KWC Football

[CALUPA69]

Re: KWC Football

I was talking about the new HC at KSU. He has NFL coaching experience with the Falcons, Green Bay, Denver and St Louis plus D1 coaching experience with UCLA, Buffalo, Utah State and Air Force.

My bad. Didn't see the shift to KSU.

[ShoNuff]

Re: KWC Football

Couple of points:

1. A DII HC with no HC track record is not going to put thousands of fans in the stands...Only winning will do that.
2. What kids would not want to play for him? I would say many. Again, if he starts winning, he will probably find more willing recruits but not initially.
3. KSU new HC's resume is packed with NFL experience which will probably be equally considered by HS players from Kentucky. Lots of things real and perceived go into the decision process of a HS player...Seems to me that the KWU vs KSU DII "recruiting battle" will probably be a wash.

Seems like Yeast is a big step up from what KWC has had and that is a plus. He has a background that hints at potential success as a DII HC and if fulfilled, he will be a great hire for KWC. But he's not the DII version of Nick Saben. What he is is a new DII HC with a good resume taking over a program that has been bad for a number of years. If he wins consistently enough, over an extended period and wins several NC's, he will be worthy of your anointment as an "ambassador for D2 Football for the entire Midwest and portions of the Southeast." Till then he's just another rookie DII HC with a somewhat impressive resume and no HC experience.

I believe his name will stick a couple of people in the stands, but only winning will keep those few and add more.

[boatcapt]

Re: KWC Football

I believe his name will stick a couple of people in the stands, but only winning will keep those few and add more.

Yea...It could. A new HC does generate some interest among previous fans who have been turned off to the program. Maybe the new HC alone draws 100 additional fans in the stands. Now if that new HC can put a winning product on the field, the increased attendance will be amplified. But baring going 11-0, he's not going to draw thousands of additional fans.

But hay...The off season is the time for irrational exuberance in you team!!!!

[JDonAB92]

Re: KWC Football

What is so irrational?

Kentucky Wesleyan opens up with Concordia, Quincy, SW Baptist and Lake Erie to start the season. They are all winnable games. The first three are home games. Concordia was 10-3 last season as a NAIA program. They beat Malone by a similar score as KWC did. Quincy was a 4-7 program last season and KWC lost to them on the road by 7 points. SW Baptist was 0-10 last season; KWC has them at home. And then they go to Lake Erie. It is not irrational to say they could start 4-0 or 3-1. Will they? Time will tell, but it is very likely that they could. KWC gets off to a good start and that helps with momentum, confidence, etc. Walsh, Frostburg State and AB are also winnable games. You get some momentum and maybe they even knock off a Tiffin at home. It is not irrational to think with their schedule that they could win anywhere from 6 to 8 games. I am not saying it is going to happen. But it certainly can.

Their attendance numbers last season:

Findlay: 1254
Kentucky State: 1594
Malone: 1146
Walsh: 1678
Lake Erie: 1374

I scanned videos of G-MAC games each week last season. I would say those figures are accurate from what I saw on video. I actually thought their attendance last year at home looked good considering their program had been in a bit of disarray. They didn't have any momentum for fans to build on. But they still got between 1100-1700 fans each Saturday. I don't think it is irrational to think IF they get off to a 2-0, 3-0 or 4-0 start that they can get into the 2000s or 3000s for home games. KWC is located in Owensboro which is the 4th largest city in the state at 59, 800 people. The metropolitan area around it contains 120,000 people roughly. KWC does have a name in the area. The local newspaper covers their men's basketball team. Maybe with a good start that it covers their football team with a little bit of depth. I am not trying to tell the school what to do. But running some promotions of various sorts for fans would certainly help the program drum up some support. The school can help in that area.

[boatcapt]

Re: KWC Football

What is so irrational?

Kentucky Wesleyan opens up with Concordia, Quincy, SW Baptist and Lake Erie to start the season. They are all winnable games. The first three are home games. Concordia was 10-3 last season as a NAIA program. They beat Malone by a similar score as KWC did. Quincy was a 4-7 program last season and KWC lost to them on the road by 7 points. SW Baptist was 0-10 last season; KWC has them at home. And then they go to Lake Erie. It is not irrational to say they could start 4-0 or 3-1. Will they? Time will tell, but it is very likely that they could. KWC gets off to a good start and that helps with momentum, confidence, etc. Walsh, Frostburg State and AB are also winnable games. You get some momentum and maybe they even knock off a Tiffin at home. It is not irrational to think with their schedule that they could win anywhere from 6 to 8 games. I am not saying it is going to happen. But it certainly can.

Their attendance numbers last season:

Findlay: 1254
Kentucky State: 1594
Malone: 1146
Walsh: 1678
Lake Erie: 1374

I scanned videos of G-MAC games each week last season. I would say those figures are accurate from what I saw on video. I actually thought their attendance last year at home looked good considering their program had been in a bit of disarray. They didn't have any momentum for fans to build on. But they still got between 1100-1700 fans each Saturday. I don't think it is irrational to think IF they get off to a 2-0, 3-0 or 4-0 start that they can get into the 2000s or 3000s for home games. KWC is located in Owensboro which is the 4th largest city in the state at 59, 800 people. The metropolitan area around it contains 120,000 people roughly. KWC does have a name in the area. The local newspaper covers their men's basketball team. Maybe with a good start that it covers their football team with a little bit of depth. I am not trying to tell the school what to do. But running some promotions of various sorts for fans would certainly help the program drum up some support. The school can help in that area.

Irrational expectations are almost always built on a mountain of if's. No difference here. IF they go 4-0 or 3-1 to start the season then they MIGHT win the next 3 and then MAYBE they beat Tiffin.

Heck, I could say the same thing about my team...West Liberty opens the year playing Wheeling Jesuit, Frostburg and Glenville in three of it's first four games. IF they win those three they will start the season 3-1...Then WV State, Concord and Walsh are all beatable so they MIGHT be looking at a 6-1 record going into Fairmont, followed by Urbana WV Wesleyan and closing the season at home vs Charleston...They COULD go 3-1 over that stretch to finish 9-2 which MIGHT be enough to get them into the NCAA playoffs. PLAYOFFS BABY!!!!!!!!!

[kdubnation]

Re: KWC Football

I think the "irrational" excitement around KWC regarding Coach Yeast is that #1 he has pulled in a large number of recruits already and some of them look very high caliber (at least compared to what we have gotten in the past) and #2 if you compare the general level of engagement from the players - both new recruits and returnees - these players are expecting to put a good product on the field and you can tell they absolutely LOVE coach Yeast even though they haven't even played a single down for him. The level of excitement of the players is extremely high compared to past years, so why shouldn't the fans be excited, too?

As for attendance and how many more will show up simply because of Craig Yeast - I think you're underestimating the name recognition in these parts thanks to his UK years, and also Owensboro in general is probably more of a football town than a basketball town. This makes us something of an oddity in the state of Kentucky, and also seems questionable considering KWC's basketball history, but when it comes down to it Owensboro has some of the state's powerhouse high school football programs in Owensboro Catholic and Owensboro Senior High, and that bleeds over the football mindset to people in town. This, combined with the aforementioned name rec for the new coach, makes it quite likely that our attendance will be up for the season.

[boatcapt]

Re: KWC Football

I think the "irrational" excitement around KWC regarding Coach Yeast is that #1 he has pulled in a large number of recruits already and some of them look very high caliber (at least compared to what we have gotten in the past) and #2 if you compare the general level of engagement from the players - both new recruits and returnees - these players are expecting to put a good product on the field and you can tell they absolutely LOVE coach Yeast even though they haven't even played a single down for him. The level of excitement of the players is extremely high compared to past years, so why shouldn't the fans be excited, too?

As for attendance and how many more will show up simply because of Craig Yeast - I think you're underestimating the name recognition in these parts thanks to his UK years, and also Owensboro in general is probably more of a football town than a basketball town. This makes us something of an oddity in the state of Kentucky, and also seems questionable considering KWC's basketball history, but when it comes down to it Owensboro has some of the state's powerhouse high school football programs in Owensboro Catholic and Owensboro Senior High, and that bleeds over the football mindset to people in town. This, combined with the aforementioned name rec for the new coach, makes it quite likely that our attendance will be up for the season.

As I said previously, Yeast by himself puts a couple of hundred "extra" people in the stands. If he starts the year on a winning streak and goes 4-0, maybe 500-750 trickle in over the course of the streak. But again...lot's of IF's there. You could equally say IF they start the season 0-4 or 1-3 the win driven attendance won't materialize and the hundreds of extra fans that turned out to see Yeast will find other things to do on Saturday...As they have for the last number of years.

[ShoNuff]

Re: KWC Football

That is correct, but what I really was referring to was the roster for 2017 and other rosters that had between 80 and 90 players. KWC had an interim coach last season. I should have been clearer. If you look at the 2017 roster, you will see how many players were stacked on those teams coached by the former player that stayed at the helm for a long time. His last team won two games against Livingstone College and Malone in 2017. That team had over 80 players on the roster as did most of his rosters. He always brought in a ton of non scholarship players, that was his M O. And, in IMO, how he kept his job as long as he did.

BTW, I am not knocking the Interim Coach for last season. He did a good job considering what he had to do. Coach Smith is a good man, I am sure. Look at the 2016 roster. The 2017 roster had a few less players, but I think the coach then sort of knew what was coming down the pipe line.

Roster is now up to 101 players:

https://kwcpanthers.com/roster.aspx?path=football

[alumnifan]

Re: KWC Football

I just saw the current roster, and have not been on the board for awhile. Yes, Coach Yeast has brought in a record number of freshmen recruits, and the roster now stands at around 100. That was not what I saw the last time I posted. So, congratulations to Coach Yeast.

[alumnifan]

Re: KWC Football

As I said previously, Yeast by himself puts a couple of hundred "extra" people in the stands. If he starts the year on a winning streak and goes 4-0, maybe 500-750 trickle in over the course of the streak. But again...lot's of IF's there. You could equally say IF they start the season 0-4 or 1-3 the win driven attendance won't materialize and the hundreds of extra fans that turned out to see Yeast will find other things to do on Saturday...As they have for the last number of years.

I have been to Steele Stadium a lot. There have been large crowds at games, especially for Homecoming. Capacity crowds of around 3,000 have shown up for Homecoming games. I think you are under estimating how many people will attend the games this season because you don't know much about the program. I was at the first game ever played in the new era. There was a capacity crowd at Owensboro Senior High School Field where the game was played against Kentucky State. There were 1,254 people at the first game last year against Findlay, 1,594 for the Kentucky State game, 1,146 for the Malone game, 1,374 for the Lake Erie game, 1,678 for Walsh, 1,374 for Lake Erie.

Whether you want to believe it or not, those numbers will climb significantly this season. The Offical roster was recently updated and today was the first day I saw it. Look, if Craig Yeast can bring in 100 players or so, that is great! However, the difference between him and the previous coach is that he is going to win more games. I guarantee it.

[alumnifan]

Re: KWC Football

I think the "irrational" excitement around KWC regarding Coach Yeast is that #1 he has pulled in a large number of recruits already and some of them look very high caliber (at least compared to what we have gotten in the past) and #2 if you compare the general level of engagement from the players - both new recruits and returnees - these players are expecting to put a good product on the field and you can tell they absolutely LOVE coach Yeast even though they haven't even played a single down for him. The level of excitement of the players is extremely high compared to past years, so why shouldn't the fans be excited, too?

As for attendance and how many more will show up simply because of Craig Yeast - I think you're underestimating the name recognition in these parts thanks to his UK years, and also Owensboro in general is probably more of a football town than a basketball town. This makes us something of an oddity in the state of Kentucky, and also seems questionable considering KWC's basketball history, but when it comes down to it Owensboro has some of the state's powerhouse high school football programs in Owensboro Catholic and Owensboro Senior High, and that bleeds over the football mindset to people in town. This, combined with the aforementioned name rec for the new coach, makes it quite likely that our attendance will be up for the season.

Owensboro is a Basketball town as well. Owensboro Senior won a state championship under Rod Drake in basketball, and while KWC's attendance has dropped, it still beats most D2 programs in attendance. There have been plenty of seasons when they ranked in the top 10 nationally. It was not long ago that the team had over 50,000 for their home games over the course of that season. So....

[boatcapt]

Re: KWC Football

I have been to Steele Stadium a lot. There have been large crowds at games, especially for Homecoming. Capacity crowds of around 3,000 have shown up for Homecoming games. I think you are under estimating how many people will attend the games this season because you don't know much about the program. I was at the first game ever played in the new era. There was a capacity crowd at Owensboro Senior High School Field where the game was played against Kentucky State. There were 1,254 people at the first game last year against Findlay, 1,594 for the Kentucky State game, 1,146 for the Malone game, 1,374 for the Lake Erie game, 1,678 for Walsh, 1,374 for Lake Erie.

Whether you want to believe it or not, those numbers will climb significantly this season. The Offical roster was recently updated and today was the first day I saw it. Look, if Craig Yeast can bring in 100 players or so, that is great! However, the difference between him and the previous coach is that he is going to win more games. I guarantee it.

Or it could possibly be that your desire for program success is clouding your vision? You would have us believe that:

1. Yeast is the best coach in the nation.
2. This years recruiting class is great. (EDIT: BEYOND great!!)
3. There are thousands of KWC fans that were just waiting at home for a new HC and now that he is here, they are going to come out and fill the stadium to the rafters.

Sorry, that just seems a little bit like irrational hommerism to me!

Will there be some extra people through the turn styles early? Sure, a new HC is going to do that almost no matter who he is. The question is is that legitimate interest in the program or curiosity? WIN games and these "new" fans will continue to attend and probably additional will also come...LOSE games and many of these "new" fans will find other things to do on Saturday...as they have for the last number of years.

At the end of the day fans are coming to watch the team on the field and not the coach standing on the sideline. IF that coach can recruit well enough to win, attendance will go up...as it does with almost any program that wins.

[alumnifan]

Re: KWC Football

Or it could possibly be that your desire for program success is clouding your vision? You would have us believe that:

1. Yeast is the best coach in the nation.
2. This years recruiting class is great. (EDIT: BEYOND great!!)
3. There are thousands of KWC fans that were just waiting at home for a new HC and now that he is here, they are going to come out and fill the stadium to the rafters.

Sorry, that just seems a little bit like irrational hommerism to me!

Will there be some extra people through the turn styles early? Sure, a new HC is going to do that almost no matter who he is. The question is is that legitimate interest in the program or curiosity? WIN games and these "new" fans will continue to attend and probably additional will also come...LOSE games and many of these "new" fans will find other things to do on Saturday...as they have for the last number of years.

At the end of the day fans are coming to watch the team on the field and not the coach standing on the sideline. IF that coach can recruit well enough to win, attendance will go up...as it does with almost any program that wins.

Why do you have a disdain for a former SEC and NFL player being the Head Coach at KWC. Can't we dream a little after all of these years of getting slaughtered? And, that coach has already recruited well. Wesleyan will probably win 5 games this season. That will be an improvement. If they really get tough, they might win six. I don't blast you. Why are you nit picking my posts when I just want to see a KWC football team become competitive. You know we have not had the best records in the past, but we have a good Director of Athletics who made a good hire. And, Craig Yeast is a good hire and a good person. He will befriend all of the coaches in the G-MAC that he can, and represent KWC with class.

Keep betting against him and running him down. That will motivate him. As a 57 year old alum. I am going to attend every home game I can. I am actually looking forward to a KWC football season. Look, I am not going to be a smart AZZ anymore. That was when I was angry. I am not angry anymore. I have to get right with the Lord, because I don't know how much longer I have to live, but I am thankful that God has seen me through these many years, and I hope for some more with some good experiences. Peace!

[alumnifan]

Re: KWC Football

What is so irrational?

Kentucky Wesleyan opens up with Concordia, Quincy, SW Baptist and Lake Erie to start the season. They are all winnable games. The first three are home games. Concordia was 10-3 last season as a NAIA program. They beat Malone by a similar score as KWC did. Quincy was a 4-7 program last season and KWC lost to them on the road by 7 points. SW Baptist was 0-10 last season; KWC has them at home. And then they go to Lake Erie. It is not irrational to say they could start 4-0 or 3-1. Will they? Time will tell, but it is very likely that they could. KWC gets off to a good start and that helps with momentum, confidence, etc. Walsh, Frostburg State and AB are also winnable games. You get some momentum and maybe they even knock off a Tiffin at home. It is not irrational to think with their schedule that they could win anywhere from 6 to 8 games. I am not saying it is going to happen. But it certainly can.

Their attendance numbers last season:

Findlay: 1254
Kentucky State: 1594
Malone: 1146
Walsh: 1678
Lake Erie: 1374

I scanned videos of G-MAC games each week last season. I would say those figures are accurate from what I saw on video. I actually thought their attendance last year at home looked good considering their program had been in a bit of disarray. They didn't have any momentum for fans to build on. But they still got between 1100-1700 fans each Saturday. I don't think it is irrational to think IF they get off to a 2-0, 3-0 or 4-0 start that they can get into the 2000s or 3000s for home games. KWC is located in Owensboro which is the 4th largest city in the state at 59, 800 people. The metropolitan area around it contains 120,000 people roughly. KWC does have a name in the area. The local newspaper covers their men's basketball team. Maybe with a good start that it covers their football team with a little bit of depth. I am not trying to tell the school what to do. But running some promotions of various sorts for fans would certainly help the program drum up some support. The school can help in that area.

Thank you, man. I appreciate that post.

[ShoNuff]

Re: KWC Football

That is correct, but what I really was referring to was the roster for 2017 and other rosters that had between 80 and 90 players. KWC had an interim coach last season. I should have been clearer. If you look at the 2017 roster, you will see how many players were stacked on those teams coached by the former player that stayed at the helm for a long time. His last team won two games against Livingstone College and Malone in 2017. That team had over 80 players on the roster as did most of his rosters. He always brought in a ton of non scholarship players, that was his M O. And, in IMO, how he kept his job as long as he did.

BTW, I am not knocking the Interim Coach for last season. He did a good job considering what he had to do. Coach Smith is a good man, I am sure. Look at the 2016 roster. The 2017 roster had a few less players, but I think the coach then sort of knew what was coming down the pipe line.

I just saw the current roster, and have not been on the board for awhile. Yes, Coach Yeast has brought in a record number of freshmen recruits, and the roster now stands at around 100. That was not what I saw the last time I posted. So, congratulations to Coach Yeast.

You complained about the other other because he kept a big roster. But when the new head coach does it then its great. A little confused here, but oh well...