http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2017-18/17828/cecchini-wins-pioneer-football-league-coach-of-the-year-award/
Well deserved. Congratulations Coach Cecchini :thumbsup:
:thewave:
Yes, very well deserved. Congrats to Coach Cecchini and the whole football coaching staff!!
Great for Coach C AND the team! It appears they are dialing in the type of kid who will be successful at Valpo as a football player. I really hope that these guys can keep the chip on their shoulder through the off season and be better next year.
Fantastic turnaround from the Carlson shipwreck. Very well deserved!! :clap: :cheers: :clap:
https://twitter.com/BrandonVickrey/status/935359807187488768
Valpo's Dave Cecchini named Pioneer Football League Coach of the Year
Jim Peters jim.peters@nwi.com, 219-548-4363 Nov 27, 2017 Updated 53 min ago
Asked in jest Monday if he had heard from any of the Southeastern Conference schools about their coaching openings, Dave Cecchini got a good laugh.
No, the Valparaiso University coach isn't on that radar, but he's certainly become a respected commodity in the Pioneer Football League, which named the four-year Crusaders boss its coach of the year.
................ http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/valpo-s-dave-cecchini-named-pioneer-football-league-coach-of/article_fe3ccda0-580d-540f-8f12-c251d1d4d937.html
Very well deserved. Dave stuck with his I plan and has really turned this program around.
It's a good thing Coach Cecchini got Coach of the Year, seeing as how apparently Valpo has no First Team and only three Second Team All-PFL worthy players.
Also, how in the heck does Seewald not even garner Honorable Mention?
Re Seewald: That's good for us - chip on the shoulder factor. He'll work 2x harder in the off-season.
Nice to see three 2nd teamers. We were lucky to get 1 in years past. Surprised that Snouffer did not get picked. He had slightly better tackle stats (106 to 101) than Nick. Nick had 3 more TFLs. And I share the HM snubb reaction on Seewald. Teams had to game plan for him. He averaged 236.5 yards passing per game this season and will be a major PFL factor next season.
Valpo and its players continue to be snubbed. This time via the All Academic teams. Two of our players received 2nd team honors, that's it. So as an example of the snub, Eric Rentschler, our Junior starting guard, who holds a 3.86 gpa in Computer Engineering, was passed over for the first team by a Sophomore OL player from Marist, holding a 3.55 gpa in Communications. Really?? :crazy:
... and the chips pile up >:(
Quote from: VULB#62 on November 29, 2017, 09:57:25 AMNice to see three 2nd teamers. We were lucky to get 1 in years past. Surprised that Snouffer did not get picked. He had slightly better tackle stats (106 to 101) than Nick. Nick had 3 more TFLs. And I share the HM snubb reaction on Seewald. Teams had to game plan for him. He averaged 236.5 yards passing per game this season and will be a major PFL factor next season.
Considering Jeske and the MSU QB were named HM, it is absurd that Jimmy wasn't also named HM.
Got that right.
I wonder if some of our snubs on the All-PFL teams and Academic Honors were due to year in school for the players we feel were snubbed? I mean Seewald is a sophomore, so he'll have time to get on the list next year and the year after. Academically, the 3.86 vs. 3.55 might have been a year in school issue, and not a reflection on the major or the school the gpa was acquired from. Yes, it sucks that we were snubbed, but you have to look past the numbers, and consider the "time" put in to getting to where these players are today, both athletically and academically.
Quote from: valporun on November 29, 2017, 11:27:52 PM
I wonder if some of our snubs on the All-PFL teams and Academic Honors were due to year in school for the players we feel were snubbed? I mean Seewald is a sophomore, so he'll have time to get on the list next year and the year after. Academically, the 3.86 vs. 3.55 might have been a year in school issue, and not a reflection on the major or the school the gpa was acquired from. Yes, it sucks that we were snubbed, but you have to look past the numbers, and consider the "time" put in to getting to where these players are today, both athletically and academically.
If a year in school thing with Seewald, then what about Valpo Jr. with 3.86 in Engineering vs. Marist Soph 3.55 in Communications = Soph gets 1st team?
Valpo got jipped in preseason poll for coaches in terms of projected standing. It does not surprise me they got jipped when it comes to all-conference selections. Next year i bet Marist, Morehead State, Stetson, Butler, Dayton do not vote us in the bottom half of conference. Not saying it wont happen, just have a hunch
We are the newbies to the party (if we sustain our progress -- that is Dave's challenge going into 2018 and beyond). Just look at what happened in the FBS playoff picture - Alabama without a top 10 win, and a loss going into conference championship weekend (of which they were not a part) and Ohio State with two losses (one of which was a blow-out) were still getting more respect than Wisconsin which was undefeated (and also had not beaten a top 10 team) going into this weekend. VU will need another 2-3 yers in the middle-to-top of the pack until we get that "automatic" respect that we are missing today.
I didn't see a lot of conversation about San Diego in the FCS Playoffs... they won their first game last week at Northern Arizona convincingly , 41-10 and then yesterday got the #2 see, North Dakota State, and lost 38-3. NDSU into the quarters, against Wofford next weekend.
all in all "not a bad performance" considering...
Losing to NDSU 38-3 is "kind of" a statement for USD cuz they lost last year 45-7. NDSU is in the top tier of FCS and being the number 'last' seed it will always be a tough road upward. But USD has done a great job of representing a conference that gives zero scholarships -- especially crushing NAU. They have beaten scholly programs two years in a row to get to game #2. That kind of progress can't help but help attract 'scholar' student-athletes that will raise the level of all PFL schools -- including Valpo. Those scholly kids who ride the bench in pure FCS FB programs or those PFL second stringers who see some action, but end their career listed as "depth," might now consider signing on to be a PFL stud and have a full career as a starter. PFL coaches have to figure out how to leverage that to our advantage. I would also suggest that our showing against Montana (and Duquesne for that matter) also is a leverage point for recruiting.
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 03, 2017, 04:00:28 PM
Losing to NDSU 38-3 is "kind of" a statement for USD cuz they lost last year 45-7. NDSU is in the top tier of FCS and being the number 'last' seed it will always be a tough road upward. But USD has done a great job of representing a conference that gives zero scholarships -- especially crushing NAU. They have beaten scholly programs two years in a row to get to game #2. That kind of progress can't help but help attract 'scholar' student-athletes that will raise the level of all PFL schools -- including Valpo. Those scholly kids who ride the bench in pure FCS FB programs or those PFL second stringers who see action , but end their career listed as "depth," might snow sign on to be a PFL stud and have a full career as a starter. PFL coaches have to figure out how to leverage that to our advantage. I would also suggest that our showing against Montana (and Duquesne for that matter) also is a leverage point for recruiting.
There were some on the previous board that said that no PFL team would win a game in the FCS championship. I somehow knew that the champion could be, but not always, competitive with scholarship teams. Good for USD! We have a new goal!!!
And now FCS Region 4 COY!!
http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2017-18/17846/cecchini-named-fcs-region-4-coach-of-the-year/
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 05, 2017, 02:29:53 PM
And now FCS Region 4 COY!!
http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2017-18/17846/cecchini-named-fcs-region-4-coach-of-the-year/
When he gets to being named Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" then I'll really be impressed. :o ;D
This landmark does three things.
1) It gives VUFB increased recruiting leverage. :thumbsup:
2) It gives Dave increased leverage to extract additional funding from the Athletic Department to improve our program. ::)
And...........
3) It gives Dave increased leverage to move on to a scholarship program. :(
As a quick follow-up, on the PFL Fan Board there was a comment that mentioned that Dave was already being rumored for HC jobs elsewhere. I haven't heard that rumor out here in the Midwest, but with Dave's deep FB roots on the east coast (Lehigh, Harvard, Citadel) that could be where those rumors are originating.
But rumors like this pop up all the time after a coach does something notable. I'm pretty sure that any offer would come from another school that has had a long-time miserable record, and that would mean the new coach would be back in the rebuild-from-scratch mode, and I don't think anyone would want to make a career of that. Dave has some unfinished business here at Valpo and doesn't seem to be the carpetbagger kind of person.
I now see him leaving for an FCS scholarship program in the coming months. With this most recent accolade, he is going to get calls...
LaBarbra said Cecchini is signed, He has been tweeted having in-home visits with recruits, We have two commits first week of December, Constantly uses we and us, Wife is the tennis coach, First winning coach in 17 years.
He's going nowhere in 2017
Side Note: San Diego, Drake, Dayton, Butler all have coaches who have been successful at some point and stayed. I think the offers we'd have to worry about are Lehigh and an FBS school
I concur and those programs you cited have all been much more successful over time.
If Dave was leaving currently, he'd have already done so or we'd be hearing more about potential interest from specific schools. While he's garnering awards, which is great, it's not like the team went 10-1 and was a playoff team. Dave himself may want to enjoy a more successful season or two prior to stepping right back into a rebuild situation. Family life could certainly affect any decision as well. He may not wish to uproot his children until they are out of HS.
I'm sure that's what the coach that lost to Middle Tennessee State last night was thinking ... right up to the point the 7th digit was added to the left of the decimal point.
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 06, 2017, 09:14:36 AM
As a quick follow-up, on the PFL Fan Board there was a comment that mentioned that Dave was already being rumored for HC jobs elsewhere. I haven't heard that rumor out here in the Midwest, but with Dave's deep FB roots on the east coast (Lehigh, Harvard, Citadel) that could be where those rumors are originating.
But rumors like this pop up all the time after a coach does something notable. I'm pretty sure that any offer would come from another school that has had a long-time miserable record, and that would mean the new coach would be back in the rebuild-from-scratch mode, and I don't think anyone would want to make a career of that. Dave has some unfinished business here at Valpo and doesn't seem to be the carpetbagger kind of person.
If that were true why didn't Dave C stay in the east in the first place? Does he have any kind of Midwest ties?
Yes he does. He graduated from Jefferson HS, Bloomington, MN in 1990. He was enshrined in the Jefferson HS HOF in 2016. After graduating from Jefferson, he enrolled at Lehigh and was an All-American receiver in his senior year.
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 07, 2017, 08:58:54 PM
Yes he does. He graduated from Jefferson HS, Bloomington, MN in 1990. He was enshrined in the Jefferson HS HOF in 2016. After graduating from Jefferson, he enrolled at Lehigh and was an All-American receiver in his senior year.
Wow! Didn't know that! Having lived nearby Jefferson for many years, I know lots of grads, great school.
I knew Dave was a midwesterner. I asked him what prompted him to come to the Midwest when I first met him at the UWM alum event in MKE right after he was hired. Couldn't remember the exact details so I Googled him. What I, and most people, never knew was his induction into the JHS HOF last year. Nothing was made of it. That says something good about his values.
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 08, 2017, 10:16:26 AM
I knew Dave was a midwesterner. I asked him what prompted him to come to the Midwest when I first met him at the UWM alum event in MKE right after he was hired. Couldn't remember the exact details so I Googled him. What I, and most people, never knew was his induction into the JHS HOF last year. Nothing was made of it. That says something good about his values.
One of the guys who brought down Flight 93 on 9/11 was a Jefferson High School grad and ex-football player. Wonder if he knew him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Burnett
There was a 9 year delta in age. Burnett graduated in 1981 and Dave in 1990. Burnett also played FB at JHS and led the Jaguars to the Minnesota State championship game in 1980. So, Might have known "of him."
How close is Jefferson HS to Marshall HS in MN? My father graduated from small town Marshall around 1970, before going to St. Olaf to play football, basketball, and baseball.
Quote from: valpotx on December 08, 2017, 03:57:08 PM
How close is Jefferson HS to Marshall HS in MN? My father graduated from small town Marshall around 1970, before going to St. Olaf to play football, basketball, and baseball.
Marshall is a small town in southwest Minnesota, about 150 miles from Minneapolis where Bloomington (where Jefferson is located) is a south suburb.
Cecchini, Valpo Announce Contract Extension
Valparaiso University Director of Athletics Mark LaBarbera has announced that head football coach Dave Cecchini has agreed to a contract extension that runs through the 2020 season.
Cecchini has lifted Valpo football to new heights during his time in charge, turning a program that had won just three total games in the four seasons prior to his arrival – all against the same opponent – into one that finished with its first winning season since 2003 in 2017, Cecchini's fourth year....
http://valpoathletics.com/football/news/2017-18/17871/cecchini-valpo-announce-contract-extension/ (http://valpoathletics.com/football/news/2017-18/17871/cecchini-valpo-announce-contract-extension/)
Interesting that it is for THREE seasons — not two, not four. I wonder which side pushed for that odd (as in unusual) duration or was it a compromise? A two year extension might be viewed as a lukewarm endorsement, yet on the other side, a four year extension might be perceived by Dave as being locked in for too long and limits his flexibility to pursue higher level coaching opportunities if he continues to be increasingly successful.
Honest question: Does anyone think he'll still be here by the of the contract extension? If he keeps the momentum going he'll probably get some bigger job offers after he rebuilt the program here. I'm not trying to be a pessimist but more of a realist.
He's a very good coach and I'm glad he signed an extension.
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 20, 2017, 02:00:35 PMInteresting that it is for THREE seasons — not two, not four. I wonder which side pushed for that odd (as in unusual) duration or was it a compromise? A two year extension might be viewed as a lukewarm endorsement, yet on the other side, a four year extension might be perceived by Dave as being locked in for too long and limits his flexibility to pursue higher level coaching opportunities if he continues to be increasingly successful.
I thought he was signed for 5 years originally which would make the 2018 season the final one on the original contract. That would make the extension 2 years. If his original deal was a 4 year deal he would have been, in effect, working without a contract since the season ended presuming he didn't sign before the season ended and the school just didn't announce it.
MLB told me after the Dayton game at the Victory Bell that the extension was already done. I would assume the old contract ended 12/31/17 (4 years). Past experience with Carlson and the continuing situation with WBB makes me think MLB would be reluctant to go with more than 4 years.
If, as you suggest, 24, it was a 5 year contract that extends to 2020, wouldn't that then translate to a lukewarm endorsement? The enthusiasm of the release says otherwise.
But ya nevah know what the details are. Just glad Dave is committed to us through the 2020 season.
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 20, 2017, 05:48:23 PMMLB told me after the Dayton game at the Victory Bell that the extension was already done. I would assume the old contract ended 12/31/17 (4 years). Past experience with Carlson and the continuing situation with WBB makes me think MLB would be reluctant to go with more than 4 years. If, as you suggest, 24, it was a 5 year contract that extends to 2020, wouldn't that then translate to a lukewarm endorsement? The enthusiasm of the release says otherwise. But ya nevah know what the details are. Just glad Dave is committed to us through the 2020 season.
I thought the same..that a 2 year extension wasn't a glowing endorsement but I also thought it weird that he would have gone into and, apparently, partially through the 2017 season as a lame duck. Maybe the contract was signed earlier in the year when things looked a little better but the team was still losing to Drake and Campbell which gave Valpo admin a bit of pause to go longer.
I'm with others who really don't think it is particularly binding at this level. If a strong FCS or FBS program comes calling he may very well leave.
Quote from: JD24 on December 21, 2017, 09:10:58 AM
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 20, 2017, 05:48:23 PMMLB told me after the Dayton game at the Victory Bell that the extension was already done. I would assume the old contract ended 12/31/17 (4 years). Past experience with Carlson and the continuing situation with WBB makes me think MLB would be reluctant to go with more than 4 years. If, as you suggest, 24, it was a 5 year contract that extends to 2020, wouldn't that then translate to a lukewarm endorsement? The enthusiasm of the release says otherwise. But ya nevah know what the details are. Just glad Dave is committed to us through the 2020 season.
I thought the same..that a 2 year extension wasn't a glowing endorsement but I also thought it weird that he would have gone into and, apparently, partially through the 2017 season as a lame duck. Maybe the contract was signed earlier in the year when things looked a little better but the team was still losing to Drake and Campbell which gave Valpo admin a bit of pause to go longer.
I'm with others who really don't think it is particularly binding at this level. If a strong FCS or FBS program comes calling he may very well leave.
I'm thinking "it all depends." Assuming a buy-out clause of some type, few FCS programs except maybe the biggies - e.g., NDSU, YSU, etc. - have the finances to do a buy out, and there is no way, given Dave's current record as a HFBC, that the biggies would go after him right now (3 years from now might be a different story). As for FBS schools, my guess would be an OC offer at that level, not HFBC. And even there, I doubt that a FBS program would do a buy out for an OC.
Having speculated, I still believe he will complete the next 3 years and grow his resume. After the 2020 season is when things might happen.
More of a point of interest:
There's little info on PFL coaches contracts available. One piece of info available online is Rob Tenyer's MSU contract. $115k per year plus some incentives, none of which he met (this was the contract through 2016). In terms of buyout, the only monetary penalty for leaving the program early was a maximum of $400 per recruit at MSU who then went to Tenyer's new school.
Quote from: JD24 on December 21, 2017, 01:53:48 PM
More of a point of interest:
There's little info on PFL coaches contracts available. One piece of info available online is Rob Tenyer's MSU contract. $115k per year plus some incentives, none of which he met (this was the contract through 2016). In terms of buyout, the only monetary penalty for leaving the program early was a maximum of $400 per recruit at MSU who then went to Tenyer's new school.
That's kinda funny. Each recruit had a price on their head. Bet they spent more than $400 a piece on each just to recruit them.
Quote from: VULB#62 on December 21, 2017, 03:37:17 PMQuote from: JD24 on December 21, 2017, 01:53:48 PMMore of a point of interest: There's little info on PFL coaches contracts available. One piece of info available online is Rob Tenyer's MSU contract. $115k per year plus some incentives, none of which he met (this was the contract through 2016). In terms of buyout, the only monetary penalty for leaving the program early was a maximum of $400 per recruit at MSU who then went to Tenyer's new school.
That's kinda funny. Each recruit had a price on their head. Bet they spent more than $400 a piece on each just to recruit them.
...and the recruit had to end up at the school Tenyer did.
From what I've heard original contract was for 5, so 2 year add on
Honestly if a coach went 6-5 at drake San diego, or Dayton (I know their record this year) the fans would be up in arms
Dave has exceeded expectations in a lot of ways so far but he's building a contender next year the team should be really good , the following year the team will lose a lot of seniors let's see how he responds
Well deserved extension, amazing coach but Dave is just getting his program started
It will be nice to see the success, and continued renewal of players coming back, instead of running away to another program, or just staying in school, but giving up football. These players have built real trust and confidence in what Dave is doing, and that's what had been missing for many years.