Monthly Archives: June 2005

Quality of Wins Index

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Same formula, different name.

Division III calling its power rating formula a “Strength of Schedule Index” was certainly misleading. It didn’t measure how strong the schedule was; it measured how a team did against that schedule. And even though we put a disclaimer on our listing of the index in large, bold type, it didn’t sink in with Division III fans.

But instead of fixing the formula, the championships committee will change the name. This year it will be called the Quality of Wins Index. It still won’t really accurately contribute toward discovering how good a team is, however, and since this is a major factor used in selecting and seeding NCAA playoff teams, it would be helpful if it did.

Here’s the problem — Continue reading →

Translating season preview-speak

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This time of year pretty much every Division III team is optimistic. Or at least, that’s what they say publicly. If you read season previews in their unedited form, eventually you’ll begin to believe every team has 18 returning starters, is poised for a breakthrough, looking to build on last year’s success, returning to tradition, etc. It’s a wonder everyone doesn’t finish 7-3 or 8-2.

Try to figure out how they determine number of returning starters. It should really count members of the starting 22 who started half of the previous season’s games. Special teams should be noted separately. But of course, not everyone does this. Sometimes a “returning starter” is anyone who started a game last year. Sometimes schools count up to five special teams starters: kicker, punter, long snapper, punt return, kick return. These are all crucial positions but including them in the same count as the other 22 can be misleading.

Here’s some other examples of preview-speak:

  • “along with the always-tough (your name here) conference schedule”
    Keep a special eye on phrases like this. We tend to edit those lines out unless the conference really is always tough, like the WIAC, OAC, CCIW, NWC, etc. But oftentimes conferences aren’t all that tough — they’re just tough because the teams writing this aren’t that good. I’ve seen this written about the “always-tough NEFC.”

  • “also challenging for playing time will be (a long list of names)”
    This is a telltale sign of a school whose coach or SID has been given a hard time in the past by parents of bench players who complain that their son isn’t mentioned in the preview. Note to parents: You aren’t doing yourself, your son or the program any favors by complaining about things like this. Be realistic about your son’s chances. If he deserves to play, he will. I don’t know many coaches who don’t want to win.

  • “an experienced sophomore class”
    There’s only a couple reasons why an entire sophomore class gets a lot of experience, and neither of them are good. Either the team was so bad last year that the freshmen got a lot of experience in blowouts or there were a lot of injuries that year. (There’s also junior varsity experience, which is a different animal.)

  • “All-American candidate”
    Honestly, at this point, anyone is an All-American candidate. This means a little more around the end of October.

  • “cautiously optimistic”
    If you replace this with “nervous” the meaning usually doesn’t change much. Usually the line separating optimistic and cautiously optimistic is drawn between returning 15 starters and 10 starters.

  • “reloading, not rebuilding”
    If a program has truly reached the status where they reload instead of rebuild, then we already know that. Anyone else trying to claim that is probably suffering from a bout of wishful thinking.

    So just keep those things in the back of your mind and you’ll enjoy season previews a good bit more. It’s a little more than two months until kickoff!

    • Recruiting Recap: Queue B

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    Ah, to be a high school starting quarterback.

    To receive admiring glances from your school mates as you roam the hallways of a peer pressure cooker. To take the helm of your team and lead them to glory in weekend battles with cross town rivals. To bask in the longing gazes of cheerleaders and precocious underclasswomen whose heart you can send a flutter with a single smile.

    At least that’s what I always imagined it was like.

    You know, when I was daydreaming in Spanish class instead of paying rapt attention to yet another round of the “Como-te-llamas-me-llamo-Gordon” drill.

    Despite these glory days — real or imagined — the transition to college can be particularly difficult for incoming quarterbacks. Along with getting acclimated to new offensive sets, unfamiliar teammates and a higher level of play, many first year QBs face the reality that, previous honors notwithstanding, they’re unlikely to see significant playing time this fall.

    But an unknown arm in 2005 may be “the man” in 2006 and beyond. So we’re letting the incoming quarterback hopefuls take a few snaps for this edition of the Recruiting Recap.

    Herron Elects to Join the Presidents

    A good feature in The (Charleston, W. VA) State Journal tells the story of Bobby Herron who will attend Washington & Jefferson next fall. The Wheeling Central Catholic High School quarterback joins an offense with lots of weapons returning, including quarterback Chris Edwards who tossed 38 touchdowns last year.

    Herron enters college with realistic expectations, telling the Journal, “[W]ith a guy like Chris Edwards coming back, I know that the No. 2 slot is what I’m shooting for this year. Then next year, we’ll see.”

    Herron’s story is also a great example of why many talented players decide to play football at the Division III level.

    W&J is a smaller school relatively close to home offering Herron a quality education and a chance to play the game he loves. Herron emphasizes that his studies will come first. “I already know that I’m not going to play pro ball for a living, and I know that I’m going to have to turn pro in something. College is where I’ll get the education for the future.”

    Well said, Mr. President.

    Wartburg Bound

    The (Waterloo, Iowa) Courier reports that another talented high school quarterback is headed to a perennial playoff contender. Denver (Iowa) HS quarterback Jake Kuennen will bring his strong arm to Waverly where Wartburg comes off yet another IIAC title.

    Like W&J, Wartburg has an incumbent starter returning at quarterback in senior-to-be Reed Hoskins. Despite a relatively weak ratio of 14 touchdowns to 15 interceptions, Hoskins took a large majority of the snaps last year with back-up QB Greg Koenen only throwing three passes.

    MIT be a good Fit

    Valley Central (N.Y.) HS alum Stephen Toth apparently likes a challenge. So the valedictorian/quarterback plans to play baseball and football at MIT…after he starts classes in pursuit of his chemical engineering degree…after he joins the college’s ROTC program.

    Toth told the Middletown (N.Y.) Times-Herald that he was particularly struck by a Mark Twain quote on an MIT brochure — “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.”

    Class work at MIT plus football plus ROTC plus the rest of college life? Sounds like a challenge.

    In other recruiting news that crossed our virtual desk:

    – Pontiac (Ill.) HS grad Christopher Green will play at Augustana

    – Charleston (Ill.) HS WR/DB Jason Murphy heads to Illinois College

    – Lyndhurst (N.J.) HS quarterback Brian Kapp will attend Montclair State

    – Carmi-White County (Ind.) HS product Eric Trout will enroll at North Central

    – Wyoming Valley West (Pa.) HS rusher Ryan Kraynack will suit up for Union

    – Green Bay East (Wis.) HS lineman Matt Klug heads to UW-Platteville

    – Bexley (Ohio) HS teammates Matt Ellinger and David Gitlitz will attend W&J

    Remember that there are plenty more recruits listed here, including new links to full recruiting classes for Delaware Valley, Franklin & Marshall and Minnesota-Morris.

    And you can share recruiting news using the comments feature below, but please provide a URL to verify the story.