THE IUP Football Thread

[Fightingscot82]

Article on Whitlock leaving IUP: https://triblive.com/sports/belle-ve...tern-illinois/

[Fightingscot82]

Well, I do think you have to look back in time to put it in context.

President Atwater was growing pretty frustrated with the football and basketball programs - both were consistently putting the university in a negative spotlight.

Both were getting negative press (frequently) due to off the field problems.

The Lou Tepper surely wasn't brought in to lose, but he was certainly brought in to change the atmosphere. In other words, he wasn't going to be signing the renegade types.

At the same time, the Gary Edwards era -- while highly successful -- was in the midst of its own recruiting scandal.

It was time for a change in the football program. Frank's last couple teams weren't anything special, and it was clear the Fayette County influx of coin (from all over the Cal campus) was passing them by.

While there was some initial excitement about Tepper, it quickly faded within the core IUP fanbase. It was clear pretty quickly things were going to change in a hurry.

I always compare the heyday of Frank's teams (think about the craziness of Saturday nights on Philadelphia Street in the 90s) to Tepper's teams (think Sunday morning church). They were so different. Frank's best teams would have beat Tepper's best teams at IUP by 6-7 TDs.

Probably the hardest job in the coaching profession is following a program legend. You're almost destined to fail.

I think it's safe to say Tepper was a 'miss' but Atwater did hire Joe Lombardi. That move obviously worked out pretty well.

Great points. Regardless of how things were at the end of his tenure, Tepper was the reigning PSAC West Coach of the Year. He didn't just jump to a better job, he jumped within the freaking division. That was a coup of coups and doesn't happen very often.

Tepper also did very well at Edinboro. He rebuilt a program that went from perennial PSAC and regional contender to 0-11 with off field issues.

I think one of the problems Tepper had was that at Edinboro he had almost entirely his own staff. When he went to IUP, I believe his only guy he brought in was DK McDonald (currently DC at Kansas). He also swung and missed on some critical recruits, namely Bo Napoleon. There were also some good players who had tough seasons. Andrew Krewatch struggled toward the end as did Mike Box. Pat Smith did his best to cover both.

Tep also doesn't like to do the hard work necessary in the bus leagues. He'll show up at the golf outing, but he's not running it. He'll show up at the dinner with the big donor, but he's not cultivating that relationship. Tep learned how to coach in P4 land where all that stuff is somebody else's job.

[iupgroundhog]

Tep learned how to coach in P4 land where all that stuff is somebody else's job.

Lou Tepper was HC in the Big 10 for 6 years and later was HC in the PSAC for 11 years. That's quite a dichotomy.

[Iupgh]

Lou Tepper was HC in the Big 10 for 6 years and later was HC in the PSAC for 11 years. That's quite a dichotomy.

All said at the end of the day Lou was a better person than Head Coach. He was a linebacker savant that’s his claim to fame.

[iupgroundhog]

All said at the end of the day Lou was a better person than Head Coach. He was a linebacker savant that’s his claim to fame.

Totally agree. And he wrote the book on linebacking.

[Fightingscot82]

Lou Tepper was HC in the Big 10 for 6 years and later was HC in the PSAC for 11 years. That's quite a dichotomy.

Well, the Illinois experiment didn't exactly go well. He went 25-31-2 over 5 seasons plus one game. The irony is that only Illinois head coach after Tepper had a better win % and that's Brett Bielema.

But Tepper also spent 11 seasons as a P4 defensive coordinator at Colorado, Illinois, and LSU. My point is that at none of those schools in those years was the head coach doing any type of fundraising you have to do in D2 then or now. That was the difference for Frank Sr - he was willing to do the work as head coach (and AD).

[IUPNation]

This is nonsense. I’ll bet you never saw Krewatch play. And I’m sure the conversation with Tepper coming in was, “Just keep us clean, Lou. We don’t care about winning.” That sure sounds exactly like a conversation about football at IUP. Wow. I do believe it’s possible that Lou’s tank ran out of gas and some things suffered because of it, but that’s a far cry from saying IUP didn’t care about winning. I think we’ll take our insights on the program from Matt who’s actually been around the program for decades now and knows what he’s talking about.

Well I know you don’t know anything.

I did not say they didn’t care, just that it wasn’t the top priority.

We have had one losing season in 43 years. Who was the coach? Go sit down.

[iupgroundhog]

Speaking of rosters, I am anxious to see IUP's updated 2026 roster, complete with a picture, position, height, weight, and all the other things normally found on a roster. Once again, IUP is behind the eight ball on this. All of the other state schools in the PSAC have fall rosters up. Only Gannon and Seton Hill do not - and IUP.

A little bio information might be asking too much. Just keep it simple.

[IUPNation]

Yinz got a Cuban Cafe in Indiana..I expect a review.

[iupgroundhog]

So, Matt provided the first write-up about the team in his blog today, but no mention of the PSU transfer safety Karson Kiesewetter. I guess he isn't on the team. But they did get the former Monmouth Safety.

[EyeoftheHawk]

So, Matt provided the first write-up about the team in his blog today, but no mention of the PSU transfer safety Karson Kiesewetter. I guess he isn't on the team. But they did get the former Monmouth Safety.

He’s listed on the spring roster, not that it matters in August I suppose.

[Matt Burglund]

So, Matt provided the first write-up about the team in his blog today, but no mention of the PSU transfer safety Karson Kiesewetter. I guess he isn't on the team. But they did get the former Monmouth Safety.

He's very much on the team. He's just behind Noah Johnston, so I don't know that he will get much playing time just yet.

[Fightingscot82]

So, Matt provided the first write-up about the team in his blog today, but no mention of the PSU transfer safety Karson Kiesewetter. I guess he isn't on the team. But they did get the former Monmouth Safety.

I'm not saying the kid stinks, but let's also remember that he was a walk-on as a QB and is now listed as DB for IUP. Never saw game action at PSU. Yes, its rare anymore to see a transfer from P4 to D2, but I think that's where the intrigue ends before he earns more on the field. I'm pessimistic only because I've seen so many FBS transfers slide into a PSAC roster and be invisible.

Now the "Monmouth Safety" (sounds like a Bruce song) should be an impact player. I'm not sure I understand how he still has eligibility as last year he was listed as a Redshirt Senior, but it looks like he missed an entire season for an unknown reason. Played every game of his last two seasons and was a team captain. Its great to import a seasoned player but one with leadership experience is very important to a team.

[Big__Tasty]

I'm not saying the kid stinks, but let's also remember that he was a walk-on as a QB and is now listed as DB for IUP. Never saw game action at PSU. Yes, its rare anymore to see a transfer from P4 to D2, but I think that's where the intrigue ends before he earns more on the field. I'm pessimistic only because I've seen so many FBS transfers slide into a PSAC roster and be invisible.

From my own personal experience as a father going through the recruiting process and watching my son's teammates being recruited, so much of recruiting is simply based upon measurables. If you're tall and fast and have the grades, you'll get a D1 offer. I know of a kid who my son played circles around and who has close to 2 dozen P4 offers and he just verballed to to one of the elite blue bloods that starts with an "A" and ends with an "a." But he's 6'3 and my son is not.

Point being, being able to play is much less important in today's recruiting game. If a coach offers a kid based upon ability, but but the kid does not hit all the measurables and then the kid washes out, it could cost the coach his job. But if the same coach offers a kid with all the measurables and it turns out the kid can't play, that's acceptable because he has all the measurables and not everybody works out.

I don't even know who this kid is, but I suspect he didn't get much of a chance at PSU as a PWA. I would suspect he's pretty athletic if IUP likes him as a DB though.

[Tdobson]

I'm not saying the kid stinks, but let's also remember that he was a walk-on as a QB and is now listed as DB for IUP. Never saw game action at PSU. Yes, its rare anymore to see a transfer from P4 to D2, but I think that's where the intrigue ends before he earns more on the field. I'm pessimistic only because I've seen so many FBS transfers slide into a PSAC roster and be invisible.

Now the "Monmouth Safety" (sounds like a Bruce song) should be an impact player. I'm not sure I understand how he still has eligibility as last year he was listed as a Redshirt Senior, but it looks like he missed an entire season for an unknown reason. Played every game of his last two seasons and was a team captain. Its great to import a seasoned player but one with leadership experience is very important to a team.

Who is the Monmouth kid?