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Mr. Walter's last day as Associate Commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference was yesterday.  Today is his first day as Associate Commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference.  Guessing that going forward, the PFL will be run from the OVC's office in Tennessee.

Not sure to what extent this arrangement will mean paydays from the OVC.  Drake, for example, seeks the biggest available check.  Those will tend to come from North Dakota State and South Dakota State... although Drake's biggest yet (for an FCS game) will come from Eastern Washington next year.  I don't expect comparable money being offered by Tennessee Tech. 

The end was fun???  I call it stressful. 

I second that.

This should be a low scoring game.  Drake will put approximately zip on the board, unless quarterback Ian Corwin has recovered from his latest injury.

Best case scenario for me,  as a Drake fan:  Corwin starts, the Drake defense forces multiple tunovers, and the Bulldogs win, maybe 17-16.

A QB from the University of San Diego, as well.

He did not see playing time at USD.  However, he was all-conference at U. of Chicago before his first transfer.

Good luck to you this season.

This sounds like a rehashing of their AD's plan that got some news coverage four years ago.  I see no evidence that it's anything more than an idea in his head.

I think the paywall article talks about a team in 2022, which simply won't happen.  Recruiting for fall '22 freshmen has been going on for awhile, and they would need to have a coach by now.  Not to mention, a little publicity that they're starting a team? 

This doesn't even rise to the level of an April Fools' joke.

I invite you to vote for a new name on the PFL message board.

Valpofanzone.com has an outdated/dead link to the board.  Here is where you'll find it now:
https://pflfan.proboards.com/

The reason to keep football is for enrollment in the University as a whole...

Every university struggles to get a high enough male to female ratio now.  Football helps with that balance.  I am just re-cycling old arguments for the benefit of some who may have missed them over the years.

Jacksonville apparently missed your argument.  They dropped football today.

Is there any chance that Rick Fox is not a candidate at all?

Maybe it was Samantha Fox.

Were you disappointed that RF resigned at the end of the season? Would you have preferred him to stay and continue as HC?

I was trying to avoid answering that one.  Lol.

I was not disappointed.  The talent in the Drake coaching staff lies with three former Fox assistants.  One is the new head coach at Drake, and I could see at least one of the other two as a future DU head coach.

Fox has frustrated many by not having his team ready to play at the beginning of the year (see '16 and '17 in particular).  He often refers to the first three (non-league) games as "the preseason."  Fox once scheduled a 12th game (and got a press release issued on it), only to have the entire Internet remind Drake that 12 games weren't allowed in FCS that year.  Not always sure the lights are on with him.

I appreciate his work at Drake.  Anyone who saw the Iowa State game knows he can motive kids.  But I'm happy that Drake wasn't in a rush to extend his contract.  I expect the Bulldogs will ultimately be better without him.

I don't want to make RFox sound like a freak.  He isn't.  Take a look at where he went to school and what he studied,,,he is exactly what ypu would expect.

And for the record, I thpught Fox was Drake's best Chicago recruiter.  He later delegated that turf to someone else.

Hire the Fox from Dayton!   

This man is rumored to be the donor who will get the ball rolling on D-I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Denny_Sanford

He has already established the "Sanford Institute of Philanthropy" at Augustana.

Augie won the 2016 D-II basketball championship, so I think that's their big sport.  Football has about 30 scholarships and a smallish, but modern, stadium. Not sure they would be able to support 63 fb scholarships.  Hoping they might become the Valpo of the West with PFL ball.  ;-)

Do any of you have connections at Augustana (SD)?  They are supposedly looking at a move to D-I...Summit League or WAC.  Wondering if they would move football to the PFL.

I would think that current scholarships would be honored, much as Valpo and Butler players were allowed to keep their scholarships when the PFL started.  Possible the league could make Presbyterian ineligible for the championship for a couple years.  All subject to negotiation...

Speaking of the PFL, Presbyterian College will reportedly decide on Nov 11th whether or not to drop football scholarships.  Obviously, dropping scholarships would imply that they'll seek PFL membership.

Supposedly, there is no unmet need for Ivy League students.  No student loans.  But in football, the main hook is admission itself.

Ivy coaches get 15 admission slots a year.  Although football players must have academic credentials within certain parameters, they generally would not be admitted unless they were football recruits.  Ivy recruiters' biggest fear is that a kid will work the coach for an admissions slot, then quit the team.

Welcome!

Again, I do not care about the multi-bid capability of our conference, as long as we are competing against like-minded universities.  In the HL, our academic profile is very different than each of the other schools.  If we can get into a more competitive conference that has more schools with like-minded academic profiles, I am all for it, regardless of number of bids.

I think Valpo will probably join the MVC, with at least one other school.

But an expanded Valley is going to be a one bid conference with a lot of teams.  And it will have just as many teachers colleges as "like-minded" private schools.

Ultimately, my prefered solution would be to take the current private schools in the Valley, and form a new conference with Valpo, Detroit, Belmont, and Lipscomb.  Just eight schools competing for one bid.

Dreaming that maybe someday as has been suggested by others a Midwest based private school conference is formed and Valpo is included.

Bless you.  You'll get my vote as commissioner.

Four private schools in the Valley might be interested.  Four schools in the Summit with scholarship football want to be in the Valley.  Hmmm...

Aren't the Patriot League and the Ivy league east coast versions of what we are generally discussing here for the midwest.  They get some good recognition.

Although I would not compare these eight schools to the Ancient Eight, academic reputation would certainly be a plus.  You are judged by the company you keep, and D-I athletics provides a lot of the exposure our schools receive.

Drake fan here.  After last night, I'm reduced to making posts like this. 

Anyway- I'd like to read your opinions on this as they relate to Valpo.

They opened the season suffering a 22-45 drubbing at the hands of National D-II power Grand View and then bounced back against NAIA Truman State 13-7. 

Hello Crusader fans -

Grand View is actually the NAIA team (defending national champ).  Truman is a very average D-II.

Drake ran the ball over 60 times last week.  We'll see if that's a new trend.

Maybe my point was too subtle. 

This is how you craft a recruiting pitch in spite of a poor record.  Recruit the players and you can get to "action and success."

Here's a recruiting video from Kansas, where they've won a total of four games the past two years.  Your coach might want to borrow some of the message delivered in the first 1:45.  Also, I like Weis' quote, "I think, if you have anything burning inside, if you're a competitor by nature, this challenge fires you up. When everyone says no, you're saying yes. When everyone says you can't, you're saying you can. You now have to go prove it, and I'm going to make sure I'm here until the job is done."

The Vision - Kansas Football

That was Fordham without their star QB.  Just saying.