Givens will be picked up by a scholarship program in either FBS or FCS, as he has the talent. Solomon Davis had a serviceable end to his college career at Central Michigan (18 REC and 2 TDs), and Givens can take the same path that Navarro took at Illinois a few years back.
Rice clearly didn't watch Davidson's HC bungle the end of our game. Then again, for as bad as the Valpo Football HC job is at Valpo in non-scholarship FCS, Rice is the equivalent in FBS. Extremely smart school will very limited history in football winning seasons.
Givens will be picked up by a scholarship program in either FBS or FCS, as he has the talent. Solomon Davis had a serviceable end to his college career at Central Michigan (18 REC and 2 TDs), and Givens can take the same path that Navarro took at Illinois a few years back.
Rice clearly didn't watch Davidson's HC bungle the end of our game. Then again, for as bad as the Valpo Football HC job is at Valpo in non-scholarship FCS, Rice is the equivalent in FBS. Extremely smart school will very limited history in football winning seasons.
tx - my daughter goes to Rice and since she is dance team member we watch them regularly. The decision to hire Abell has been in the works for awhile. The football game atmosphere is the most laid back I have ever seen for a FBS program. The fan/alumni base wants a decent competitive team, but they also know their identity.
you can’t base the blunder leading to the Valpo win on the coach in this situation.
This is just tough. I understand it, but it is tough. Really liked Fox at Dayton and at Valpo.
He will land on his feet. Hoping the best for Valpo Football.
Givens will be picked up by a scholarship program in either FBS or FCS, as he has the talent. Solomon Davis had a serviceable end to his college career at Central Michigan (18 REC and 2 TDs), and Givens can take the same path that Navarro took at Illinois a few years back.
Rice clearly didn't watch Davidson's HC bungle the end of our game. Then again, for as bad as the Valpo Football HC job is at Valpo in non-scholarship FCS, Rice is the equivalent in FBS. Extremely smart school will very limited history in football winning seasons.
tx - my daughter goes to Rice and since she is dance team member we watch them regularly. The decision to hire Abell has been in the works for awhile. The football game atmosphere is the most laid back I have ever seen for a FBS program. The fan/alumni base wants a decent competitive team, but they also know their identity.
you can’t base the blunder leading to the Valpo win on the coach in this situation.
How exactly do you not base the blunder on the coach. He had the QB pooch punting instead of the actual punter. They should have ran back to the end zone for a safety which probably kills the 8 seconds.
Givens will be picked up by a scholarship program in either FBS or FCS, as he has the talent. Solomon Davis had a serviceable end to his college career at Central Michigan (18 REC and 2 TDs), and Givens can take the same path that Navarro took at Illinois a few years back.
Rice clearly didn't watch Davidson's HC bungle the end of our game. Then again, for as bad as the Valpo Football HC job is at Valpo in non-scholarship FCS, Rice is the equivalent in FBS. Extremely smart school will very limited history in football winning seasons.
tx - my daughter goes to Rice and since she is dance team member we watch them regularly. The decision to hire Abell has been in the works for awhile. The football game atmosphere is the most laid back I have ever seen for a FBS program. The fan/alumni base wants a decent competitive team, but they also know their identity.
you can’t base the blunder leading to the Valpo win on the coach in this situation.
How exactly do you not base the blunder on the coach. He had the QB pooch punting instead of the actual punter. They should have ran back to the end zone for a safety which probably kills the 8 seconds.
The same coach took the Davidson program from sub-Valpo to one of the stronger programs in the PFL and prior to that did the same at Washington and Lee. I have no idea how he's going to do at Rice...likely a tall task to work out positively in the w/l department but I wouldn't let a brain fart stop me from hiring him.
A week later. Fox had the best conference record post Desert Storm at Valparaiso. Tom Horne suffered almost a decade of losing before providing two championships and stability.
It took almost 20 years for the football program to average 3-6 wins a season post Horne. Landon wanted to be at Valparaiso, his players were not in papers for arrests and conducted themselves in a professional manner, and despite the University’s shortcomings, fielded a competitive Valparaiso football team.
This was a bad decision for the football program. And anyone who disagrees does not understand just how far Valparaiso the school, the athletic department, game atmosphere, athletic facilities, and social life are from fielding a legitimate consistent winner in football.
Going to miss Landon and his passion for Valpo football
16- agrees with your comments, and now we understand the purpose for having football at Valpo.
I would be surprised if they find a true upgrade for football HC.
I am almost positive this will be a first time collegiate coach at a lower salary number than Landon.
1. Horne was here in a different era -hard to compare. Coaches were rarely let go under that administration. Since then terrible coaching hires by MLB caused the program to be the laughing stock of not only the conference -but one of the worst programs in the country.Fox may have been an upgrade-but compared to what was here previously its not saying much. Perhaps the AD wants a program with some sustained success.Not just satisfied with the aforementioned attributes. Assuming she will clean house of coaches with programs that are abysmal-I applaud her and the admin in an effort to make Valpo relevant.
It appears that Fox did the best he could with what Valpo gave him. In a time of decreasing enrollment, he consistently brought tuition paying students from across the country to Valpo.
Is Valpo suddenly going to invest in football enough to make it successful? I doubt that. It wouldn’t surprise me if Valpo attempts to spend even less, yet still tries to reap the enrollment benefits of football.
Paul has a too-soon-to-predict look at some possible replacements for Fox in his latest TVB column. Some interesting speculation including the current Valpo HS HFBC - a VU FB alum.
I wouldn't go the HS route. I did like some of the other suggestion by Paul.
A week later. Fox had the best conference record post Desert Storm at Valparaiso. Tom Horne suffered almost a decade of losing before providing two championships and stability.
It took almost 20 years for the football program to average 3-6 wins a season post Horne. Landon wanted to be at Valparaiso, his players were not in papers for arrests and conducted themselves in a professional manner, and despite the University’s shortcomings, fielded a competitive Valparaiso football team.
This was a bad decision for the football program. And anyone who disagrees does not understand just how far Valparaiso the school, the athletic department, game atmosphere, athletic facilities, and social life are from fielding a legitimate consistent winner in football.
Going to miss Landon and his passion for Valpo football
Valpofb16, I took a look at the season-by-season team records and see where you're coming from.
Fox was a smart, serious, gimmick-free football guy who recruited genuine student-athletes, earned their respect during their time here, and put a competitive team on the field -- in '22 and '23 being only a few breaks away from posting a winning season. That profile may be VU's ceiling for now, absent a commitment requiring money that VU doesn't have right now.
What makes us think that the next guy will be able to perform some magic with these limited resources?
A week before the Davidson game I wrote to Coach Fox and commended the, IMO, great, consistent job he did in bringing defense to the competitive culture at Valpo. I also shared with Coach Fox a suggestion to go on a road trip this off-season to visit some precisely targeted college programs that have demonstrated the ability to create effective offenses against overwhelming opponent talent and budgets — the service academies and schools such as, yes, Davidson were some examples I offered, but there were more.
Anyhoo………, any new hire cannot succeed at Valpo using traditional or faddish offenses — especially QB-centric or skill player focused offenses, because we are behind the 8-ball in recruiting those talents. Assuming retention of Fox’s defensive principles and schemes (a big assumption), the new coach needs to bring expertise with an offense that is geared to the talent level Valpo can attract and its low budget will support. We need to mimic how schools like Army, now, and Navy, in the past, were able to go toe to toe with some of FBS’s biggies and come up with wins, and apply that to our PFL situation.
So I hope Hosmer and the search firm are zeroing in on coaches of smaller schools in conferences who are consistently winning against larger schools and against the odds.
I can tell you right now that Marshall is not going to take that job. He likes the atmosphere on the north side way too much to move to the south side. As well as the various funding and facility improvements that the HS has gotten. The HS job is almost more desirable than the Uni job in Valpo.
