another TD and get the two point conversion the second time. Because the data has shown over time that statistically two point conversion plays are a 50/50 chance, you are statistically probably to get at least one of these chances. If you get the first one you now have set yourself up to win, if you do not get the first one then you are "due" to get the second one. Does it work every time? No. But more often than not the teams you see do it benefit from it. Loras not taking advantage of this cost them the game, and it was something that was completely avoidable.

I watched the end of that game.  Brutal way to end after the comeback that was made.  I've always been amazed how often I see a team score nothing over 3 quarters and then put up video game numbers once they are in the 4th quarter. 

This years Dubuque team reminds me of the 2017 team.  2016 UD had a potent offense and brought back decent numbers but for whatever reason, 2017 was a struggle for that offense.  2025 is playing out the same way for the Spartans.  If it's not snowing Saturday morning I'll break out the lucky mower and see if that works its magic. 

We were planning on making the road trip down to Indianola this weekend.  Simpson is the only Iowa school in the ARC I have never visited and my wife liked the choices of post game meals/drinks within close proximity to their campus.  But we've been a little busy lately and decided watching from the comfort of our couch with a whole bunch of appetizers in front of us sounded like a better plan. 

This is a big one for the Spartans.  UD has looked decent, but hasn't really put a full game together this season.  Simpson seems to be making that push up the conference ladder to being a contender.  Something to prove for both schools this weekend. 

Sort of off topic for the current season.  But...any new rumors or news for potential new conference members in the near future?

Much prefer homecoming games in late October instead of early October.  85 degrees is hot for us old timers.  UD wins 21-10 which is good.  Free drinks with wings and tacos at the Dog House afterwards was also nice.  Pretty sure our kids are feeling a lot worse than we are this morning 

Onto Wartburg next week.  With the Knights victory over Luther yesterday, they tie the conference winning streak that Central reached back in 1987.  If my memory is correct, it was UD that snapped that streak.  Would be nice (for me) if the Spartans could also stop the Wartburg winning streak!

An update on the injured UD player.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19wiGTF9Bc/?mibextid=wwXIfr

I just saw a tweet a UD player is in critical condition with a head injury. Did this happen in the game? I only followed live stats on here

Dubuque leads 16-7 at the half @ Central

A tale of two halves

Central wins 35-16

Had a great time in Dubuque yesterday.  Great time tailgating before the game, the final score of the game was a little too close for comfort.  Had a great time talking football and about life in general with DriftlessDuhawk afterwards.  Then we were off to our typical post game fun at the Dog House.  Suspect my kids stayed there well after we tapped out and headed home!