(12-12-2013 09:29 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  I lived in Des Moines 2 blocks from Drake when he replaced coach Ash as football coach there...let me tell you, he did not move the needle one bit with his being hired. I am shocked that he was hired by EMU! Terrible hire! He did nothing special at Drake, no buzz...and I followed closely.

Ash won 4 PFL titles in 18 years. Creighton won 2 in five years. How is that "nothing special"?

Yes and despite the fact that I thought we would do better, I will support the new coach and continue to go to games. My concerns about recruiting abilities though I believe are valid.

On the other kudos to the Regents and the AD to get a coach in place prior to Christmas.

(12-12-2013 09:54 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Yes and despite the fact that I thought we would do better, I will support the new coach and continue to go to games. My concerns about recruiting abilities though I believe are valid.

On the other kudos to the Regents and the AD to get a coach in place prior to Christmas.

Our last coach recruited well. It didn't turn out so well for him...

But I'm guessing Creighton will hire assistants with local ties. That would be a wise thing to do, since they do most of the recruiting anyway.

(12-12-2013 09:41 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Two problems with this hire, no Division I coaching experience and therefore he hasn't recruited a Division I player as coach or evaluated one for a Div I progam...

I support EMU football so I will accept this hire. However I'm bitter because I thought we could do better than this.

Wow. Let me take aim:

1). He is a D-1 FCS head coach. That is fact. Not at the level of some of our top choices but still FCS.

2). One of your candidates, Collins, from Saginaw Valley is a D-II coach.

And speaking for myself, I did not object to Wristen because he is a D-II HC therefore I can not honestly and being consistent oppose this guy as he coached at a higher level than that of Wristen.

The vibes are get here are that he didn't coach in a conference giving scholarships.

Maybe Drake should play Saginaw Valley and see who wins...

Dear Friends,
Well I guess it is time for me to chime in. Yes, I wanted Babers like many on this board, but maybe he turned us down. Like steve has said, in the next week or so, we should find out a bit more of what happened with various candidates.
That being said, Coach Creighton may very well be a good pick for Eastern, and we are really going to have to give him a couple of years to see what develops. I know I will give him unqualified support and can't wait to see what happens. I really don't believe he will be as bad as English, record wise. MAC championships? Like I have said, let's give him time, we did with English

Let me remark back,

Babers or others were FCS coaches with Division I coaching and recruiting experience.

Wristen I can't go into detail but I believe those interviewing were caught by surprise by his past er domestic incident. I did have a problem with Wristen and I believe after learning that those interviewing hit the eject button.

Lets see how he does recruiting Steve, the fact is he doesn't have any Division I recruiting experience its a jump to go from recruiting non scholarship players to evaluating and recruiting Division I players. That's a fact. I mean Concordia Ann Arbor has non scholarship players. I believe all the other schools that he coached at had non scholarship players.

Yes he has FCS coaching experience, but was Drake ranked and make the FCS playoffs? Guys like Babers and the Youngstown State coach that I had as a potential candidate had that.

Yes he is a decent guy who cares about character and has some more years than Babers has a FCS head coach but we've had a boatload of decent character guys here at EMU who didn't go anywhere.

As I said the coaching hiring ship has sailed and I'll support the new coach and hope he does well.

It going to be interesting to see what happens with our top verbal Erickson and other verbals whether this guy even want them or they are impressed with this hire.

I don't chime in with too many thoughts these days, but I will say this...

Let's be real...
Creighton won 6 games last year, in a down year...
In that down year, he accumulated more wins than English did in four of his almost five seasons combined...
Let that sink in for a minute...

The guy won where he was....
You can't find a negative thing about him via a Google search...

I'd say this hire is a moral victory...
Here's to hoping he brings more than a moral victory to the table!

GO EAGLES!

(12-12-2013 10:33 AM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Friends,
Well I guess it is time for me to chime in. Yes, I wanted Babers like many on this board, but maybe he turned us down. Like steve has said, in the next week or so, we should find out a bit more of what happened with various candidates.
That being said, Coach Creighton may very well be a good pick for Eastern, and we are really going to have to give him a couple of years to see what develops. I know I will give him unqualified support and can't wait to see what happens. I really don't believe he will be as bad as English, record wise. MAC championships? Like I have said, let's give him time, we did with English

Ken we don't know that Babers turned us down. Maybe Creighton was the AD and the Regent's first choice.

(12-12-2013 09:52 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(12-12-2013 09:29 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  I lived in Des Moines 2 blocks from Drake when he replaced coach Ash as football coach there...let me tell you, he did not move the needle one bit with his being hired. I am shocked that he was hired by EMU! Terrible hire! He did nothing special at Drake, no buzz...and I followed closely.

Ash won 4 PFL titles in 18 years. Creighton won 2 in five years. How is that "nothing special"?

Let me tell you, that conference blows. Glorified high school...no one cares. West Des Moines Valley High and Dowling Catholic are the two big football draws in Des Moines and since I lived there for 7 years, I actually know what I'm talking about. The Drake Relays are always a good time though.

Dear emu79,
You may be absolutely correct, and the way things have turned out, I just might agree with you. To quote steve again, we will just have to wait and see what comes out of the entire hiring process.

(12-12-2013 10:37 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Let me remark back,

Babers or others were FCS coaches with Division I coaching and recruiting experience.

Wristen I can't go into detail but I believe those interviewing were caught by surprise by his past er domestic incident. I did have a problem with Wristen and I believe after learning that those interviewing hit the eject button.

Lets see how he does recruiting Steve, the fact is he doesn't have any Division I recruiting experience its a jump to go from recruiting non scholarship players to evaluating and recruiting Division I players. That's a fact. I mean Concordia Ann Arbor has non scholarship players. I believe all the other schools that he coached at had non scholarship players.

Yes he has FCS coaching experience, but was Drake ranked and make the FCS playoffs? Guys like Babers and the Youngstown State coach that I had as a potential candidate had that.

Yes he is a decent guy who cares about character and has some more years than Babers has a FCS head coach but we've had a boatload of decent character guys here at EMU who didn't go anywhere.

As I said the coaching hiring ship has sailed and I'll support the new coach and hope he does well.

It going to be interesting to see what happens with our top verbal Erickson and other verbals whether this guy even want them or they are impressed with this hire.

I don't think the PFL teams are eligible for the playoffs. He did beat other FCS teams that WERE playoff eligible in his time there. With non-scholarship players. That impresses me.

(12-12-2013 10:54 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  I don't think the PFL teams are eligible for the playoffs. He did beat other FCS teams that WERE playoff eligible in his time there. With non-scholarship players. That impresses me.

PFL not ineligible for playoffs, they choose as a conference not to participate, same as Ivy League (also non-scholarship FCS).

(12-12-2013 10:37 AM)emu79 Wrote:  Let me remark back,

Wristen I can't go into detail but I believe those interviewing were caught by surprise by his past er domestic incident. I did have a problem with Wristen and I believe after learning that those interviewing hit the eject button.

I too heard from my 'sources' the word 'baggage' for Wristen.

I'm shocked that this would happen.

His 'baggage' was NOT a surprise.

Google or EMU Eagle's Nest had no problems finding it. I found it within 10 minutes of seeing his name here but opted NOT to post it. Someone else found it and informed me. Neither of us opted to post it.

And, of course, a search firm would have or should have found it easily by asking the question on a questionnaire or Googling. Junior high schools kids can Google a person and find baggage. (rule of thumb on the Internet: "You can't unring the bell". Once the bell has been rung, it has been rung.... )

My guess: EMU knew and decided to see 'how it played out'. If the search committee or BOR didn't have problems with Wristen's baggage he might have been the man. If they did, he simply would not be offered the position.

Sounds like his baggage stuck out like a sore thumb.

I wonder if that is why he is still at CSU-P and not at a bigger program?????

(12-12-2013 10:47 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(12-12-2013 09:52 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(12-12-2013 09:29 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  I lived in Des Moines 2 blocks from Drake when he replaced coach Ash as football coach there...let me tell you, he did not move the needle one bit with his being hired. I am shocked that he was hired by EMU! Terrible hire! He did nothing special at Drake, no buzz...and I followed closely.

Ash won 4 PFL titles in 18 years. Creighton won 2 in five years. How is that "nothing special"?

Let me tell you, that conference blows. Glorified high school...no one cares. West Des Moines Valley High and Dowling Catholic are the two big football draws in Des Moines and since I lived there for 7 years, I actually know what I'm talking about. The Drake Relays are always a good time though.

Bob is right about the PFL. Having a little exposure to the program at Valpo, I felt it was almost like a club-level team.

Just another reply to what Steve posted:

Those Div II coaches mentioned Collins and Mitchell have relationships recruiting wise in Michigan, my other candidates ie Salem also would have those relationships.

None of this Drake assistants (look at the number of assistants at Drake versus EMU for example-) are coming with him.

From what I see and hear so far Creighton is a solid person and has the coaching experience.

Filling in a much larger assistant staff and recruiting his first scholarship class are major concerns with this hire and must done in a short fashion.

It will be interesting to watch.

(12-12-2013 11:13 AM)HuronDave Wrote:  Bob is right about the PFL. Having a little exposure to the program at Valpo, I felt it was almost like a club-level team.

Not quite a complete comparison. Valpo is a church (Lutheran) school that basically has football to boost enrollment, especially males. Obviously much more a basketball school.

(12-12-2013 11:13 AM)HuronDave Wrote:  

(12-12-2013 10:47 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(12-12-2013 09:52 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  

(12-12-2013 09:29 AM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  I lived in Des Moines 2 blocks from Drake when he replaced coach Ash as football coach there...let me tell you, he did not move the needle one bit with his being hired. I am shocked that he was hired by EMU! Terrible hire! He did nothing special at Drake, no buzz...and I followed closely.

Ash won 4 PFL titles in 18 years. Creighton won 2 in five years. How is that "nothing special"?

Let me tell you, that conference blows. Glorified high school...no one cares. West Des Moines Valley High and Dowling Catholic are the two big football draws in Des Moines and since I lived there for 7 years, I actually know what I'm talking about. The Drake Relays are always a good time though.

Bob is right about the PFL. Having a little exposure to the program at Valpo, I felt it was almost like a club-level team.

Not exaggerating, games are for friends and family. Meanwhile, Valley HS has a stadium similar to Rynearson and draws 7-10,000.

(12-12-2013 11:39 AM)MajorHoople Wrote:  

(12-12-2013 11:13 AM)HuronDave Wrote:  Bob is right about the PFL. Having a little exposure to the program at Valpo, I felt it was almost like a club-level team.

Not quite a complete comparison. Valpo is a church (Lutheran) school that basically has football to boost enrollment, especially males. Obviously much more a basketball school.

Drake is much more a basketball school too, in a great conference: Missouri Valley.

Here is a complimentary article on the new HC:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article...n-Michigan

Having followed Drake sports for awhile, this hire just seems funny to me knowing that this year's EMU team would beat Drake 70-7 if they played! The difference in levels is SIGNIFICANT. Drake would play non-conference games with Northern Iowa and get THUMPED! Moving up to the MAC is a really big jump for coach Creighton.