FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[matblake]

read some ad copy (when Rob D. lets me get a word in) that will make our listeners say, "Gee, you know, I really could use a gyros plate from Charcoal Delights right about now."

Like anyone needs ad copy to be susceptible to the draw of Charcoal Delights.     That restaurant makes the jaunt to NP from Wheaton with 6 people in a Ford Festiva in questionable repair worth it.

[NCF]

read some ad copy (when Rob D. lets me get a word in) that will make our listeners say, "Gee, you know, I really could use a gyros plate from Charcoal Delights right about now."

Like anyone needs ad copy to be susceptible to the draw of Charcoal Delights.     That restaurant makes the jaunt to NP from Wheaton with 6 people in a Ford Festiva in questionable repair worth it.

A Ford Festiva??   

[matblake]

read some ad copy (when Rob D. lets me get a word in) that will make our listeners say, "Gee, you know, I really could use a gyros plate from Charcoal Delights right about now."

Like anyone needs ad copy to be susceptible to the draw of Charcoal Delights.     That restaurant makes the jaunt to NP from Wheaton with 6 people in a Ford Festiva in questionable repair worth it.

A Ford Festiva??   

It was in 1994 I believe.  The guy who owned the car called it "Sardine Can."  Here's a Wikipedia Article.

[NCF]

read some ad copy (when Rob D. lets me get a word in) that will make our listeners say, "Gee, you know, I really could use a gyros plate from Charcoal Delights right about now."

Like anyone needs ad copy to be susceptible to the draw of Charcoal Delights.     That restaurant makes the jaunt to NP from Wheaton with 6 people in a Ford Festiva in questionable repair worth it.

A Ford Festiva??   

It was in 1994 I believe.  The guy who owned the car called it "Sardine Can."  Here's a Wikipedia Article.

Looks like a death trap on wheels

[Gregory Sager]

read some ad copy (when Rob D. lets me get a word in) that will make our listeners say, "Gee, you know, I really could use a gyros plate from Charcoal Delights right about now."

Like anyone needs ad copy to be susceptible to the draw of Charcoal Delights.     That restaurant makes the jaunt to NP from Wheaton with 6 people in a Ford Festiva in questionable repair worth it.

Charcoal Delights (aka "the Pit") is clearly the unofficial eatery of choice for all visiting CCIW teams making the trip to NPU, and all in-the-know visiting fans as well. (If you show up in the crackerbox or at Holmgren Athletic Complex with a bagful of McDonald's, you're just another tourist who clearly doesn't know this league.) It's funny, because if a softball team or a volleyball team or a basketball team makes a visit to NPU you can always tell which schools visit on a regular basis and which ones don't. CCIW teams and NAthC teams always go to Charcoal Delights for their postgame meals. Teams from the WIAC, MWC, MIAA, IIAC, etc., always go to the default option across the street, McDonald's.

[AndOne]

I think this is the year Augie's longstanding streak of consecutive 500 or better seasons comes to a close. Quite a remarkable and difficutl feat to accomplish.

I hope Augie is not too quick to cut Cushman's head off.  You have to give the guy (any HC) a couple of seasons to get a least one cycle of recruits through the system.  I fear Augie's "Must win at all costs" view of footbal and life might not be too generous with Cushman.

Not sure what you mean about Augie's "must win at all costs" comment, as that is certainly not the way it's ever been approached at Augie.  As for them getting rid of Cushman, I seriously doubt that will happen.  From all that I have heard, the current administration at Augie has demonstrated little to no committment to maintaining a strong football (and overall athletic) program. As was commented at the time of Cushman's hiring (by myself and other alumni), his being given the job just one day after Coach Barnes resigned seemed like a quick fix by an administration who really didn't care about the success of the program.  How true that is turning out to be.  Hard to believe they are 0-4 and are probably looking at a season of 1-9 or 2-8 (maybe 3 wins,in a best case scenario).   

Augie6---(AND OTHER AUGIE POSTERS)

I have a question for you which I hope you will not take as criticism of your opinion as I appreciate your interesting thoughts on the subject.

The question is---Do you believe other Augie supporters/posters also believe the current administration is not committed to a strong overall athletic program, or is this a personal opinion that you have not heard any other Augie fans also voice?

The reason I ask is that despite being fairly familiar with the conference, especially on the basketball side of things, I have not heard this. I readily admit that this is probably largely due to the fact I don't reside in the Rock Island area and thus don't have the access to Augie related info. With as strong as the Augie basketball program is (just ranked #3 preseason) it would seem to an outsider like myself that there likely is some fairly strong administrative support to at least part of the athletic program. This is, in part, evidenced by the fact that I rarely see a high school basketball game where a member of the Augie basketball staff is not there. The athletic dollars are obviously being spent somewhere.
Anyway, I would just appreciate any additional insight regarding the Administration's support of Augie athletics, you or any other Augie posters might be able to provide. Thanks. 

[AndOne]

read some ad copy (when Rob D. lets me get a word in) that will make our listeners say, "Gee, you know, I really could use a gyros plate from Charcoal Delights right about now."

Like anyone needs ad copy to be susceptible to the draw of Charcoal Delights.     That restaurant makes the jaunt to NP from Wheaton with 6 people in a Ford Festiva in questionable repair worth it.

Charcoal Delights (aka "the Pit") is clearly the unofficial eatery of choice for all visiting CCIW teams making the trip to NPU, and all in-the-know visiting fans as well. (If you show up in the crackerbox or at Holmgren Athletic Complex with a bagful of McDonald's, you're just another tourist who clearly doesn't know this league.) It's funny, because if a softball team or a volleyball team or a basketball team makes a visit to NPU you can always tell which schools visit on a regular basis and which ones don't. CCIW teams and NAthC teams always go to Charcoal Delights for their postgame meals. Teams from the WIAC, MWC, MIAA, IIAC, etc., always go to the default option across the street, McDonald's.

Greg--

Having met you at the "Pit" a few of times for pre or post game delights myself, I can attest to this fact.
We CCIW fans not only appreciate the intricacies of various athletic contests, but the best in gastronomical delights as well.

[Gregory Sager]

I think this is the year Augie's longstanding streak of consecutive 500 or better seasons comes to a close. Quite a remarkable and difficutl feat to accomplish.

I hope Augie is not too quick to cut Cushman's head off.  You have to give the guy (any HC) a couple of seasons to get a least one cycle of recruits through the system.  I fear Augie's "Must win at all costs" view of footbal and life might not be too generous with Cushman.

Not sure what you mean about Augie's "must win at all costs" comment, as that is certainly not the way it's ever been approached at Augie.  As for them getting rid of Cushman, I seriously doubt that will happen.  From all that I have heard, the current administration at Augie has demonstrated little to no committment to maintaining a strong football (and overall athletic) program. As was commented at the time of Cushman's hiring (by myself and other alumni), his being given the job just one day after Coach Barnes resigned seemed like a quick fix by an administration who really didn't care about the success of the program.  How true that is turning out to be.  Hard to believe they are 0-4 and are probably looking at a season of 1-9 or 2-8 (maybe 3 wins,in a best case scenario).   

Augie6---(AND OTHER AUGIE POSTERS)

I have a question for you which I hope you will not take as criticism of your opinion as I appreciate your interesting thoughts on the subject.

The question is---Do you believe other Augie supporters/posters also believe the current administration is not committed to a strong overall athletic program, or is this a personal opinion that you have not heard any other Augie fans also voice?

The reason I ask is that despite being fairly familiar with the conference, especially on the basketball side of things, I have not heard this. I readily admit that this is probably largely due to the fact I don't reside in the Rock Island area and thus don't have the access to Augie related info. With as strong as the Augie basketball program is (just ranked #3 preseason) it would seem to an outsider like myself that there likely is some fairly strong administrative support to at least part of the athletic program. This is, in part, evidenced by the fact that I rarely see a high school basketball game where a member of the Augie basketball staff is not there. The athletic dollars are obviously being spent somewhere.
Anyway, I would just appreciate any additional insight regarding the Administration's support of Augie athletics, you or any other Augie posters might be able to provide. Thanks.

The most senior Augie poster on d3boards.com, augiefan, has made the same statement as Augie6 about the current Augustana administration's lack of support for the school's athletics. He's primarily a basketball poster, and Augie6 is a football poster, so I don't think they're an echo chamber. I'm agnostic on the issue of the current state of Augustana athletics, vis-a-vis institutional support, but I just thought that I'd throw that out there.

There's no question that Augustana is not as across-the-board strong in the CCIW as it used to be. If the CCIW had all-sports trophies, Augustana would've won it every year for decade after decade. Augie regularly outpaced everyone else in the league in terms of overall performance. That is no longer the case, and, in fact, some of Augie's programs are slipping noticeably (football being one of them) while others that have been down for awhile now show no signs of recovery anytime soon (e.g., women's basketball).

As far as Augustana men's basketball is concerned, it's not as though a college or university administration -- no matter how disinclined to support athletics a president may be -- is ever going to tell a coach to stop doing his or her job. Grey Giovanine does his job very well. He and his staff have constructed an Augustana men's basketball program that currently sets the standard in the CCIW in terms of success, and he's going to keep on doing that until someone higher up the food chain at Augie (athletic director, vice-president, or president) gets in his way and actively hampers what he's doing. Just because this particular Augie administration is not supportive of Augie athletics in general -- if indeed that is the case; as I said, I have no opinion on the subject, since there's been no hard evidence presented one way or the other -- does not mean that they're actually trying to prevent a successful coach from continuing to do his job to the best of his ability.

In other words, there's a pretty wide spectrum of behavior between passive non-support and active disruption.

[Veinteuno]

As someone who played there in the very recent past and also coached there for one year; I feel like I can offer some insight.  The administration has definitely been lacking in its support of athletics and the football program.  Money has been extremely hard to come by, and the administration at the top is not fully committed to putting a winning program out there.  The football field needs various upgrades, but there has been little done.  Additionally, Augie has a hard time competing with the financial packages that other similiar colleges offer.  Time after time Augie isn't even close financially to similar institutions, and although money is not THE deciding factor it has quite the influence with many kids/ their parents and the decisions they make.  As for the facilities, let's be honest, Augie is near the bottom in terms of its football stadium in the CCIW.  Although once again facilities are not THE deciding factor, all this stuff adds up.  Additionally, as many have said the rise of other programs has made it tougher on Augie as it has on all the schools in the CCIW.  I would say do not fault Cushman for the start they have had to this year, he needs a bigger body of work before anyone can judge him.  Maybe it is the players, maybe there's other various factors this year.  All I can say, is that Cushman is a great football mind, and a workaholic.  I believe he will right the ship, but time will tell.  I know some might respond that just because the players like him does not make him a great coach blah blah blah, but I full heartily, as unbiased of an opinion as I can offer,  believe Augie will contend again in the near future.  Lastly, the administration has shown a bit of a turnaround in its' support of Athletics ever since Zapolski took over as AD.  He got the new Lacrosse/ soccer field done and word is that the football field/stadium is next.  It is not as cloudy at Augie as it may seem to many from the outside.  There is hope over at Augie, and let's not forget, 6 games remain on the CCIW slate.  Anything can happen.

[mr_b]

...Teams from the WIAC, MWC, MIAA, IIAC, etc., always go to the default option across the street, McDonald's.

AKA "the Uninformed."

[79jaybird]

veinteuno- Your post reflects what has been the case for many years in the CCIW- the "haves" vs.  the "have nots" arms race.  Look at basketball, for years the Shirk Center was a cadillac and everybody else had the common sedan.  The gap between the haves/have nots is not as large nowadays,  which is why there is increased parity amongst the schools.
IMO- it starts with the administration committing to putting time, money, efforts, etc. into athletics.  Not just to have a team, to say we have (x) sport.  This is why Elmhurst has been so poor for many years in many sports.  Then you have to get involved, mindful coaches (i.e. a Reade, Swider, Thorne, even stormin' Norman as much as we all critique him,  has been a solid HC) that can skillfully recruit key guys,  and then ultimately the players executing on the field.  It's all one big system of interrelated parts.  Cosmetics can always be added later but it starts with the school's committment.

[AndOne]

Commitment and FINANCES/FUNDING
A school may be committed enough, but finances/funding also pays a major role.

Need a new football stadium or gymnasium?
Well, how is the endowment fund doing lately? How have your institutional investments turned out lately--making any money?
How many wealthy alums are around who can be persuaded to reach down into their deep pockets and withdraw a bundle of cash for your new athletic facility?
And, what is the President to do with the next bucket of cash the school accumulates when he needs to build both a new science hall and a new gym?
Academics or athletics? Therein rests a major portion of the answer as to whether or not a school will have a successful athletic program.

[Gregory Sager]

As someone who played there in the very recent past and also coached there for one year; I feel like I can offer some insight.  The administration has definitely been lacking in its support of athletics and the football program.  Money has been extremely hard to come by, and the administration at the top is not fully committed to putting a winning program out there.  The football field needs various upgrades, but there has been little done.  Additionally, Augie has a hard time competing with the financial packages that other similiar colleges offer.  Time after time Augie isn't even close financially to similar institutions, and although money is not THE deciding factor it has quite the influence with many kids/ their parents and the decisions they make.  As for the facilities, let's be honest, Augie is near the bottom in terms of its football stadium in the CCIW.  Although once again facilities are not THE deciding factor, all this stuff adds up.  Additionally, as many have said the rise of other programs has made it tougher on Augie as it has on all the schools in the CCIW.  I would say do not fault Cushman for the start they have had to this year, he needs a bigger body of work before anyone can judge him.  Maybe it is the players, maybe there's other various factors this year.  All I can say, is that Cushman is a great football mind, and a workaholic.  I believe he will right the ship, but time will tell.  I know some might respond that just because the players like him does not make him a great coach blah blah blah, but I full heartily, as unbiased of an opinion as I can offer,  believe Augie will contend again in the near future.  Lastly, the administration has shown a bit of a turnaround in its' support of Athletics ever since Zapolski took over as AD.  He got the new Lacrosse/ soccer field done and word is that the football field/stadium is next.  It is not as cloudy at Augie as it may seem to many from the outside.  There is hope over at Augie, and let's not forget, 6 games remain on the CCIW slate.  Anything can happen.

You're right to point out that a big part of the waxing and waning of the competitiveness of schools within the CCIW has a lot to do with facilities. For decades, the joke among North Park football coaches was that, if you got a prospect on campus, you did everything that you could to avoid the issue of the weight room during the campus tour. If he asked to see the weight room, you took the road map out of your back pocket and showed him the directions to Rock Island. Anybody who had ever seen NPU's old weight room underneath the gym, "the dungeon," would understand why it was such a turnoff to potential recruits. Now, of course, NPU has a weight room in Helwig Rec Center that's second to none among midwestern D3 schools, so the problem no longer applies.

(The other gag among old North Park football coaches was that, if you had a blue-chip prospect visiting on a campus tour and you knew that you'd lose him if you showed him the football field and the weight room, you took him to the dining hall for a meal as part of the tour. He'd be so dazzled by all of the pretty blonde Swedish-American girls that he'd completely forget the torn-up, muddy football field, the lousy weight room, and even the bad food, and would jump at the chance to play for the Vikings. Never worked, as far as I know, and I doubt that any of those old coaches actually tried that stunt -- but they sure got a lot of mileage out of that joke.)

Athletics is an arms race in the CCIW. Everybody's gotta keep building bigger and better facilities, with more and more frills, in order to stay ahead of the other seven schools. It explains in part why NPU has done so badly for so long in so many sports, and why Elmhurst has lagged behind, and why Millikin is currently struggling as well -- and it explains why Carthage and North Central have been able to catch up and go toe-to-toe in overall terms with the conference fat cats, Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan. And it also explains why Carroll dropped out of the league in the early '90s; the Carroll administration simply gave up on trying to keep pace in the arms race.

[Gregory Sager]

How many wealthy alums are around who can be persuaded to reach down into their deep pockets and withdraw a bundle of cash for your new athletic facility?

And woe to you if your school mostly turns out teachers, preachers, and nurses -- like a certain institution on Chicago's North Side at the corner of Foster & Kedzie -- rather than a steady stream of captains of industry.

[NCF]

As someone who played there in the very recent past and also coached there for one year; I feel like I can offer some insight.  The administration has definitely been lacking in its support of athletics and the football program.  Money has been extremely hard to come by, and the administration at the top is not fully committed to putting a winning program out there.  The football field needs various upgrades, but there has been little done.  Additionally, Augie has a hard time competing with the financial packages that other similiar colleges offer.  Time after time Augie isn't even close financially to similar institutions, and although money is not THE deciding factor it has quite the influence with many kids/ their parents and the decisions they make.  As for the facilities, let's be honest, Augie is near the bottom in terms of its football stadium in the CCIW.  Although once again facilities are not THE deciding factor, all this stuff adds up.  Additionally, as many have said the rise of other programs has made it tougher on Augie as it has on all the schools in the CCIW.  I would say do not fault Cushman for the start they have had to this year, he needs a bigger body of work before anyone can judge him.  Maybe it is the players, maybe there's other various factors this year.  All I can say, is that Cushman is a great football mind, and a workaholic.  I believe he will right the ship, but time will tell.  I know some might respond that just because the players like him does not make him a great coach blah blah blah, but I full heartily, as unbiased of an opinion as I can offer,  believe Augie will contend again in the near future.  Lastly, the administration has shown a bit of a turnaround in its' support of Athletics ever since Zapolski took over as AD.  He got the new Lacrosse/ soccer field done and word is that the football field/stadium is next.  It is not as cloudy at Augie as it may seem to many from the outside.  There is hope over at Augie, and let's not forget, 6 games remain on the CCIW slate.  Anything can happen.

As a parent of a recent recruit who visited several schools I can let you know a couple of reasons that were big for him. 1. Program 2. Coaches 3.His place in the program 4. Future teammates 5. Would he be able to compete in two sports 6. Facilities. 7. Distance. All of these considerations came AFTER he looked at the academic side of the school.