CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

3pm PST CWU @ Alaska. A chilly 0 degrees outside in Fairbanks. This will be the first game CWU plays against their former coach. CWU's coach Rinta will coach against the coach he played for at CWU. 8 current CWU players either played for or were recruited by Sparling.

[MrGNAC]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

3pm PST CWU @ Alaska. A chilly 0 degrees outside in Fairbanks. This will be the first game CWU plays against their former coach. CWU's coach Rinta will coach against the coach he played for at CWU. 8 current CWU players either played for or were recruited by Sparling.

0 is warm for Fairbanks! Usually -30.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

Anticlimactic game all the way around. Weather is warm side of a non-factor. Nooks are headed solidly for last place with their only win being a one pointer against UAA. UAA will destroy them in Anchorage next month at this rate. It seems Sparling's first season will be extremely painful. Nobody looks to be having fun, lots of injury and illness, players don't seem to like coaches, coaches don't seem to like players. A handful of players lost to grades over the break. Fans really don't like coaches, particularly the assistant coach. This is the reality for Sparling though. Everything is harder in Fairbanks; nothing will come easy. He's got to find players next summer who can make grades and work within a team AND they have to be able to compete at this level, which is another huge problem right now; they just aren't very athletic, tall, fast or with high basketball IQs... That leaves something to be desired, for sure. Next year will tell more about what this coaching staff can do, but the attendance at Fairbanks games is not going to improve during this season or rolling into next at this rate....

[hoosierdaddy34]

[MrGNAC]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

Probably because he came from UAA.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

Life just shouldn't have to be as miserable as it seems he needs it to be. At least he's stopped mocking the refs and challenging Rusty for the coach who can pick up the most technicals? This team looks like it has had the life sucked out of it. Tough transition year. I sure would like a little reflection after the halfway point of league play next week. Would be great to see some inkling of trying to save the soul of the team, otherwise, welp, recruiting won't get easier.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

Probably because he came from UAA.

:at-wits-end:

[tsull]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

Life just shouldn't have to be as miserable as it seems he needs it to be. At least he's stopped mocking the refs and challenging Rusty for the coach who can pick up the most technicals? This team looks like it has had the life sucked out of it. Tough transition year. I sure would like a little reflection after the halfway point of league play next week. Would be great to see some inkling of trying to save the soul of the team, otherwise, welp, recruiting won't get easier.

I don't know enough about the dynamics of the UAF situation. My observations of Sparling over the years is that the players really liked him and played hard for him. It appeared the last five or so years at CWU, the program had lost its edge, which happens. He had some good talent, yet they were losing. I heard a lot of Ellensburg boosters were upset when he was let go. Perhaps a change was good at CWU; I know Rinta is a very good coach.

I still contend it was a good hire, unless UAF had a better candidate interview whom they missed on. I also think the league is on a pretty good run of coaches right now. St. Martin's seriously upgraded with Pribble, NNU got massively better with the hiring of Rush, WOU kept it going with Shaw (following a good coach in Bergeson), Dominguez is a proven big-time winner at WWU, Rinta had an awesome record at LCSC; Osborne has a good legacy at UAA. It wasn't long ago that St. Martin's and NNU were in the tank, and before Bergeson, WOU wasn't very competitive either. The league top to bottom has gotten better and UAF/Sparling have to battle that.

[MrGNAC]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

I don't know enough about the dynamics of the UAF situation. My observations of Sparling over the years is that the players really liked him and played hard for him. It appeared the last five or so years at CWU, the program had lost its edge, which happens. He had some good talent, yet they were losing. I heard a lot of Ellensburg boosters were upset when he was let go. Perhaps a change was good at CWU; I know Rinta is a very good coach.

I still contend it was a good hire, unless UAF had a better candidate interview whom they missed on. I also think the league is on a pretty good run of coaches right now. St. Martin's seriously upgraded with Pribble, NNU got massively better with the hiring of Rush, WOU kept it going with Shaw (following a good coach in Bergeson), Dominguez is a proven big-time winner at WWU, Rinta had an awesome record at LCSC; Osborne has a good legacy at UAA. It wasn't long ago that St. Martin's and NNU were in the tank, and before Bergeson, WOU wasn't very competitive either. The league top to bottom has gotten better and UAF/Sparling have to battle that.

Hired late, beats UAA and the team is competitive and but you aren't happy? Sparling needs to be given time to recruit. He had limited time and could only bring a handful of JC players up. If they win some of those OT losses, their record would look a lot better.

[tsull]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

Hired late, beats UAA and the team is competitive and but you aren't happy? Sparling needs to be given time to recruit. He had limited time and could only bring a handful of JC players up. If they win some of those OT losses, their record would look a lot better.

I'm not happy nor sad. I was just commenting about the state of the GNAC. I mentioned Sparling's previous work at CWU. I said nothing about not being happy or sad. Where do you come up with this stuff? The league has gotten a lot better and is no longer SPU, Western Washington and the Seven Dwarfs.

[MrGNAC]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

I'm not happy nor sad. I was just commenting about the state of the GNAC. I mentioned Sparling's previous work at CWU. I said nothing about not being happy or sad. Where do you come up with this stuff? The league has gotten a lot better and is no longer SPU, Western Washington and the Seven Dwarfs.

Sorry the reply should have been directed to Northern GNAC fan.

[tsull]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

Sorry the reply should have been directed to Northern GNAC fan.

:good:

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

Soooo. Trying to be patient, really am. It's just kinda disastrous-looking right now. Maybe it gets ugly before it gets better? I realize Sparling needs time, like even more than a year. Like 3 or 4 really. It's just hard to be patient and there is something about watching this team closely that makes me worried in a way that doesn't have anything to do with giving Sparling time; it has to do with knowing the history of this program having problems that started similarly and ended in coaches getting fired, players arrested and a community and university distrusting athletics. I just sorta sniff a bit of trouble right now. Not sure if my sniffer is too sensitive or if it's just a transition year and to just be more patient. I've just seen too many low points in this program to kick back and say, yeah, we beat UAA, everything is going to be okay. Sparling does not know this community well yet and I sense that if you guys watched this team as closely as I do you might be more skeptical. I gather most of you are looking at their record and noticing the chatter when they beat UAA, and that's about the depth of it, right?

I'll be happy to be wrong and will totally eat my words on this. Would be happy to report the new coaches are great in a few months. Will probably keep watching if for no other reason than to see the rest of the league's teams and support the guys on our team, but on a program level, it's not really entertaining right now.

[Rob_AK]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

One of the worst things an AD can do is dithering in the hiring of a new coach. Sparling was hired in the middle of July. UAF fans can expect nothing from this year with so late of a hire.
While UAF did not act quickly, they probably did as well as can be expected. It is just that Sparling had no opportunity to put a team together coming in in July.

[tsull]

Re: CWU vs. UAF: Reunion with Sparling

One of the worst things an AD can do is dithering in the hiring of a new coach. Sparling was hired in the middle of July. UAF fans can expect nothing from this year with so late of a hire.
While UAF did not act quickly, they probably did as well as can be expected. It is just that Sparling had no opportunity to put a team together coming in in July.

Agree, and I think Sparling should hit the 4-year transfer market. The traditionalist in me says sign a bunch of preps, redshirt/develop them and go from there. The realist in me says get some 4-year transfers. WOU's 30+ win team last year started five 4-year transfers. Not the perfect world that we want, but it's what's happening. For the record, I think WOU's current group of freshmen are great, especially Etan Collins. But at UAF, Sparling could make some headway by getting some 4-year transfers. Sell playing time to them. Playing always better than sitting. I'd rather play D-2 than sit D-1 or sit anywhere.