Buffalo hires Wisconsin-Whitewater's Lance Leipold as new head coach. Slam dunk hire.

http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/11/28/buffalo-bul...

(Sorry, I should have made the subject line "TOS to Wisconsin-Whitewater")

Mount Union may burn down their campus in excitement. This guy may be the only person in recorded history that Mount Union just could not beat (they did once in 6 tries with Leipold as UW-W HC)

Florida is not the key to winning a MAC title.

Too bad we didn't get him. If you can consistently recruit and win at d3 with no athletic scholarships you can win anywhere. Keres never made the jump because of his alma mater, wasn't the case here.

L.C., your mention of Turner Gill reminded me that he may be ready in a few years to jump up the coaching ranks a little. After his disastrous starts at Buffalo and Kansas, he seems to have matured as a coach at Liberty.

Liberty Flames (Big South Conference) (2012–Present)
2012 Liberty 6–5 5–1 T–1st
2013 Liberty 8–4 4–1 T–1st
2014 Liberty 8–4 4–1 T–1st
Liberty: 22–13 13–3

If he's still at Liberty when Frank retires, I wonder if OHIO would consider him? I wonder if they should? What are your thoughts?

I don't know how I forgot Bohl, but thanks. I added him to the post above.


I think Gill is a fine coach, and a very good man, but it may well be that he fits better at Liberty than he would fit anywhere else. It is entirely possible that he is very happy there, and has no interest in going elsewhere.

BTW, Liberty won their first round game in the FCS Championship game, beating JMU, after upsetting unbeaten Coastal Carolina to earn a playoff spot. I think it's their first ever appearance in the Championship


Still, Leipold's record in DIII is pretty incredible. I'd have to think he'll be a great hire (and that he may move up again in a couple years).

+1

Good question of which I would think the answer is yes. Both Mt. and WW have trouble scheduling their one non-conference game every year. They both have tried to schedule a d2 team but it is not in the interest of a Ashland, Findley, or Ohio Dominican to play them since they are contenders for wild card positions in the playoffs. D2 has 24 teams in their playoffs by the way(GO ODU). I believe they would easily defeat many d2 teams such as Waslh, Malone, or Urbana(Urbana is a whole subject by itself as it would have closed if not bought out by Franklin University, place looks like a ghetto). D3 Wittenberg has played FCS Butler the last couple of years and almost beat them this year. Yes Butler plays in a league without athletic scholarships but it was still quite a step up for the boys from Springfield. I would say the answer then is a resounding yes especially with all the talent that is stockpiled at those schools. I think a greater question would be could they defeat a mid level FCS team. If they could then any conclusions from that point I will leave to someone else. One last thing this weeks opponent for Mt.(John Carroll) is a much better team then many in d2. Carroll has a great qb who would be welcome on any MAC team.

I believe the university was only loosely affiliated with that movement over the last few decades. I am probably wrong on that time frame though. They don't run from their heritage though as their is at least one historical marker mentioning it at the school as well at the Johnny Appleseed museum. Fact is the school was in severe financial trouble and the sale was the only thing that saved it. Franklin allows the name too stay the same. Most depressing campus I have ever visited. I thought Wayne State was bad but this one sets a new low. You should see their gym, looks like something out of the 1950's.

Ferris State and Ohio Dominican would certainly be a much larger challenge for the Raiders the Tiffin or Lake Erie.

If the machine is going to lose a game before the championship then this is the week. Look for John Carroll to put up some numbers. Only lost by a touchdown the last couple of years so this could finally be the game. Mark Myers is the real deal, wish we had him.

New timing rule in college football cost JC a chance for one play from the 9 yd line to win the game in the regular season. Any other year before this one, they would have had 1 play!

Back home we call this going off half-cocked.

Respectfully, please provide some backup for your claim Buffalo is poised to pass Ohio. I can provide a few details about Buffalo. They were one of two teams which lost to EMU. 21 seniors will graduate, 17 of which were on the two deep. Buffalo's defense loses four of the six from the three-man front. Further they will lose both starting safeties and two starting ILBs. Gone will be the starting center, LG and LT. Can we get Buffalo on the schedule twice?