Topics

[FWIW 2]

FWIW 2  --  Starting with Campbell, Crusader FB will be live streamed from Brown Field vs. Davidson and also at Morehead State.

[FROM THE VALPO ATHLETIC SITE:]

Someone has to start it -- guess it'll be me.

FROM THE VALPO ATHLETIC SITE:
Scouting Campbell: The Camels are currently riding a six-game PFL losing skid after falling to Valpo last November. The Camels, who are coming off a 70-28 loss to Morehead State last week, boast the second worst scoring defense in the PFL, allowing just more than 39 points per contest. Junior quarterback Dakota Wolf is averaging 93.7 passing yards per game and is the team's leading rusher, averaging 72 yards per game. With an average of 296.5 yards per game, Campbell is the only PFL team with fewer than 300 yards a contest.

First of all, guess who is first worst in scoring defense?  Hint #1: they give up 46.4 points per PFL game this season but haven't allowed more than 70 points in a PFL game since 2010 when they gave up 86.  Hint #2:  they wear black sweat sox.

However, getting back to the task at hand, the lack of a competent Campbell offense makes me think there is a possibility that this game could squeak into the win column. 

FORECAST
Valpo 28 - Campbell 27.  The difference:  Unable to locate their kicker and/or holder on four occasions, VU scores TDs on four of its 8 drives into the red zone and manages to hold Campbell to a field goal on one of its forays into the red zone instead of giving up a TD. 

[In his first year, Kansas State won one game. Improvement. The Wildcats had a winning record in his third year]

The following link describes Bill Snyder's 16 goals for success.  He built Kansas State into a football national contender from rubble in his first stint as head coach, retired, and when K-State slid back to mediocrity came back at the age of 69 in 2008 and has them in national title contention again.  It's a long read but worthwhile and ties into Valpo football so I posted it here rather than in Off-Topic.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/40063294

Some relevant excerpts:

In his first year, Kansas State won one game. Improvement. The Wildcats had a winning record in his third year -- just their second winning season in more than 20 years. Kansas State won its first ever bowl game in his fifth year. Kansas State was ranked in the Top 10 two years after that (first time), played on New Year's Day a year after that (first time), and was a fumble away from the national championship game two years after that (obviously, first time).

Perhaps the greatest mystery about this year's Kansas State team -- and Snyder's success as a whole -- is how a hodgepodge of junior college players, transfers and overlooked prospects from 20 different states could come together in Manhattan and become one of America's best teams.

Kansas State doesn't play cutting-edge football. The quarterback draw has been Snyder's favorite play since he had a Heisman finalist named Michael Bishop at quarterback. It's his favorite play now too. Kansas State's defense doesn't trick the game up with a lot of blitzes and different formations. Snyder has watched more film than any coach east of Belichick the last 20 years, but watching all that film has convinced him that it isn't the scheme, it's how well you play the game.

UCONN just announced they are breaking ground for a privately funded, on-campus basketball training facility for it's men's and women's BB programs.  The bill is expected to be as much as $40 million when all is said and done.  This is not an arena.  It's "just" a training facility.  Here's the link:

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/college/basketball/view.bg?&articleid=1061168292&format=&page=1&listingType=colbb#articleFull

In the same issue, but different article, the UCONN graduation rate for MBB was listed as 11%.  The national average is 74%   

[Drake 34, Marist 27 * (OT)]

Based on our performace so far VU is in deep sneakers:

Dayton 45, Valparaiso 0 *   
Drake 34, Marist 27 * (OT)   
San Diego 24, Jacksonville 7 *   
Davidson 28, Campbell 21 *   
Butler 39, Morehead State 35 *   

Only one game that was not competitive.  Guess which one? 

Davidson won a game against Campbell who got 21 on the board.  MSU scored 35 points on Butler who embarrassed us at homecoming, and Marist took Drake to OT before losing by a TD.

OMG. Time to look at the 2013 season or the absence of football from the Valpo campus for the first time in 92 years.

This was posted on October 14 in the Post Tribune.


http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/mutka/15756222-452/john-mutka-drews-remain-basketballs-first-family.html

Rowdy and KVW preseason all-conference.

Here's the VU Athletics link:

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2012-13/12050/crusaders-picked-to-win-horizon-league-broekhoff-van-wijk-first-team-selections/

Have you guys been noticing the men's golf record this fall?  They are competitive against some pretty big schools.  Tourney results show a 2nd in Idaho, 1st at Purdue, 7th at Bowling Green and a 3rd at Kansas State.

The rest of you probably already know about Valpo All Access on YouTube, and I've looked at a few FB snippets because I was alerted by the FB Twitter or Facebook sites.  But in doing so today I discovered a whole bunch of them -- many quite recent.  Among them is an interview with Rowdy (on 9/12 I believe -- so I now know how he got the nickname).  But what I like the most is that the interviews are student to student.  Check out Valpo All Access on YouTube.         

I saw the Butler-Dartmouth game here in New England last weekend.  BU lost 35-7.  #10 Matt Lancaster is a very versatile QB and Butler was only down 14-7 at half.  In that game Lancaster was 25 for 35 for 267 yards and 1 TD.  He had a number of long pass completions in that mix. RB Trae Heeter carried only 7 times the whole game (and just 4 times in the first half when Butler was hanging close).  Lancaster carried 12 times for 28 yards.  So I thought:  they are obviously a Lancaster-centric passing team.  Stop Lancaster and you box Butler in.

I checked yesterday's BU-Campbell box score.  BU won 35-14.  Lancaster was only 15-21, 168 yds and 1 TD.  But Heeter carried 21 times for 204 yards and 2 TDs.  Lancaster added 9 carries for 61 and 2 TDs -- one of them a 45 yd. run for the final Butler TD with 2:20 left in Q4.  Go figure.   

BTW Campbell had 23 first downs to Butler's 20; 365 total yards to Butler's 452; and Campbell's TOP was 35:31 to Butler's 24:29.  Campbell even completed 17 of 23 passes.  Campbell's final 7 points came with 0:01 on the clock in Q4.

USD lost to Harvard @ Harvard yesterday afternoon 28-13.  It was a competitive game for 3 quarters and then Harvard asserted themselves -- USD just couldn't match their resolve.  The USD QB was the better one on the field, but wound up getting pretty beat up by the end of the game.  The USD DL is GOOD and made life miserable for the Harvard QB and running backs for 3 quarters -- but it was clear in Q4 that they had been on the field too many plays.  USD also didn't help themselves with two personal fouls in one Harvard scoring drive.  This will be another beatdown for Valpo as I am concerned that the Valpo defense will be on the field way too long.

Butler was down 0-14 at the end of Q1 and although they had some good plays, they were outmatched by a much more athletic Big Green.  For Butler their QB is both the passing leader and one of the top two rushers.  He's pretty good. I'll have more observations in a pre-Butler game post.

Other PFL vs. Ivy League scores:

Marist 9 - Columbia 10
Butler 7 - Dartmouth 35

It must be noted that in all these games the PFL team had two games under their belt while the Ivy teams were opening up their season and, at least for Harvard and Dartmouth, it took a half for them to realize that the season had begun.  Two games from now both will be much more formidable.  Can't comment on Columbia, but I know that they are usually in the bottom half of the league and have a new coach this year.

Generally it was a bad week win-wise for the PFL, but across the board, with the exception of JU, it was a real upgrade in terms of competition:

Morehead 23 - St. Francis (PA) [NEC] 57
Dayton 20 - Robert Morris [NEC] 14
Drake 10 - #22 Indiana State [MVFC] 27
Campbell 14 - #4/#6 ODU [CAA] 70
Jacksonville 33 - Webber International [NAIA] 10
Davidson 0 BYE 0

[ValpoAthletics.com]

Tune in to the VU-UCSB match on Friday evening through a FREE web streaming link which can be accessed by visiting ValpoAthletics.com. Simply click on the "video" tab which is located above the match preview story and it will take you to the BigWest Conference website where you can watch the match!

[The Dukes, who led 20-10 at the half]

Not getting ahead of ourselves but it's worth something to keep tabs on upcoming competition.

Here's a quote from the Duquesne athletic site about their season opener at ODU:

"Duquesne went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the Football Championship Subdivision for three quarters, before falling 57-23 at No. 6/8 (Coaches/Sports Network) Old Dominion before a sellout crowd of 19,818 at S.B. Ballard Stadium.

The Dukes, who led 20-10 at the half, couldn't contain the Monarchs who scored 47 second-half points to up their all-time home record to 17-5."

The Dukes play Dayton on Saturday at home before they come to Valpo.  Duquesne is a football-only member of the NEC (36 scholarships).

BTW Marist beat Bryant who is from the NEC.

I am reminded that "what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger."

[From NWI Times]

I'm old school and still think in Div-IAA terms.  But over the years I have kinda dealt with FCS.  Wonder what's next?  They're trying to do this to coincide with the bracket expansion to 24 teams next year.

From NWI Times
Division formerly known as I-AA debates new name

Football is the only NCAA Division I sport that is divided into two levels, the one that fills 100,000-seat stadiums and the one that gets no respect.  Representatives from colleges in the second subdivision aren't sure how to fix it.

"Quite frankly, our level of football continues to have an identity crisis," said Patty Viverito, commissioner of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

For years, this group of schools was in what was known as Division I-AA, a moniker that became a sore spot with coaches from other sports. To them, AA was not OK.  So in 2006, the top tier was renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision and the second level was labeled the Football Championship Subdivision. There are 120 FBS teams, which play in bowl games and are allowed 85 scholarship players. The 122 FCS schools decide a champion through a 20-team playoff format and are limited to 63 scholarship players.

The move to the FBS and FCS monikers has cured some heartburn for baseball and basketball coaches, but it has led to more stammer than glamour for the teams in what was formerly known as I-AA.

"To be honest, Football Championship Subdivision is a mouthful, and it doesn't make the case for our Division I stature really much better than the I-AA moniker did," Viverito said. "We've tried to fix this for years. It's a dilemma."

Six years after the switch to FCS, the NCAA is funding a rebranding initiative that could lead to a new moniker. NCAA officials are not revealing the cost of the plan, nor do they want to end the suspense by releasing a recently completed consultant's report.

But it's about more than just a name, NCAA spokesman Damani Leech said.

"There's other things related to branding. There's the strategy behind it. There's the actual messages," Leech said. "It's more than just what you call yourselves, but it's what you say about yourself and how you talk about yourself."

A group of NCAA staff, college presidents, conference commissioners, coaches and athletic directors is working on details for a brand rollout in 2013, to coincide with the FCS increasing its playoff bracket from 20 to 24 teams.  Some have suggested dumping all subtitles and playing under plain old Division I, but that probably wouldn't impress anyone, said John Iamarino, commissioner of the Southern Conference.

"The reality is, there's going to be a label used somewhere to differentiate between the Nebraskas of the world and the Woffords and Georgia Southerns of the world," he said. "It is a case of do we want to control the label or not."

Even so, Iamarino believes the subdivision should be careful about changing monikers again so quickly because he fears even more confusion.

"I almost think we just ought to grit our teeth and work a little harder and make FCS work," he said.

Coach Craig Bohl of North Dakota State calls himself "an old I-AA guy" and said he just recently became accustomed to the FCS label. Trent Miles of Indiana State isn't there yet.  "I call it I-AA, just because I'm old school and I get confused sometimes," Miles joked.

Bohl's Bison know all about a lack of respect. Their championship banner for winning last season's FCS title was mistakenly mailed to the University of North Dakota.  Regardless of the moniker, subdivision leaders believe there's much to sell, beginning with good football at a reasonable price. More than a dozen FCS players were drafted by NFL teams in 2012, led by Appalachian State wide receiver Brian Quick, who went to the St. Louis Rams to start the second round.

Iamarino said football at the FCS level encourages community involvement. Fans can take ownership of their team with access to players before and after the game, which is rare at bigger schools.

"We've got a model here with our football that is kind of more in line with what mainstream America thinks about when they think about college athletics," Iamarino said.

Some of you may recall that back in the spring I posted a series of conceptual plans for an athletic campus.  Well, Valpo hasn't built it yet (I am shocked), so I took that as a sign that perhaps it was too grandiose too soon.  Therefore, because I probably have too much time on my hands or enjoy wasting time on unproductive stuff, I have come up with a downsized concept for just the improvement of Brown Field and the related infrastructure.
   

This makes for more of a phased approach to dreaming.  It gets some teams out of the ARC to support ARC renovation.  Down the line, building a new field house on the hospital property and bringing Em Bauer field up to the main campus can be done, but in the meantime we address a point made in the PFL string about how in the near future the league will become much more competitive and the path out of the basement will be longer and steeper unless our facilities are enhanced to match the league level (see existing PFL stadia around the league and also Google the construction progress on the stadia at Campbell and Mercer).  MSO and WSO would also benefit which are added inducements to have two fine coaches stick around a while longer.  And without a doubt it would improve the prospects for T&F.

In this more modest concept we:
(1) Leave the existing visitors stands as is (adding a little landscaping and perhaps a brick front wall instead of yellow sheet steel). Scoreboard stays where it is.
(2) Finally, construct that darned track
(3) Replace the present home grandstand and press box with a free-standing 4,500-5,000 seat grandstand with tunnels from underneath and a reserved seat section with chairbacks and adding sufficient rest rooms and concession space underneath.
(4) Immediately adjacent to the back of the new grandstand construct a new Alumni Stadium building.  This structure would contain locker space for all VU field sports teams and office space for their respective coaching staffs along with support facilities for all teams competing on Brown Field and sufficient visitor locker space. It would contain ticket offices for stadium events.  It would also house the new press box and the supporting media facilities required to respond to some of the ideas mentioned in the string about broadcasting Valpo athletic events.  There should be sufficient space between the ARC and the field to accommodate this.
(5) Enclose Alumni Stadium/Brown Field with a brick posted, steel picket fence.
(6) I'd also recommend raising the light stanchions another 20' and adding an additional light bank to each for better night game visibility and to make broadcast transmissions better.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

GOVALPOGO asked the question -- so why not have a poll?  Poll ends in 14 days.

Even though the end of this season featured some friction between UDM and VU at the end, that doesn't make them a rival.  GOVALPOGO mentioned the contrast in styles, etc.  Still doesn't make them a rival, just have a lower level of respect for them.  Rivalries, IMO, have to contain a respect element.

VU just announced that among many other live streams, the St. Joe's home opener will be viewable on line on August 30th.  We'll all get a first hand look at the 2012 football team.     

St. Joe's is D-II and scholarshipped.  Here's hoping we see improvement and a win.

The official Pioneer Football League site released this today:  The Pioneer Football League has gained a championship automatic qualification with 2013 bracket expansion.  We all knew it was going to happen, but this makes it official.  It adds some appeal to the recruiting pitch for prospective VU football players.  Now we have to build a program that'll get the Crusaders that automatic bid. That's still a few years away.  The auto-bid is the only way, cuz I doubt that a second place PFL finish will ever get an at-large bid (similar to the conundrum facing mid-major BB programs).   

Here's the link:

http://pioneer-football.org/news/default/31/749/

This is a really cool video.  Wherever he goes the campus turns from black & white to color.  You get a good view of the campus along the way.

Here's the blurb that goes with it:

Watch as the Valpo Crusader fends off the post-Commencement blues, bringing back University spirit one kick-push at a time. Having roamed an all-too-quiet campus during the summer months, the beloved Valparaiso University mascot now fosters the excitement that comes with the new academic year, turning Valpo grounds from dull and gray to a world displayed in Technicolor.

Here's the link from youtube.

Welcome Home

Great job.   

[these great basketball programs]

Caught this on ESPN.com this AM

http://espn.go.com/boston/ncb/story/_/id/8274359/nike-schools-commit-16-team-mega-event-honor-phil-knight

Would Butler have been invited if still in the Horizon?

Two quotes:

"All of these great basketball programs have been supported by Phil Knight and Nike," Hollis said. "His support of the programs have created scholarships and resources for these departments to excel."

"We have the commitments to move forward from the 16 schools. What we're doing is creating the greatest in-season basketball event of all-time."

Michigan State AD Mark Hollis told ESPN.com that 16 Nike-sponsored schools have committed to participate in a two-tournament event held in honor of Phil Knight. A list of schools committed:

Kentucky (SEC)
Florida (SEC)
Michigan State (Big Ten)
Ohio State (Big Ten)
Duke (ACC)
North Carolina (ACC)
Connecticut (Big East)
Georgetown (Big East)
Texas (Big 12)
Oklahoma (Big 12)
Stanford (Pac-12)
Oregon (Pac-12)
Xavier (A-10)
Butler (A-10)
Gonzaga (WCC)
Portland (WCC)

[We live in the information age.]

[I posted this in Basketball because (1) it involves both MBB and WBB and (2) this particular board gets the most traffic, although it addresses all VU teams.] 

We live in the information age.   My discussion with SaderofthelostArc  below on Women's Hoops got me thinking about how good (or bad) the various VU teams were at communicating and promoting their "brand."  I did a quick (subjective) analysis and attached it below.  It is based on what I, personally, have been exposed to and relies primarily on the 2011-12 season to date. I have bookmarks for the NWITimes and the Post-Trib, ESPN, SI, etc. I checked all of the VU teams' Social Media connections for being up-to-date and active.  I entered onto the grid forms of communication that I was aware of (but, for instance, if Baseball does a Baseball Alumni newsletter on a regular basis I would be unaware of that).  My scores are certainly arguable.  And if forum members are aware of a team's activity for which they were not given credit, that should be pointed out.

Men's basketball, by virtue of it's national image rates very high.  The media does a lot in that respect for recognition.  But in terms of communication and promotion activities, it only comes in third among our sports.  Football, while not having a prominent national image (actually quite the opposite at this point -- i.e., ESPN crawler scores on Saturday afternoons), it is working the hardest to get information out to followers, prospective recruits and the world in general.  They are closely followed by Men's Soccer.  Baseball and Softball were helped tremendously by their 2012 post-season exposure, but they also work the social media route.  The sad observation is that so many sports rely exclusively on the VU Athletic site and don't work at gaining additional exposure.  Could be chicken-or-the-egg, but these are the sports that generally are not competitive.  But whether a coach is F/T or P/T, in today's information intensive world (the one that the kids are tied into), there is no excuse for not at least being on Facebook or producing a blog every once in a while on the Athletic site.
[CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE]

Valpo just re-upped Mike Avery and Tracy Woodson.  Glad to see both rewarded for building their programs to the point where VU won HL titles.  Also great to see that there will be consistent leadership over the next couple of years in both MSO and MBB.


http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2012-13/11895/avery-woodson-agree-to-extensions/

[USATODAY]

FYI

USATODAY

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. -- Two weeks after banning four AAU teams from competition, the NCAA is actively investigating several other prominent summer-league programs because of suspected ties to sports agents, taking direct aim at an issue that has frustrated college coaches nationwide in recent years.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/story/2012-07-20/ncaa-investigating-more-aau-teams/56370470/1

[83 Laureates chosen since 1982]

Man, this is cool.  The Men's Soccer Program has a legit star -- in the classroom (as well as between the posts).  Goalkeeper Kyle Zobeck.  The VU Athletic site has the details, but here's an excerpt about Kyle:

"Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society, selects up to five of the "best of the best" students from more than 325 U.S. colleges of engineering. Zobeck has the honor of being in a select group of 83 Laureates chosen since 1982. According to the Tau Beta Pi website, these Laureates are outstanding examples of the "spirit of liberal culture in engineering colleges."

Mike Avery is doing a super job of recruiting and retaining great soccer players who are great kids.

Hey Valpo, put another feather in your cap.

Jared Sullinger fell in the NBA draft to my Celts.  The linked ESPN article said he might have been a top 10 pick until some doctors found a potential back condition that could limit his career.  VU played OSU this past season and got hammered (before our kids found themselves I might add).  Some of you might have seen the VU-OSU game, or some of you might watch the BIG 10 Network and have seen this guy play.  Can Sullinger make a difference on a graying Celtics squad?  Did Boston get a steal or will this be a dud?

http://espn.go.com/boston/story/_/id/8112497/jared-sullinger-stayed-home-nba-draft-day

All opinions welcome.

Saw this in USAToday:

Here's the link:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/story/2012-06-24/Athlete-movement-in-Division-I-basketball-raising-alarm/55798356/1

And here's some of the key points:

The NCAA's most recent figures show that men's basketball has the highest percentage of transfers in Division I, a one-year rate of 10.9% in 2010-11. Of about 1,050 freshman men's basketball athletes at 340 D-I schools in their first two years of college:
•Only 60% continue into their third year at their original institution.
•Less than 2% leave early to play pro basketball.
•The other 38% leave. Most transfer, some drop out completely, a few others leave for undocumented professional opportunities.
"The number that causes me alarm isn't that 10.7 or 10.9 (%) or whatever the number is in men's basketball," NCAA president Mark Emmert said. "It's that 40% of men's basketball student-athletes aren't at their original school by the end of their sophomore year because they've transferred, they've dropped out, they've moved on. So we've got a significant lack of persistence (in the sport). And we know that kind of movement, one way or another, is really detrimental to kids getting an education."

Nice article on Tracy by Paul Oren.

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/crusaders-baseball-coach-woodson-finds-balance-in-valparaiso/article_1bc9ee6b-f963-5053-88d3-90f83edc7409.html

Anyone watching the selection show who can post updates for those of us who can't connect?

[Good luck and God's speed Julian!]

Just wanted to point people to the VU release on Valpo 100m-200m sophomore sprinter Julian Smith who is at the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Fla. regionals this week.  I also remember a recent hammer thrower (name escapes me) who also was a national level competitor.  Some would say: "See, we can do it without track and field facilities."  But I say, if we had even mid-level competitive T&F facilities, how many more kids could we attract to VU and with good coaching send to NCAA competitions?

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mtrack/news/2011-12/11822/valpos-smith-to-compete-at-ncaa-east-regional/

C-V: I qualified and medaled at the NCAA college finals in the javelin (same year Steve Cook won a national championship in the same meet).  We had only a cinder track around Brown Field - but we had a track to practice on near our locker room in the Hilltop gym - it made such a difference.  The ICC Championship and NCAA competition experiences were incredible. 

Part of the reason I am on this board in the first place is the positive vibes I still remember from those days.  In my four years: Gene Bartow's BB squad made VU history, our FB team (for which I started until injured and then coached) competed regularly and well against the likes of Ball State and Indiana State, Baseball went to NCAA post seasons and the CC and Track teams won countless meets as did the T&F team along with an ICC T&F championship (beating out the aforementioned BSU and ISU). 

I mention my C-V only because I want you guys and gals to know what it was like back then, and that I long for VU to be in a similar position going forward in the current HL/D-I environment.

Be that as it may.......  What Julian has done this year needs to be underscored.

Good luck and God's speed Julian!

FYI ------ Don't know if this is helpful, but it's interesting info from an article in USAToday.  These are all public D-I programs:  Athletic Revenue, Expenses and Subsidies.  I filtered out Horizon schools, selected Summit schools that have been talked about in other strings along with a couple of OVC schools that also got some mention in conference realignment.  For a frame of reference (and a few yuks), especially with respect to subsidy, I included the Big 10 schools in the states the Horizon is represented.  Click on the image to enlarge.

Here is the full link in USAToday:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/story/2012-05-15/texas-athletics-spending-revenue/54960210/1

From the Northwest Indiana Times, posted yesterday.  With the newly expanded format, the Patriot League will be receiving an automatic bid as of next season (2013).  Doubt that the PFL's regular season champion will ever get seeded among the top 8, but for all PFL teams it is an additional, but probably small piece in the recruiting scheme.  Nice to see this come about.


http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/fcs-set-to-expand-playoffs-to-teams-in/article_818e9756-0f9f-5285-8ef7-79dee944bf82.html

Dale Carlson just posted a new blog on the VU site that talks about the Spring and discusses a number of the players.  Pretty interesting. Jalen Johnson (DE) has put on 20 lbs. and at the end of last season he was blowing people up. Good to see Hoffman back at QB with a little pressure behind him from two other QBs.  I'm hoping the D can keep the scoring down so the O can compete.  Tough trying to win a game from 30 points behind by the end of the 1st quarter. Biggest barometer in the fall IMO -- YSU: gotta do better than 13-77.  I'd take a 21-38 verdict as a good omen.

Check out the YouTube Spring Football recap on the Valpo Athletic site.  Some pretty decent detail.

Column from the Post-Tribune -- much more detail than the VU FB Blog



http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/colleges/11925278-556/mutka-vu-football-shakes-off-growing-pains.html

I attended VU during the O.P. Kretzman era.  That guy was amazing in how he inspired students, alumni and friends to do things beyond what was the norm.  I noticed that President Mark Heckler showed up at the Men's Soccer St. Baldrick's shave-a-thon and got his head shaved in support of the kids' cancer charity where MSO raised over $20K.  So yesterday night I get this idea to send him an email (I guessed at the email address and CCed a number of alternatives) to thank him for his leadership. And then I typed his name wrong in the damn greeting (can you say embarrassing boys and girls?).  Anyway, long story short, I actually got a reply this afternoon -- Nice message.  What I am posting is that the President of the foremost Lutheran University in the USA signed it ............. "Mark."  No affectations. No title. Just Mark.  Gotta love this guy.  He reminds me so much of OP.  I think good things are going to happen at VU in the next few years.

Just thought I'd share this with all of you.

         In today's information age it's kinda strange to see a college football conference (in this case the Pioneer Football League) have a website that has been totally dormant since January 24, 2012.  Understood,  non-scholarship schools can't release recruiting classes until the deposits are in, so NLI is a moot point, but why aren't there releases about teams' spring football news or an overview of the out-of-conference schedule of PFL teams, or anything?

Just wondering.

The lead stories on the site for the last three days are all Valpo-centric:

March 31 - Homer Drew's Wooden Award
March 30 - MSO Baldrick's Fundraiser
March 29 - Bryce Contract Extension

Thought the forum needed to have this piece about a fund raiser by the MSO.  Lot's heads got shaved including President Heckler's and some of the WSO players in support of the fight against kids' cancer. Over 70 men and women went bald at the event.  This is the second annual event.  Last year they raised around $4000.  This year over $20,000.  This is one of two charities MSO raises funds for -- super job guys!  Also, great to see the VU President participating -- great leadership.

Here's the FlickR URL to about 20 pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/valparaiso_university/sets/72157629703264523/with/7030123597/

USAToday has a nice article about Scott's folks going to see his Baylor team in Atlanta.  Valpo gets a lot of mention.


http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2012/03/even-sweeter-parents-will-see-baylor-coach-in-action/1#.T2ylAVFQRUQ

FLASH



[Seen while in a bar having lunch on the water overlooking Cape Cod Bay in Brant Rock MA] 

ESPN crawler indicates Butler has expressed interest in moving to the A-10 in all sports except for football (A-10 does not have FB-- most A-10 teams play in the Colonial Athletic except for Temple who is a FB member of the MAC [I think]). Butler will probably stay in the Pioneer Football Conference.

[Mutka: Valparaiso rookie gridders stride with baby steps]

This might be of interest to those of you following Valpo Football:

"Mutka: Valparaiso rookie gridders stride with baby steps
By John Mutka jmutkapt@gmail.com December 11, 2011 11:00PM
VALPARAISO — Going 1-and-10 is nothing to write home about. So put away your fountain pens if you're a Valparaiso University football fan.
Progress is painfully slow when you're relying on freshmen and sophomores to absorb bumps and bruises and the Crusaders finished the season with 30 on their 56-man traveling squad.
Dale Carlson came to VU with a reputation for jump-starting programs, something he established in coaching gigs at Tri-State (now Trane) and Ohio Dominican, but neither school was handicapped by a legacy which has produced just six winning seasons in the last 30 years.
Unlike 2010, which Carlson refers to as Year Zero, the Crusaders showed signs of life, particularly in their last four games. Still, rebuilding is moving along with baby steps.
"It's taken a little longer to change the culture than I anticipated," he shrugged, "but given the history and (negative) tradition ... I thought we made significant strides in the last month."
They snapped a 29-game losing streak against Campbell, which was a major upset, and were competitive in four other games, most notably Franklin (49-35) and Davidson (30-22).
Along the way VU's offense began to stir with underclassmen bubbling to the surface.
Carlson's optimism starts with an amped-up passing game, which generated nearly 900 more yards (2,673) and twice as many touchdowns (16) as his first team. Redshirt freshman Eric Hoffman played through injuries to  develop confidence. He topped 300 yards three times  and should benefit from a virtually intact receiving corps in 2012.
Gabe Ali El, who led VU in rushing and receptions, and wide receivers Tanner Kuramata (30 catches) and Cole Anderson, who scored three touchdowns, are freshmen.
Talented receiver Tim Bennett (26 catches) will be a fifth-year senior and junior Mike Gerton established himself as one of the premier tight ends in the Pioneer Football League.
Much of the time VU's running game was nothing more than a rumor. The Crusaders netted just 61 yards, a figure significantly eroded by 37 sacks. They didn't cough up the football nearly as much as a year ago. Fumbles dropped from 29 to 18. All but eight were covered, a plus-10 improvement in turnovers.
Defensively, the Crusaders will rally around eight holdovers from a solid linebacking corps. All are underclassmen except veteran Cody Gokan.
Containing rival quarterbacks continues to be a major obstacle. Valparaiso's rookie secondary — only one upperclassman and three freshmen starting — sprung more leaks than the Mississippi during monsoon season. The shell-shocked Crusaders yielded  32 touchdown passes against only eight interceptions.
Carson's staff should concentrate on recruiting to fortify the trenches, particularly the defensive end, which produced only 10 sacks and loses three starters. Offensively, they're in better shape with nine of their top 12 linemen returning.
Valparaiso also needs an upgrade in the kicking game, which produced only one field goal all season.   Field goals were missing in action because Carlson couldn't trust his kickers to convert anything longer than 30 yards.
Recruiting is complicated by the high cost of education ($40,000 a year) and the economic woes of a nation saddled with 8.6 percent unemployment and a do-nothing congress. 
Valparaiso does provide packages based on need and academic status, but the PFL prohibits athletic scholarships, which shrinks the talent pool.
"We have to do our homework on recruiting," concedes Carlson. "You have to find kids who can afford it."
Locally, Valparaiso is making some inroads with linebackers Chris Howard (Andrean), J.T. Rotroff (Crown Point) and Mike Sekulowski (Lowell) and lineman Mike Schroll (Michigan City) on the roster.  Between Carlson and assistant coach Robert Lee, who claims Gary roots, the Crusaders are blanketing Northwest Indiana, but a significant part of its athletes still hail from the Chicago Area.
How the Crusaders fare under Carlson in year three depend on how they recruit defensively. Unless they plug those leaks look for more baby steps from what will still be a very young team.
If you're looking for a grade,  Carlson gives the Crusaders an incomplete.
"Our next step is learning how to finish off drives," he said, noting their erratic production in the red zone.
That's a start."