FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[02 Warhawk]

Why does one suppose Grand Valley State is content to be a step on a coaching ladder.?

As long as they keep winning, they don't care who their coach is...i suppose.

They were the most successful DII program this decade.

[warhawkbabe]

GVSU is the mount union of division 2. They win, and it's a step up when your at a d3 school. He is obviously interested since he has applied for the job.  Maybe GVSU will hire the guy who is already on staff thats what they have done in the past. Maybe they won't and decide to go another way like Whitewater did three years ago about this time of year.
As far as recruiting the streak of five straight trips to the national championship and winning two of the last three stagg bowls. The recruiting will take care of it's self. It's division three football guys there is not much to the recruiting process. If I am going to UWW or any or WIAC school and I want to play football they really can't say no to me. Know if I suck they can cut me but they can't tell me NO. There are not letters of intent or verbal commitments at that level..
I hope he stays, but if he gets the job good for him.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

As far as recruiting the streak of five straight trips to the national championship and winning two of the last three stagg bowls. The recruiting will take care of it's self. It's division three football guys there is not much to the recruiting process. If I am going to UWW or any or WIAC school and I want to play football they really can't say no to me. Know if I suck they can cut me but they can't tell me NO. There are not letters of intent or verbal commitments at that level..

Agree with some of what you said, but I think recruiting has a larger role than you are portraying in your post.

[BoBo]

You heard it here 1st, Matt Mitchell will be the next HC at GVSU.  However, this would be a great move for LL if offered the job at GVSU.  A job he has to take if he wants to move up the ladder.  If he were to turn GVSU down I think he is a lifer at UWW.  However, they will not offer him the job.

Interestingly, Matt Mitchell happens to be the son-in-law of the GVSU AD, as pointed out by mlive.com writer Justin Hoff in making this observation from this article:

"How would you fire your son-in-law if after a few years GVSU struggles?...That could be a significant problem to deal with down the road and for me personally I wouldn't want to deal with it."  

Considering Mitchell's background in coaching (never a head coach) to LL's, I'd say LL has him beat in terms of resume. It's the family ties that will probably be the factor that gets him the job, if you are correct. Hard not to inteview a coach with what LL brings to the table, though. All that being said, I hope GVSU stays with their traditional recipe for success and sticks with one of their own. The article goes on to say that if Mitchell gets the right offensive mind to coach that side of the ball, he may be just fine as a head coach. LL was once a Coordinator w/o head coaching experience, too, for that matter.

[BoBo]

kirasdad, during LK's early years of success, how did the off-seasons go around Mount Union as Stagg Bowls started to pile up? I'd bet he was a rather hot commodity with numerous coaching vacancies. Do you know if he ever intentionally put his name out to see what kind of interest it might generate? Any close calls, leaving MUC, that is?

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

kirasdad, during LK's early years of success, how did the off-seasons go around Mount Union as Stagg Bowls started to pile up? I'd bet he was a rather hot commodity with numerous coaching vacancies. Do you know if he ever intentionally put his name out to see what kind of interest it might generate? Any close calls, leaving MUC, that is?

There were rumors of offers from Kent State and I think Princeton (or one of the other Ivy Leagues) but I don't think LK ever interviewed.  He became the AD at MUC in the mid 80s and the HC in 1986 and by the time the offers came around (mid-late 90s) he was fairly well intrenched in Alliance.  His kids were either at MUC or AHS and I don't think he wanted to "climb the coaching ladder" so to say.  He was very comfortable and I don't think he wanted to move his family around.

[BoBo]

thanks for the insight, k-dad! 

[BoBo]

Just dropped $200 on Division III championship merchandise at the UWW's University Bookstore.

Even though it is in the middle of Christmas break - a number of students and adults were in the Bookstore when I shopped
on Wednesday. Virtually all were looking for championship merchandise.

Great t-shirts and hoodies.

D III championship merchandise available at:   http://www.uwwhitewaterbookstore.com/shop_product_list.asp?mscssid=43AC928A0EF24E05A5BDC228F0C0687A&catalog_group_id=MQ&catalog_group_name=
R2VuZXJhbCBNZXJjaGFuZGlzZQ&catalog_id=124&catalog_name=Ti5DLkEuQS4gQ2hhbXBpb25zaGlw

voice, when will the website and blog be getting updated? Faithful reader here. 

[D O.C.]

Why do these sound so different yet taken to be synonymous?

"he is a lifer"

"fairly well intrenched"

[warhawkbabe]

Kirasdad:
I know that there is more to it, but when kids say i committed to UW-Whitewater, I always wanted to ask if they kept a copy of their LOI.
In Wisconsin I think a lot of it is determined in where the high school coaches went to college and played. If I playued at UWW,and I have kids looking at WIAC schools. I want him to go to UWW.
From what I understand there is also some negative recruiting which is funny because I think thats all non sense. Who cares what UW-O's #1 major is and who cares if UWW is a suitcase college. The kids go there for a degree,and to play football on the side. They don't even have to lift weights in thw woff season. As at D3 it's all VOLUNTARY.

[DBQ1965]

I'm not sure Coach Z would be given serious consideration (even at UW-W) right now until he proves himself at UD.  Its been 25 years since he last was a head coach (Yankton) and a 5-5 record in his first season as head coach at UD leaves more time to show what he can do in the next few years.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Kirasdad:
I know that there is more to it, but when kids say i committed to UW-Whitewater, I always wanted to ask if they kept a copy of their LOI.
In Wisconsin I think a lot of it is determined in where the high school coaches went to college and played. If I playued at UWW,and I have kids looking at WIAC schools. I want him to go to UWW.
From what I understand there is also some negative recruiting which is funny because I think thats all non sense. Who cares what UW-O's #1 major is and who cares if UWW is a suitcase college. The kids go there for a degree,and to play football on the side. They don't even have to lift weights in thw woff season. As at D3 it's all VOLUNTARY.

I know that there isn't a LOI at the DIII level and no one is really sure who will show up until practice starts in August.  I don't know about Wisconsin, but I know that MUC has a recruiting coordinator and having a successful program, being on ESPN, and upgrades to the facilities have helped MUC bring in kids from all over the country (not just OH/Penn area).  MUC had a QB on the JV team this year who was a redshirt Fr. at USF last year.  A friend of mine talked to the OL coach at USF who couldn't believe this kid went from D1 all the way "down" to DIII.  The kid can throw the rock and will probably compete for PT next year.  Ended up he came to MUC because a former teammate plays there, and that all started with the Pierre Garcon success (West Palm Beach).

Also They don't HAVE to lift weights in the off season., but if they want to be a contributing member of the team in the fall I would assume they do.  Especially at higher level programs like UWW and MUC.

[Barber Greene]

Cool video from Royal Purple. The road to the 2009 Stagg Bowl - UW-Whitewater Warhawks bring home the title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRqHlEuFi6A

[GBMAN]

Cool video from Royal Purple. The road to the 2009 Stagg Bowl - UW-Whitewater Warhawks bring home the title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRqHlEuFi6A

AWESOME VID bARBER

[badgerwarhawk]

Fantastic, it was cool seeing the fans reaction in West Lafayette after it was over.  I have to wonder what the locals must have thought to see 100 people and a band bouncing around in the parking lot.  Thanks for the link BG.