WSU Warriors Football - 2024

[34blast]

I have not seen a ton of other Warriors poster, but thought I would start a thread for or 2024 football team. If no traction, this thread may fail fast, but let's give it a shot.

The Winona State Warriors will be under the 3rd year for the head coach Brian Bergstrom era. In his first season, he led the Warriors to the playoffs. The 2022 season was considered a success. The teams was largely successful in all 3 phases of the game . The 2022 season ended with a frozen loss at Bemidji in the playoffs. In the 2023 season, the Warriors took a step back. The Warriors finished with a 5-6 record breaking in many new players at key positions.

2024 will be a interesting year for the Warriors. They lose all world linebacker Clay Schueffner on defense. Overall, on offense 7 of 11 starters return, including last years starting QB Cole Stenstrom and a stable of running backs . On defense, they return 9 of 11. On Special teams they lost the holder and long snapper to graduation the rest are returning. There will probably be some new faces in key positions come the Fall of 2024. The 2024 Spring Roster is listed on the website, but not updated yet. The Warriors signing day article mentions two transfers in from North Dakota State, QB Peter Anderson and Alex Oehsner.

In the off-season, the Warriors suffered a bit of coaching turnover. Offensive Coordinator and QB coach Isaac Fruechte left for FCS program North Dakota. More recently, Trevor Olsen the offensive line and run game coordinator has also left for North Dakota. I have not seen anything yet on replacements.

2024 Schedule https://winonastatewarriors.com/spor.../schedule/2024

2024 Signing class https://winonastatewarriors.com/news...gning-day.aspx

Go Warriors!
ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς

[Matt Witwicki]

https://twitter.com/PeterAnderson1_

NDSU transfer from the Chicagoland area looking for a chance to get on the field a bit sooner (per an interview I heard with Bergy). At face value feels like an interesting new pickup considering there will be a new OC incoming and such.

[WSUWarriorFan]

Not related to the roster but I was watching the WSU basketball game online and Justin Barrientos, their play by play guy announced he is leaving after the playoff game Wednesday and made it sound as if HBC won't be broadcasting live sports anymore. I hope I heard incorrectly because that would be a huge loss. We've been lucky to have them cover local sports for the last couple decades.

[wsuguy87]

Not related to the roster but I was watching the WSU basketball game online and Justin Barrientos, their play by play guy announced he is leaving after the playoff game Wednesday and made it sound as if HBC won't be broadcasting live sports anymore. I hope I heard incorrectly because that would be a huge loss. We've been lucky to have them cover local sports for the last couple decades.

That would certainly be too bad. They do a good job.

Also, any news on the OC front? The long time line is odd. Not sure if it's concerning. Just odd.

[34blast]

Also, any news on the OC front? The long time line is odd. Not sure if it's concerning. Just odd.

No news on OC yet. Coach keeps what is going on behind the scenes pretty quiet. We won't know until they tell the players or tweet it. They told the players about the OL coach about 3 days before it was tweeted. Still nothing about the OL coach on the WSU website.

The OL coach they hired was serving as the OL and offensive coordinator for D3 Gustavus Adophus. Gustavus Adophus was were coach Bergstrom played and started out in coaching.


https://twitter.com/WinonaState_FB/s...57640248963173

[Matt Witwicki]

That would certainly be too bad. They do a good job.

Also, any news on the OC front? The long time line is odd. Not sure if it's concerning. Just odd.

I'm guessing the sense of urgency for naming the OC isn't high at this very moment..since recruiting wrapped up (the finish line for NIL), and they just need to have someone lined up a bit before Spring Ball begins. I'm guessing the new OC will also have his own offensive approach/plays/terminology..as Bergy isn't an offensive minded coach (he's been a DC in the past). That would be the only thing..with a new rollout for the offense, it would be good to have some time for learning things before jumping right onto the turf. I am a bit surprised it's taken this long..but it's different than replacing a head coach, where there's a real risk of having a portal dash by the existing players due to uncertainty with the program and who's gonna run the football team. However, you could see some offensive players get impatient or frustrated and hit the portal..it's the world we live in now for CFB.

[Matt Witwicki]

Not related to the roster but I was watching the WSU basketball game online and Justin Barrientos, their play by play guy announced he is leaving after the playoff game Wednesday and made it sound as if HBC won't be broadcasting live sports anymore. I hope I heard incorrectly because that would be a huge loss. We've been lucky to have them cover local sports for the last couple decades.

Agree..Justin and his crew has done a nice job with making Winona State football important in their part of the world..anything from covering games to solid production..a dedicated staff for it..and then the coaches show for a long time with Coach Sawyer and then moving into Bergy coverage.

I'm guessing this means the school is going to own the coverage going forward..as most schools don't have a local TV station there to shoulder the load. One would think this might be a cost-cutting measure, not knowing how much $$ was getting to cover the Warriors. Maybe more info comes out about it.

[WSUWarriorFan]

Agree..Justin and his crew has done a nice job with making Winona State football important in their part of the world..anything from covering games to solid production..a dedicated staff for it..and then the coaches show for a long time with Coach Sawyer and then moving into Bergy coverage.

I'm guessing this means the school is going to own the coverage going forward..as most schools don't have a local TV station there to shoulder the load. One would think this might be a cost-cutting measure, not knowing how much $$ was getting to cover the Warriors. Maybe more info comes out about it.

HBC also covered local high school football and basketball games, parades, and graduations. I'm guessing they will save a lot of money on traveling and employess salaries/expenses.

Back in 2022 WSU paused their journalism program so that might cut down on potential students. My guess is that they would get local radio people to do it then have a camera set up somewhere.

[Matt Witwicki]

HBC also covered local high school football and basketball games, parades, and graduations. I'm guessing they will save a lot of money on traveling and employess salaries/expenses.

Back in 2022 WSU paused their journalism program so that might cut down on potential students. My guess is that they would get local radio people to do it then have a camera set up somewhere.

I gotcha....I missed the part about them getting out of live sports all-together. While I don't think they did travel for WSU (as I didn't see any such broadcasts), I can imagine they would've for HS. I'm guessing a small channel like that wouldn't be easy to fund full-time employees. That's too bad..they were an asset in our league with content.

[WSUWarriorFan]

I gotcha....I missed the part about them getting out of live sports all-together. While I don't think they did travel for WSU (as I didn't see any such broadcasts), I can imagine they would've for HS. I'm guessing a small channel like that wouldn't be easy to fund full-time employees. That's too bad..they were an asset in our league with content.

They never traveled for WSU away games but one of the channels often picked up the away broadcast so you could watch or listen at home. Feels like they had been scaling back on some of the coverage over the last couple years so maybe it isn't a huge surprise to some people.

[WSUWarriorFan]

Looks like the coordinator role is filled. Charlie Cosgrove is now being is listed as the o coordinator/line coach.
https://x.com/WinonaState_FB/status/...875413065?s=20

[34blast]

Looks like the coordinator role is filled. Charlie Cosgrove is now being is listed as the o coordinator/line coach.
https://x.com/WinonaState_FB/status/...875413065?s=20

That tweet is different from the first tweet, so they must have added OC as well to list of duties. It also lists A.J. Parnell as QB coach. So maybe we are done now with coaching hires.
A.J. Parnell was OC and QB coach at Bethel

Full announcement on WSU website https://winonastatewarriors.com/news...ll_spring.aspx

[Matt Witwicki]

This makes sense to me..as mentioned earlier, I assumed Charlie was going to be the OC. Maybe they were waiting for things to sort themselves out with coaching offers/interest..but this makes sense in the end.

[Matt Witwicki]

For Warriors fans..the Gusties offense was pretty good last year. They averaged 35ppg and 477ypg..both very good numbers. 332 in the air and 115 rushing, per game. They averaged 6.9 yards per play..better than anyone in the NSIC (by comparison)..as teams like UMD was at 6.8 and MSU 6.4.

They had a 6-4 season, as their defense gave up 25ppg. The previous season they averaged 39ppg offensively.

Some will say, "but that was in D3"..and I get that..but we've seen in small college football, if you can coach..you can coach. It's all about making the big time where you are at..and their offenses were very good....mostly in the passing game. The rush game averaging 3.8 per carry would be on the low end in the NSIC.

This will make for an interesting marriage philosophically....with Bergy being a defensive minded head coach..bringing in an OC that likes to chuck it. Most DC's favor strong defense and a complimentary offensive attack, which is more balance and less air based. They'll have to figure that part out..but I think this is an exciting hire for the Warriors.

[34blast]

Looks like April 13 will be a joint practice with Upper Iowa at Maxwell field. In 2025, they will have joint practice at Upper Iowa.
The Spring Game will be April 20 at 1 PM, sounds like pregame stuff starting at 11 am

Coach mentioned it in this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7GN9zmTTYU&t=3s