THE IUP Football Thread

[EyeoftheHawk]

As I've said with other positions, PASSHE union contracts make it difficult to do a quick hire if there isn't already an internal heir. It takes roughly 2 months from start to finish. If I were an IUP supporter, I'd want them to take their time and find the right person. I think the challenge will be finding someone given the salary in spite of IUP's stature. Gregory was making $61,508.

[Fightingscot82]

As I've said with other positions, PASSHE union contracts make it difficult to do a quick hire if there isn't already an internal heir. It takes roughly 2 months from start to finish. If I were an IUP supporter, I'd want them to take their time and find the right person. I think the challenge will be finding someone given the salary in spite of IUP's stature. Gregory was making $61,508.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Has IUP found an OC yet? Art Briles is available again.

[Ram040506]

Bagent is back but like 38 of his senior buddies are gone. They just signed 40 freshmen. They'll be good but I'd be shocked if anywhere near as good.

Shep and a couple others were loaded up with older players last year. That is hard to replace in one off-season.

IUP went through its youth movement last year.

That's no excuse for some of their performances, however. Not making the playoffs was a travesty. Losing at home to a meatball was the worst loss I've ever seen at Miller in 30+ years. They deserved it, mind you.

Last year had a couple highs, a couple lows, but all in all I'd call it a disaster. Nothing worse than wasted talent.

Very true, they are hoping to hit the portal for some lineman mercenaries post spring ball. We'll have to see how it pans out. Having the QB will hopefully ease things similarly to when Jessup took over in 2017 (10-0 regular season, but a first round upset at home).

[Fightingscot82]

Has IUP found an OC yet? Art Briles is available again.

[iupgroundhog]

Bagent is back but like 38 of his senior buddies are gone. They just signed 40 freshmen. They'll be good but I'd be shocked if anywhere near as good.

Shep and a couple others were loaded up with older players last year. That is hard to replace in one off-season.

IUP went through its youth movement last year.

That's no excuse for some of their performances, however. Not making the playoffs was a travesty. Losing at home to a meatball was the worst loss I've ever seen at Miller in 30+ years. They deserved it, mind you.

Last year had a couple highs, a couple lows, but all in all I'd call it a disaster. Nothing worse than wasted talent.

I totally agree there has been a lack of leadership and the disciplinary problems are well documented. Nobody wants to hear excuses. I know that.

However, I think the issues that hit IUP last year were real. Start with having "the big 5" teams all on your schedule. The COVID issues at the beginning of the season were detrimental. They started the 2021 slate missing 4 coaches and their big QB recruit. Sometimes, when you are playing a tough schedule the problems can surface even when you are not playing one of those teams.

I am looking forward to seeing a highly competitive IUP team in '22. As usual, all of the ingredients are there.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Good points. I can't recall what Kutztown's roster was like, but Shep was old. I believe West Chester was young.

In the west, I think it will be between IUP and Cal, the most experienced teams.

Kutz was also loaded with older players last year. It made IUP's Week 1 win over them all the more odd -- especially with a backup QB and Kutz having played the week prior.

[Fightingscot82]

Bagent is back but like 38 of his senior buddies are gone. They just signed 40 freshmen. They'll be good but I'd be shocked if anywhere near as good.

Shep and a couple others were loaded up with older players last year. That is hard to replace in one off-season.

IUP went through its youth movement last year.

That's no excuse for some of their performances, however. Not making the playoffs was a travesty. Losing at home to a meatball was the worst loss I've ever seen at Miller in 30+ years. They deserved it, mind you.

Last year had a couple highs, a couple lows, but all in all I'd call it a disaster. Nothing worse than wasted talent.

Good points. I can't recall what Kutztown's roster was like, but Shep was old. I believe West Chester was young.

In the west, I think it will be between IUP and Cal, the most experienced teams.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Bagent is back but like 38 of his senior buddies are gone. They just signed 40 freshmen. They'll be good but I'd be shocked if anywhere near as good.

Shep and a couple others were loaded up with older players last year. That is hard to replace in one off-season.

IUP went through its youth movement last year.

That's no excuse for some of their performances, however. Not making the playoffs was a travesty. Losing at home to a meatball was the worst loss I've ever seen at Miller in 30+ years. They deserved it, mind you.

Last year had a couple highs, a couple lows, but all in all I'd call it a disaster. Nothing worse than wasted talent.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Yep, it would be a gauntlet every year and we'd probably only get one team or 2 in every year if the round robin was to happen. If IUP just took care of business against Edinboro they would have been in and would have had a strong shot at winning the region. IUP's variable last year was probably the biggest in the entire country. Could have been 5-5 (comeback against WCU and the Kutztown game) or they easily could have been 10-1 and region champs. From an outsiders perspective, I just think they need 2 guys per side of the ball that will hold the whole team accountable. Usually you can tell when watching a game who the alpha/leader is on the field. For Shepherd it was clearly Chrys Lane and Ricky Robinson on D and then Tyson on offense with RT Joey Fisher. I wasn't glued to watching IUP all season, but they didn't seem to have that type of guy on the field on either side. Damon Lloyd I thought was that type of guy in years past for them.

All the best teams have those guys, otherwise you underachieve. Shepherd's teams in 2008 and 2009 didn't have the leaders and record reflected it. Tyson's first year in 2018, I thought leadership was poor then too. 7-3 no playoffs.

[IUPalum]

You're right that it's not every year. But IUP played all five of them last year.

[Ram040506]

You're right that it's not every year. But IUP played all five of them last year.

Yep, it would be a gauntlet every year and we'd probably only get one team or 2 in every year if the round robin was to happen. If IUP just took care of business against Edinboro they would have been in and would have had a strong shot at winning the region. IUP's variable last year was probably the biggest in the entire country. Could have been 5-5 (comeback against WCU and the Kutztown game) or they easily could have been 10-1 and region champs. From an outsiders perspective, I just think they need 2 guys per side of the ball that will hold the whole team accountable. Usually you can tell when watching a game who the alpha/leader is on the field. For Shepherd it was clearly Chrys Lane and Ricky Robinson on D and then Tyson on offense with RT Joey Fisher. I wasn't glued to watching IUP all season, but they didn't seem to have that type of guy on the field on either side. Damon Lloyd I thought was that type of guy in years past for them.

All the best teams have those guys, otherwise you underachieve. Shepherd's teams in 2008 and 2009 didn't have the leaders and record reflected it. Tyson's first year in 2018, I thought leadership was poor then too. 7-3 no playoffs.

[Matt Burglund]

That is a big advantage for the PSAC that IUP/Rock/Cal/Shep/WCU/Kutz don't have to play each other every year come playoff selection time.

You're right that it's not every year. But IUP played all five of them last year.

[Ram040506]

I'd suspect the talent is there, but at the same time, the other teams in the GMAC - particularly Findlay and Tiffin, though you could also add Ohio Dominican to that list - had to have known that they needed to step up their game to be at Ashland's level.

Yea, GMAC is a tough league. I think its the top conference in our Region top to bottom to be honest. If they added more teams and their top teams didn't have to play a round robin every year, they'd probably get more playoff births. That is a big advantage for the PSAC that IUP/Rock/Cal/Shep/WCU/Kutz don't have to play each other every year come playoff selection time.

[ctrabs74]

Yea, I've actually been somewhat surprised they haven't taken that next step in the last few seasons. I thought they would step right in as the top team in the GMAC.

I'd suspect the talent is there, but at the same time, the other teams in the GMAC - particularly Findlay and Tiffin, though you could also add Ohio Dominican to that list - had to have known that they needed to step up their game to be at Ashland's level.