Dale Carlson New HC

[rufus]

No news on assistant coaches? I assume Carlson will need to get that taken care of before he begins recruiting. Less than two weeks until the first signing date. Many kids are finalizing thier choices right now.

[123youdontknowme]

Three of the full time assistants were let go today. Wissing, Bernardi, and Taylor were all let go and have already been taken off the athletic department website. Lee has not been let go.

[valpoback]

I am very sad that Bernardi is gone.... Taylor was a good coach too, but I dont think he would of fit in with the new coach.... Wissing served no purpose and should never of been called an offensive coordinator....

[valpo89]

Also not happy to see Sam let go. If you look at the defensive numbers from the last couple seasons, they're pretty bad. But the defense wasn't AS bad as it may have looked on paper, because it was on the field so much due to the inept offense. Hopefully Sam can hook up with a good high school program in the area.

[valpomichigan]

Coach Robert Lee joined the Valparaiso University coaching staff in the summer of 2009 as the Crusaders’ special teams coordinator.

Lee arrives at Valpo after spending five seasons as the defensive line coach at Eastern Michigan University. With the Eagles, he helped develop Jason Jones, a second round draft choice (#54 overall) of the Tennessee Titans. Jones was a First Team All Mid-American Conference selection who was selected to the play the 2008 Senior Bowl All-Star game.

At Eastern Michigan, Lee also coached the kickoff return team and was the program’s community service coordinator.

Prior to heading to EMU, Lee was at Butler University from 1994 through 2004. He served as the Bulldogs special teams coordinator and defensive line coach for three seasons, and was the junior varsity head coach from 1994-1997. He helped Butler win a conference championship in 1994 and then helped the team post its first winning season as an NCAA Division I-AA non-scholarship program in 1997. He coached a First Team All-Conference defensive lineman in each of his first five seasons as a full-time coach with the Bulldogs.

While at Butler, Lee was awarded a summer internship with the Chicago Bears in 2001 where he learned from and assisted the defensive line coach during preseason training camp.

Before arriving at Butler, Lee was the defensive coordinator at Centennial High School in Corona, Calif. for the 1990-1992 seasons.

Originally from Gary, Ind., Lee played football for two years at Illinois State University before a knee injury ended his playing career. As a prep, he was an All-Conference lineman at Gary West Side High School. Lee transferred to IUPUI where he earned his bachelor’s degree in supervision in 1990. He went on to earn a master’s degree in management from National University in San Diego, Calif.

[vu72]

Spoke with Coach Lee this morning. He definitely has a job! Good for him! They are up to their eyeballs trying to contact recruits and it is pretty much him and the admin.

Can't imagine what Coach Carlson is going through trying to contact kids, dealing with his old job, trying to hire staff and dealing with the new AD and staff. All while trying to get kids to wait versus taking existing offers! Wow! That is a brutal workload.

[valporun]

Jan 25, 2010 12:06:28 GMT -5 vu72 said:

Spoke with Coach Lee this morning. He definitely has a job! Good for him! They are up to their eyeballs trying to contact recruits and it is pretty much him and the admin.

Can't imagine what Coach Carlson is going through trying to contact kids, dealing with his old job, trying to hire staff and dealing with the new AD and staff. All while trying to get kids to wait versus taking existing offers! Wow! That is a brutal workload.

vu72, did Coach Lee give any indications about why Coach Carlson let Sam Bernardi go, or did you not approach that topic with him? I guess I'm not as concerned with the former players who weren't retained, but Bernardi could have been a strong local asset to recruiting the NW Indiana territory, and outside of that to the areas of Indiana or Chicago that we also get recruits from.

[vu72]

Jan 25, 2010 17:27:16 GMT -5 valporun said:

Jan 25, 2010 12:06:28 GMT -5 vu72 said:

Spoke with Coach Lee this morning. He definitely has a job! Good for him! They are up to their eyeballs trying to contact recruits and it is pretty much him and the admin.

Can't imagine what Coach Carlson is going through trying to contact kids, dealing with his old job, trying to hire staff and dealing with the new AD and staff. All while trying to get kids to wait versus taking existing offers! Wow! That is a brutal workload.

vu72, did Coach Lee give any indications about why Coach Carlson let Sam Bernardi go, or did you not approach that topic with him? I guess I'm not as concerned with the former players who weren't retained, but Bernardi could have been a strong local asset to recruiting the NW Indiana territory, and outside of that to the areas of Indiana or Chicago that we also get recruits from.

Didn't get into that with him at all. I asked about future staff and he really didn't have any idea as to who the new coach would bring in. My guess is that Bernardi was just to much of "the past" and Coach Carlson just wanted a clean start. Don't blame him for that.

[indyvalpo]

Jan 25, 2010 17:27:16 GMT -5 valporun said:

Jan 25, 2010 12:06:28 GMT -5 vu72 said:

Spoke with Coach Lee this morning. He definitely has a job! Good for him! They are up to their eyeballs trying to contact recruits and it is pretty much him and the admin.

Can't imagine what Coach Carlson is going through trying to contact kids, dealing with his old job, trying to hire staff and dealing with the new AD and staff. All while trying to get kids to wait versus taking existing offers! Wow! That is a brutal workload.

vu72, did Coach Lee give any indications about why Coach Carlson let Sam Bernardi go, or did you not approach that topic with him? I guess I'm not as concerned with the former players who weren't retained, but Bernardi could have been a strong local asset to recruiting the NW Indiana territory, and outside of that to the areas of Indiana or Chicago that we also get recruits from.

Our defense has been very bad for at least 5 years and we have had limited success recruiting locally or in Chicago. Nice guy, yes, but we need some fresh blood.

[footballfever]

I think the new coach and his staff had also better start working with the current players, as I have heard many have had enough and are leaving at the end of the semester. I have heard several left after the first semester.

[valporun]

The coaches can do all that we want them to do with the current roster, but if some of these players don't want to make things happen on their own, by going in and working with the coaches to get things started, then they just want things to happen, like wins and building muscles without a lot of the hard work and things that Coach Carlson talked about in his hiring press conference. If the players want to be frustrated enough to leave, let them go...they may have been some of the players that brought us down over the last few years. If we want to start with a new coaching staff, then lets start with a new roster at the same time. If we have football players that want to leave, I'm not going to stand in their way.

[vu72]

Jan 26, 2010 23:58:51 GMT -5 valporun said:

The coaches can do all that we want them to do with the current roster, but if some of these players don't want to make things happen on their own, by going in and working with the coaches to get things started, then they just want things to happen, like wins and building muscles without a lot of the hard work and things that Coach Carlson talked about in his hiring press conference. If the players want to be frustrated enough to leave, let them go...they may have been some of the players that brought us down over the last few years. If we want to start with a new coaching staff, then lets start with a new roster at the same time. If we have football players that want to leave, I'm not going to stand in their way.

Well said! I couldn't agree more. From what Matt Upshaw said in the paper the players are excited about this new coach. The idea that players are leaving brings two things to mind. First, they were going to leave anyway or second, what he told them in the team meeting was either to tough for them or indicated a style of play that they felt wasn't for them. For example, if I were an optiuon quarterback and the new guy said we were going with a pro style passing game, then I would have to reassess my possibilities for playing time.

The next couple of years may be very tough as he brings in kids who meet his demands and a new system(s) are put into place.

[valpo89]

I'm pretty sure the attrition rate for football is pretty high in a normal year. A lot of freshmen who come in who were all-conference type players in high school realize that college football - even at this level - is pretty tough. Compound that with a losing team and a new coaching staff, I can see that a lot of kids would probably leave school considering the cost of VU.
VU72 - your example is pretty much describing Matt Upshaw, isn't it? He was an option QB in high school, he's known more as a runner but I'm assuming Carlson will have a pro-style passing offense. Hopefully Matt can fit into that role, and the receivers that are already in the program will fit in because I think there is some talent there.

[rlh]

'89 is correct....kids leaving he football program at a non-scholarship school is just a fact of life...that's why so many are brought in each year....many of them find they aren't playing and the cost of the education isn't something they want to take on without being on the field....it's just a fact of life...also, I don't think kids understand how valuable the education is in many cases...you have to be older and been in the workforce to really understand. Obviously that's not true in all cases, but some certainly

[vu72]

Jan 27, 2010 10:27:42 GMT -5 valpo89 said:

I'm pretty sure the attrition rate for football is pretty high in a normal year. A lot of freshmen who come in who were all-conference type players in high school realize that college football - even at this level - is pretty tough. Compound that with a losing team and a new coaching staff, I can see that a lot of kids would probably leave school considering the cost of VU.
VU72 - your example is pretty much describing Matt Upshaw, isn't it? He was an option QB in high school, he's known more as a runner but I'm assuming Carlson will have a pro-style passing offense. Hopefully Matt can fit into that role, and the receivers that are already in the program will fit in because I think there is some talent there.

Not deliberately, but I guess I did describe Matt's situation. Without any knowledge of the situation, sometimes guys like Matt end up playing receiver or even defensive back.

I was one of those guys who went to Valpo assuming I'd play given my history playing at a small Lutheran High School in Ohio.
When I arrived and found myself probably third string on the freshman team, I realized that studying probably was going to be more important and that my perceived future as quarterback of the Cleveland Browns wasn't going to happen.

Fortunately I stayed at Valpo as did most of the kids I played ball with my freshman year.

As for Valpo's costs, remember that 92% of students get aid and the average total package approaches $21,000. That brings the immeadiate out-of-pocket needs down to a level approaching a directional state school.