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To see some of the recruits that Valpo has landed check out the Valpo football page on Facebook. I love that this new coaching staff is bringing this kind of excitement to the program!

Have the locker room facilities changed since the early 80's

Yes, the football locker room has been redone in the last couple of years. The turf, lights and scoreboard are all within the last 5 and new uniforms coincided with the Nike deal a couple of years ago. Now, go do some coaching and win a few games.

I don't think the football locker room has been redone in the last couple years, unless your calling twenty years a couple. The football locker room is really bad!  The lockers are old and rusted, some of the showers are inoperable, the entire football team can not dress together on game day, recruits are not shown the locker room on visits because its embaressing.

I am extremely excited about whats happening with the football program right now!  Before the hiring of Coach Cecchini I questioned the school board and administrations commitment to football.  I don't anymore.  They could have sat back and honored Carlsons contract but knew the kids deserved better.  They targeted the coach they wanted and then went out and recruited him hard and convinced him to pick up his family and move to Indiana.  Coach Cecchini has coached at the fcs level and been successful everywhere he has been. I'm excited, the kids are excited, and I can't wait to see if Coach Cecchini and his young staff can turn this thing around!

Good for him in in getting his degree and starting his career. I do take issue with calling him one of the most accomplished players in Valpo history. Yes, he has a lot of stats, but he was not even close to a David Macchi. If Macchi had as many possessions as Hoffman had in his career, he would have just about doubled his numbers in his two years. We give up a quick TD on defense each time, it allows for quite a bit of stats to be built up...

Hoffman definitely had some decent numbers, except for number of wins.  3 -30 as the starter is not getting it done, and not entirely his fault.  I think Carlsons system had everything to do with the numbers Hoffman put up. If Coach Cecchini wanted a running/mobile QB  he might have figured it was time to move on.  At the end of last year we still had four QB's on the roster, three of them 2012 recruits.  Hopefully one of them is ready to take the reigns.

Hell, he lost the biggest game of the year to a down trodden Lafayette team. Miracle worker --bull poop. Still, I wish him the best although this looks like another "nepo" decision.

Down trodden LaFayette team???  You meant Patriot League conference champion LaFayette team right?  Hopefully next year we can be a down trodden conference championship team too!

I don't understand this move at all. Not from Valpo's standpoint, but from Cecchini's standpoint. One has to question his decision making ability to chose to coach a team with only a handful of wins in the past 5 years. Seems like a lot of risk for a guy that's had a lot of success doing what he does.

What type of coaches were you expecting us to get? What kind of coaches wouldn't be taking a risk going to Valpo?

I think you need to look at the risk reward benefit.  If he loses that's what valpo always does, If he wins here he's a savior and will move onto a bigger better job.  I think someone with self confidence and belief in their abilities jumps at the opportunity.

I am encouraged by MLB's statements about the head coach search and think contacting the football alumni is a great move.  I was skeptical about Valpo's commitment to football but have changed my opinion since Carlson's release.  MLB and the administration seem to be making the right moves and hopefully with the right hire will make Valpo football competitive again. 

I think Jeff Sokol at Rose Hulman is worth a look.  Ten years as offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at the University of Chicago.  Should be able to recruit Chicago.

Just based on reading about Carlson's bumblings, micromanagement and full control over the playbook, I am fully confident things are going to be better and Valpo win at least 2 games next year. MLB will find a better coaching staff in 2014.

I'm excited to see who they bring in here.  There was a different atmosphere at the game on Saturday.  There was excitement in the stands and on the sidelines, something I had not seen before.  We were tied with Dayton with little time left before half and the kids and fans were both into the game.  I've seen how Valpo supports competitive teams and look forward to seeing if new leadership can gain the support of the Alumni, students and the community.  This could easily be turned around in a couple of years with the right leadership.

I have to agree with Chef. This guy seems like a casual viewer trying to make an article come together by calling a few ex-players to get a sentence or two from them to add to his piece. Seriously? There are programs out there with worse facilities that win. Simply building something fancy won't change a whole lot in regards to the talent we are recruiting/getting. A solid D-1 NON-SCHOLARSHIP player is a hard search, yes, because you are often picking at players left behind by scholarship programs (NCAA and sometimes NAIA). What we need is someone that is good at identifying and selling talent on Valpo as their school of choice. Don't give me this BS that just building a facility and better offices will show the commitment necessary for the football players to feel like winning. Baseball is a fantastic example. We had/have one of the worst facilities in D-1 as well, and with very similar talent/teams to what we have been winning with recently, were often a middle of the pack Mid-Con team. This is with SCHOLARSHIP players that often have many more choices of places to play. Coach Woodson and Schmack changed the culture to a winning one through their philosophies and playing to our strengths. It all has to do with the mentality of the team, and playing to your strengths. Football just needs a coaching staff that can change the feel of the program, it has much less to do with needing that glitzy facility... Edit: I forgot to mention that MLB has done a fantastic job in hiring at VU. His only miss was on Carlson, and I believe he has hired 4-5 other coaches that have experienced success outside of Drew.

The football facilities at Valpo are atrocious.  The players have said the only school they played this year with comparable facilities is St Josephs a D2 school.  Have you been in the football lockeroom?  The lockers are old rusted metal that had to be installed in the sixties.  Fifty percent of the showers don't even work.  15 players have to dress and share a lockeroom across the hall from the majority of the team.  Nice facilities will definetly get you better recruits, Why do you think most schools are upgrading their facilities?  I don't know what other D1 baseball facilities look like but I do know Valpo's baseball facilities blow the drawers off the football facilities!!  Facilities won't win you games but it sure helps.

I watched some of the game in spurts. Take away the two pic-6s and the KO return and it was a competitive game pretty much throughout. There was a difference in the team that was out on the field yesterday and the team that let St. Joe's and William Jewel win when there should have been a +21 point win on the boards. Aside from the three plays mentioned above (yeah, and that 72 yard catch and run lapse in Q1) each time the teams lined up over the ball, I felt like our kids were competing on a level playing field. Monster game by Kuramata. There is talent on the squad. With a new coach, Hutson back, another good bunch of recruits, next year could be what we were expecting last year. Can't say enough about the seniors who played 4 years, only to win 3 games, but still hung in for the love of the game.

I agree with you totally VULB.  We were tied at 10 with five minutes to go in the half with the ball.  I had never seen so much enthusiasm and excitement  in the bleachers by the fans or on the sidelines by the players.  The two pick sixes at the end of the half were killers.  Instead of going into half possibly up or tied we were down 14.  After that the team seemed deflated.  I thought Coach Gravier and the staff had a great game plan.  We controlled the clock, we huddled and tried to manage the game.  Something Coach Carlson never did.  We have talent on the roster, we now just need someone to put the pieces together. 

Thank you seniors for your hard work and comittment to the program!  Go out swinging and lets shock the Flyers!

Valpo 33
Dayton 30

I think we need a young, hungry coach who has been an assistant for a similar program (I-AA non scholarship). If Valpo does this hire right, the next coach will be here 5 years, tops. Not because he sucks, but because he gets taken by a better program because he's so good. Valpo needs to be a stepping stone--not the peak of a career like it was for Carlson. If I'm in the athletic department, I'm calling all the OCs and DCs at Dayton, Drake, USD, Butler, Jacksonville, all of the IVs etc... Let's not hit up an NAIA program (or whatever Ohio Dominican school) like we did last time around.

MLB did the right thing, it was time to go in a different direction.  I wish Coach Carlson nothing but the best for him and his family in the future.  Drake and Butler have found sucess both taking coaches from Div. 3.  I don't think I would gamble on someone that has not been a head coach before.  I hope the next coach is younger, charismatic and exudes enthusiasm in everything he does.  The next coach needs to recruit the Chicagoland area hard and stop Butler and Drake from stealing great football players right out of our back yard.  Butler had 11 of 22 starters all from the suburbs of Chicago, with 40% of their roster from Illinois.  Drake is the same.

VUdad - I feel bad for what you and these young men have been going through with this football program. I feel the players and parents are good people and not expecting the world regarding what this football program provides. I would, however, count your blessings that they are going to a wonderful school and getting an excellent education - those experiences are more important than what happens on the football field. All is not lost that your kid went to Valpo. Also, things will get better because there will likely be a coaching change in the very near future (if not there will be many upset folks - the Valpo suitors will not want to engage with this). I have been critical of Carlson for awhie, and I have found following this situation very sad yet interesting. On decision making, Valpo is overly patient and conservative, not just including the athletics programs. Carlson has been rather pompous and never has blamed himself on the situation. We need to have a coach who will experiment, make decisions to best align with the team's strengths, and more importantly, take risks, make mistakes, and learn and improve from these mistakes. Besides a coaching change, there needs to be a well-defined and agreed upon plan between MLB and the administration on the goals of this football program and the necessary steps to get this situation turned around.

I attended last Saturdays home game against San Diego and had the chance to talk with several current players.  They admitted that they are tired of being embaressed and don't know if being humiliated playing football for Valpo is worth sticking around for a Valpo education. Some of the kids brought up last years seniors and how well their doing and what great job offers they have recieved after graduating from Valpo.  These young men can see what a quality University Valpo is but are forced to make a choice between self dignity and education.  This whole situation makes me sad and I feel for the boys on the team.  You're right USC the players and the parents on this team are good people and are not expecting the world with this football program.  The kids just want a chance to be competitive and be proud of Valparaiso football not embaressed. I pray MLB and the people in charge will do the right thing and stop the hurt these young men are experiencing and make Valpo football something they can say they were proud to be a part of!

Valpo down 23-7 at half.  After a blocked FG, they had the ball on their 20 with 2 1/2 minutes left, and ran it.  They got a first down with 50 sec at their 37, and they still ran it.   I could hear the parents yelling at Carlson on the sidelines.  I have a feeling very few students are attending this).

Sounded strange but that is what appears to have happened. It is even worse than that, we actually took a timeout with time for the last play and then ran again. Here is another classic, after the punt block safety we actually kicked off (no one at any level kicks after a safety). We kicked off out of bounds. You can't make these things up.

That wasn't the worst  timeout we took.  The most ridiculous timeout was when we took a timeout on offense before we even ran a play!  We ran out there looked at their defense and had to use a timeout?  I guess San Diego had us confused?

3 of 14 third down conversions against Morehead St. 2 of 15 against Drake. Valpo 14 San Diego 42

183 yards of offense, 2 of 15 third down conversions, throwing third down completions well short of the first down marker every week, four yards rushing, equals no chance.  San Diego 42 Valpo 17.

Somehow we have played Drake tough the last two years.  Two fumbles and an interception by the QB and a 14 yard punt in the last six minutes of the game was the reason for the collapse.  The punt and fumbles gave Drake the ball three times at the twenty yard line and a short field which resulted in 16 points.  The kids battled but made mistakes when it mattered most.  The rushing attack needs to be addressed, four yards rushing is embarrassing.

With four games left against the top teams in the conference I don't see another win coming.  That would put Coach Carlsons record at 3-41.  If the university does not see that the current situation absolutely needs to be addressed they truly do not care, like many of you have inferred.  The university needs to send a message to the current players that they support the football program or I can see a major player defection.

Hard to win when we convert 3 of 14 3rd downs and they go 10 of 14 (stats on Valpo's web site).

At some point Valpo has to want to win the game.  It's great to have such a high completion percentage but that will not win you the game.  I'm tired of watching us throw a six yard completion when its third and twelve.  Players and coaches need to make decissions at crucial junctures in the game that will lead the team to victory.  I have watched us slide short of the first down marker twice this season that I think has cost us games,once at St. Joes and once on Saturday. After each the opponent has gotten the ball marched downfield and taken the lead for good and won the game.  At some point you have to make a play to WIN the game for your team.

The defense is giving up an average of 487 yards a game.  Our opponents are averaging 230 yards a game rushing while we are averaging 77. I Don't see another victory on the schedule with the other team being able to control the ball and us being so one dimensional.

Morehead State 45
Valpo 21

I have a bad feeling about this one.  Marist is playing really well having beat Georgetown and Dayton.  In the Carlson era Marist has beat us three times with the average score being 41-7  Since this is not Campbell I'm picking Marist. 

Valpo 7
Marist 41

Way to ruin my Friday! I remember those teams and they were awful.  To be able to trump those horrible Northwestern teams record is pathetic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel sorry for the kids who pour their heart and soul into Valparaiso University's football program!  The kids come to Valparaiso because it is a great academic school and they get the chance to continue to play the game they love.  They come to Valparaiso to turn this program around and make it something the university and the community can be proud of.  Only to realize it seems, the players commitment to the program runs deeper than the university's.

I don't think Dale Carlson's philosophy it to play no defense. In fact prior to last season he moved his second leading rusher to cornerback (Dale Cook). This year's top recruit only played offense last year at Warren Central, but Dale has him starting on the defensive line. However, I get the point, and understand everybody's frustrations.

The last two years we have averaged giving up over 500 yards a game defensively.  Recruiting and moving offensive players to defense is not the answer.  I still think his philosophy is to try and out score the opponent or the defense would have been addressed. 

I have tried to keep a open mind about Coach Carlson and the program but I can't anymore, enough is enough!  His philosophy of playing no defense and trying to win by outscoring your opponents has never worked and will never work.  Throwing for 495 yards is great, but not when you rush for 26 yards. William Jewell turned us into a one dimensional team and never should have let us back in the game. The teams that play all three phases of the game (offense, defense, special teams) are the teams that year in and year out  play for championships.  What he is running is a gimmick and a joke and it is embarrassing.  The attendance at Saturdays game was very respectable, the stands were fairly packed.  The atmosphere at the game was disheartening.   1600 fans sitting there pretty much in disbelief dead silence at what was happening.  I know ML was there and he saw and felt the same thing that I did.  There must be a change because the current situation is  unacceptable and must be corrected.