Valpo has much work to do...

[crusaderjoe]

Actually our win percentage in Men's basketball has been slightly better than .500 over the last ten years (11-10). The rlh statistics include games game Detroit that go back to 1920, Loyola to 1921 and Butler to 1934.

11-10 is respectable--although if you're going back only 10 years, those wins and losses were not necessarily in conference, unless you count games against YSU. I would be interested to know what VU's winning percentage was against conference opponents between the years 1988-1994 when we competed on a more repetitive basis against many of the same schools that make up the current HL. My guess is that the winning percentage was far less than .500. In some of those years, VU didn't even qualify for the conference post season tournament.

It will be interesting to see how the conference move and how it relates overall to the increase in scholarships for all sports across the board plays out.

[vu72]

Your wish is my command! Starting with the 87-88 season and including the 94-95 season Valpo went 26-46 against the current Horizon members. 94-95 we were fully in the Mid-Con so we were 2-2 that season. The good news is our last full year against those guys (93-94 we went 10-4. Our worst year was 89-90 when we wer 0-7. I beleive that was Homer's second year.

Hope that does it.

[valpotentate]

vufan75 said:

valpo89 said:

Don't hold your breath for the basketball schedule. It seems like it was August or September last year.

Back a couple months ago, on the last Inside Valpo tv show, Coach Drew mentioned what sounded like a soon to be announced game or series of games agreement with "The Ohio State University". Does anybody know if that series is still in the works, to begin this coming season? I've heard or read nothing about it since the mention on the tv show.

And Valpo89 is correct, the last few years the men's schedule has been released either late in August, or early September.

I certainly hope it's on. I've already secured the company tickets! ;D

[crusaderjoe]

72, thanks for posting that information.

So if we include the 11-10 figures, from 1988 to 2006, our record against former and soon to be current conference opponents was 37-56. Looks like we at least made some headway generally over the last ten years to now, spring-boarding from 1994. Let's hope this current trend continues.

[vudad]

Just check for the coach with a long tenure, losing records in every season, and reputation as one who complains loudly that the losing is everyone else's fault at the university except for his own. I don't want my son to be hurt by my own frustration by posting on a supporter's board, he is a starter on the field, but I am sure you are all smart enough to figure out which sport we are talking about.

[valpotx]

I didn't mean to name your son, I was just curious. If he has one more year of playing time in baseball, I would know him from my last year of playing.

[vudad]

Not baseball - the narrowing down process gets easier!

[valpotx]

ok, gotcha. The two sports are very similar in your summary of the coach.

[vu72]

Let's see now, "long tenure, losing season every year" Humm.

I just checked a couple of media guides and there are a couple of strong possibilities. Since baseball was ruled out here are two probable candidates for this "award".

Mis Mrak, head soccer coach for 15 years. Record: 69-181-21. He does have two championships and was three times the coach of the year but no championship for the last seven. With a 28% win to loss ratio it could be him.

My personal guess is head cross country coach, Mike Straubel. He has been in charge for 19 years and never has finished higher than 4th!! That's bad anyway you cut it.

The Men's tennis coach has been in charge for 21 years! But I doubt it is him.

The unknown to me is the part about the "complains loudly that the losing is everybody else's fault at the university except his own". Can't contribute anything to that as I don't know any of these guys.

The bottom line is that we have had coaches around for a VERY long time with not very good results. At Valpo loyalty is very important but I know of people at the university whose head rolled even though they "bled brown and gold" because..."we needed to raise the bar of expectation". Maybe sports should joins in this attitude maybe after a losing record of say, 15 years??

[valpo89]

The dad said his kid was a starter on the "field." Once he said no to baseball, that left soccer.

Straubel wouldn't be one to complain too much. Very soft spoken, nice gentleman. I don't know the soccer coach well, but I think I had heard rumors of rumblings.

[valporun]

It's Mis...he complains and keeps very secret to anyone outside of the administration about his feelings with things. Coaches Daugherty and Straubel don't complain, they do what they do cause developing the talent to their philosophy takes more time than it does in soccer. Plus, in cross country, the records don't mean much of anything when the courses and weather conditions aren't the same everywhere. If the Mid-Con hosted cross country conference at one place every year, rather than on a rotating basis, then he might be at fault for his record of not finishing higher than 4th in any year.

I'm sorry that I have to keep defending the coaches who coach in sports where the results are more from the individuals and how they do for the team, rather than how the team works together to block, score, pass, or put up numbers that show improvement from week to week. Cross country and tennis are two sports that can't always show consistency because of how the ball bounces or how the adreniline a runner feels gets them in a race. Plus, weather plays a greater factor in those two sports than it should in football or soccer. In football and soccer, you score by getting the ball past a goal line. In cross country, you do more based on how many runners you finish ahead of and what your time is at the finish, and tennis is more luck of the ball landing on the court. There..I've shown you the best difference in explaining how you can't easily fire a tennis or cross country coach. Maybe you can fire a tennis coach at one of the schools that is always ranked in the top 25 and has the talent to go to NCAAs every year, but in cross country, its all recruiting and talent...if the talent isn't there, a coach can't produce it in about 3 months time, it just isn't possible. Coach Straubel can't get the local recruits cause they get the big money from other places, I know this after watching us lose local talent to bigger schools, like Ball St., Iowa, IU, Purdue..all places that can give more than one scholarship each year. Essentially Coach Straubel is strapped financially because Dr. Steinbrecher would do nothing for him moneywise. All the previous AD wanted was money for football and basketball...that's it, that's all. He never cared about track, even if he ever did participate in it, otherwise Eastgate wouldn't be the craphole of a track it is now, and the FITT project wouldn't have to bring the track around the football field.

Ok, I'm off my soapbox.

[valpotx]

My guess after baseball was ruled out, was soccer. They have struggled a lot as well, and I do remember hearing about him complaining.

[valpo89]

Appreciate your insight, Valporun. I think you hit the nail on the head.

Aside from the financial aspect (few scholarship, poor facilities), there's really no outside pressure for a coach to win in tennis or cross country. The athletes and their parents care, but that's really it. I don't think those sports should be ignored, however. If you're going to do it, do it right. It's a shame that Straubel only has one scholarship per class to work with.

[crusaderjoe]

I've read in this thread that certain coaches should be let go, but realistically, does VU really have the dollars to extend offers to other coaches of "higher caliber"? I mean let's face it, offering someone the VU head soccer coach job is not the same as offering someone the same job at Indiana; offering someone the VU head baseball coach job is not the same as offering someone the same position at the University of Miami. Clearly the positions offered at Indiana and the University of Miami are on different levels--and with different contractual terms attached to them as well as with different levels of compensation. I think in some cases, VU is precluded from "cleaning house" and looking for other coaching candidates because the University does not have either the institutional leverage or the economic ability to do so.

[vu72]

The answer to your question is a complicated one. Certainly, comparing salaries at major D1 programs with Valpo is silly. We are not going to "steal" away the Indiana coach. I suppose there are opportunities to get coaches who have coaching experience at major institutions (say, Matt Dougherty from North Carolina going to Florida Atlantic) but, as Crusaderboy so sucinctly put it "--well, let's just say he didn't have the highest regard for Matt.

Valpo is looking for special people who will be committed to the program without constantly looking to "move up". This is why coaches are given so long to perform.

The other factor in the Valpo "package" with the minor sports is that in several cases the coaches derive income from other venues at Valpo. Coach Twenge was major events coordinator (or some such title and Mike Strubel is a law professor.

Having said all that, I certainly believe that there are many very successful high school coaches or junior colleges coaches or D2 or D3 coaches who would kill for a chance to coach a D1 team even if it meant less money. People who are successful at one level may very well be successful at the next. They just know how to win. Witness Homer Drew or Jim Tressel at Ohio State. Tressel didn't come from Florida State or Georgia or Southern Cal, he came from Youngstown State where he was extremely successful at a lower level. That's my theory anyway.