In retrospect, the performance in the last 6 games have put into perspective how truly putrid Virginia Lynchburg was — and we even gave up 10 points to them.
VUL is a fake school much like Bishop Sycamore was a fake High School. Both prey on gullible recruits to give them money. The internet is full of multiple stories regarding this.
Virginia Lynchburg is a real accredited college. There are public horror stories about the football programs lack of resources. Bishop Sycamore is not a High School.
VUL unironically had the 6A Texas POY at QB. Wonder if he’d outperform 3/14 w our roster
Virginia Lynchburg is a real accredited college. There are public horror stories about the football programs lack of resources. Bishop Sycamore is not a High School.
VUL unironically had the 6A Texas POY at QB. Wonder if he’d outperform 3/14 w our roster
Sure. By the definition of the term VUL is an accredited college. But as of 2024, they were placed on probation at risk of losing their accreditation. I have not seen any articles to claim that that fact was changed. They were placed under probation due to Title VI violations and financial operations concerns. So yes, they are a real school, however i believe it is important to note that (as of last press update) they are barely a real institution.
On a football related note. Multiple coaches, players, and families have come out and claimed that VUL is a predatory institution that relies on disinformation and manipulation to get their recruits. Same as what Bishop Sycamore was doing
Ok, I know I'll take flack for this post but here it is: We are WAY to hard on a coach whose team he either inherited or freshman, some of whom he recruited and others who were recruited by Fox and chose to come anyway.
Last year's final game against Davidson showed 16 on the 2 deep who were either 5th of 6th year players. This year:8. We have one starter who is a 5th year plus the banged up running backs who haven't played anywhere near a full season. Do you actually think Adrian would have won the game if Mansaray had played? Maybe.
So our starting O-line is comprised of two redshirt sophomores, two redshirt juniors and one redshirt freshman. Last year our O-line included two fifth year guys. We were out-weighed by St. Thomas by maybe 40 pounds per guy. I couldn't find their two deeps but am guessing their team started a bunch of redshirt juniors and seniors.
As for the guy who said "40 of our guys are Waddle guys" I would add, if it is 40 then remember that 38 of those guys are true freshman.
Not sure what we expected but certainly some of it centered around a healthy Mansaray and a not so confused Rowan Keefe. In his defense, it is an entirely new offense aimed at a guy who can drop back, have more than a second and a half to look at his options and then make the throws.
I think we'll finish with some respectable losses and hopefully Coach Waddle and staff can hit the portal or at least keep the skilled young guys who will be much better with a couple of years in the weight room.
@rezynezy Are you saying they have an excuse (not a real school) for their being putrid? Or are you saying that Valpo should not have scheduled them? VU destroyed a crappy team and scored 65. Since then, we can’t stop anybody and have a difficult time scoring any TDs in the run-of-play. I just can’t grasp what your point was in even bringing up their questionable qualifications. They were terrible. Now we know exactly how very bad, because of how poorly we are doing against decent competition.
Vu72. You are right about graduating talent. You are wrong about 38 being freshman. About 20 transfers this year. Income did not equal the outcome.
I agree on patience. But if things go south against Morehead and Stetson , there’s a difference in patience with losing and patience with not competing
Conference schedule has been strong so far. But with Butler beating Dayton and Saint Thomas, not sure it’s been elite. I have to be honest, I thought Caron did enough to win the job and they would tailor the offense in year one to make it work with him. Obviously a large zag there. On paper Tyler, Mcneeley, Mansaray should have walked through Adrian (Caron benched, Mcneeley washed to RB3 before Long got hurt)
A lot of Fox recruiting was starter for starter. Ben Hines graduates, insert Kobey Fitzgerald from UCLA. The Washington-Dawson-Mann-Mansaray line. OL has been a struggle but they typically redshirted guys and had players good enough to get poached. WR same deal w Gundy-Coulson-Jimenez.
The holes from the 2 deep weren’t filled with PFL level starting players. They were incumbents , lower level transfers, or freshman. The above list of players, all of them had better committable high school offers than Valpo.
Portal is a must to compete. On all levels of college football
@rezynezy no idea what your point is in comparing VUL to Bishop Sycamore, which is a poor comparison anyway. VUL has been an established institution since 1886, Bishop Sycamore was never a school. Just because Twitter/X reveals that they are a poorly managed school does not mean that they are a scam. Besides, VUL has picked up 3 wins this year, what does that make you say about the schools they beat? And why do you bring this up even? Fox scheduled that game anyway so it has nothing to do with Waddle's coaching.
@rezynezy no idea what your point is in comparing VUL to Bishop Sycamore, which is a poor comparison anyway. VUL has been an established institution since 1886, Bishop Sycamore was never a school. Just because Twitter/X reveals that they are a poorly managed school does not mean that they are a scam.
This doesnt come from Twitter/X this comes from articles released online of former players/coaches/parents outing the program as a scam. THis wasnt just a one off occurance of disgruntled peoples claiming this either. They are called the "Bishop Sycamore of College Football" for a reason.
@rezynezy who calls them the “Bishop Sycamore of college football” other than you? A Google search for that comes up with College of Faith, and we’ve been there done that. VUL is certainly more of a school than College of Faith since they are an actual school.
@sp37 The term was coined for VUL by a video documentary on their dirty dealings. College of Faith is a completely different situation yes, but other people do in fact use the phrase "Bishop Sycamore of College Football" to describe VUL as well. VUL is also not regionally accredited, and their only accreditation is still seemingly under probation as there has been no statement since their accreditation was put on probation to say they are no longer under probation.
I suppose it could get worse next year, but let’s see what lands with recruits next year and who stays this year., in fairness, Mt. Union has been a machine for 35 years and it’s rare any of their games are close. They only suffer the occasional conference loss. He was given a long leash at Marietta and he clearly showed record improvement. In the last 30 years Marietta had 11 winning seasons, 6 were under Waddles watch. Maybe he knows how to build a culture and locker room and They were awful before he arrived. We can only hope he can do that here. Unfortunately we are all going to have watch this methodical rebuild Play out. Maybe the guy at butler has a much more talented roster. Ironic, our second best offensive game of the year was against Fox.
@burnee77 I hope you are correct in your wishes (ones that I, too, share).
However, it must be remembered that Waddle’s record at Marietta was accomplished in the pre-Transfer Portal era and it was accomplished at the DIII level that, even today, does not experience the same volatile transferring we experience at our level. If a kid is considered an PFL/FCS level talent, he most likely will not be as patient as a DIII level kid and wait his turn —especially in a losing program. So Waddle is battling recruiting challenges on two fronts: bringing in new FCS-level talent while holding onto whatever talent is already on the roster.
I concur with FB16, mining the portal for FCS-level talent has to be the #1 priority for season #2. But that will be made more difficult if we continue to lose in the manner we are exhibiting so far.
VULB agreed. It’s not like we didn’t hit the portal. 1/6 the roster came over this summer.
The issue is of that 1/6 of the roster, 1 has been a full starter (OC Nurse) and two have been seen on offense but wouldn’t call them difference makers (Melchiori / McNeeley). Hillenburg punts. The rest you ask……..
Yes he won at the pre transfer portal model and yes less transferring at the DIII Level but he still showed improvement and progress. Not like Marietta got worse under his watch. Maybe he will adapt to the new model or maybe he won't. It's not assured wins will follow if you are using today's model. Most of are growing impatient as fans but what big name coach will come here? This is who we hired and we have to wait it out.
A fan doesn't have to wait out anything. A fan can express disappointment, anger, simple disagreement or whatever they want. After all they(we) are fans.
The admin? That's a different story. It's their bed and money and they likely have to wait it out.
Re: letting Fox go and hiring Waddle:
I can agree that maybe shooting for a higher goal than the competitiveness Fox seem to bring to the program is a viable reason for changing the football staff. I do wonder if what they were shooting for was actually accomplished.
I'm not sure the thought process was "well....maybe well get our butts kicked for a few seasons and then maybe he'll turn it around" or if it was that this would be sound thinking.
