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Coach Thomas Goes To Detroit-Mercy

WIU712 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:17:32 GMT

UDM's McCallum Rounds Out Initial Coaching Staff With Derek Thomas

June 24, 2008

New Detroit Titans head basketball coach Ray McCallum added another seasoned veteran to his staff today with the hiring of Derek Thomas as an assistant coach.

Thomas was the head coach at Western Illinois for the last five seasons before resigning from his position following the 2008 campaign. The Leathernecks made steady improvement during his tenure, culminating with their most wins (12) in seven years during Thomas' final season as head coach. Thomas also led the Leathernecks to a 10-4 mark at home last winter, their best home court record in nine years. WIU qualified for four conference tournaments in Thomas' five seasons.

"Derek is very well-known in our profession. He's respected as a person and as a coach," McCallum noted. "I've known Derek for a long time. I've watched him work as an assistant and I've coached against him as a head coach. He's recruited all over the country, from coast to coast. He's built up a great relationship with basketball people here in Michigan and wherever else he's recruited around the nation. He was an outstanding player as well."

Thomas, who will work with both the post and perimeter players at UDM, had amassed 15 years of coaching experience prior to his hiring at Western Illinois in the spring of 2003. He spent his last two seasons before WIU as an assistant coach under Charlie Spoonhour at UNLV, where Thomas was instrumental in developing an offense that twice led the Mountain West Conference in scoring. Thomas served as the recruiting coordinator and big man's coach for the Runnin' Rebels, who posted back-to-back 21-win seasons and NIT appearances during his tenure. He also helped prepare point guard Marcus Banks for the 2003 NBA Draft. Banks was taken in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies before being traded to the Boston Celtics.

Thomas has also held assistant coaching positions at Illinois, Minnesota, Saint Louis and Missouri State, and helped coach each of the latter two schools in both NCAA and NIT post-season play. During those stints, he helped recruit and develop such outstanding future pro players as guard Larry Hughes, the 1998 national Freshman of the Year now playing for the Chicago Bulls, and center Joel Przybilla, a former Top 10 NBA Draft selection now playing for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Thomas also has gained experience as a personnel scout with the Atlanta Hawks during his professional career.

"Derek has worked for some of the best coaches in basketball in Charlie Spoonhour and Lon Kruger. He's been in some highly-successful programs," coach McCallum said. "He's also scouted at the highest level with where he's worked. He's evaluated talent for the NBA. He's had a keen eye for identifying talent in his college career."

Thomas is excited to get started in his new role.

"What impressed me the most is the type of staff that Ray has put together. That, and the recruits he was able to attract here as soon as he started as head coach," Thomas said. "It was important to see what he's done already, and to see the support the new program has gotten. Without support from the rest of the athletic department, no basketball program can be successful. The support I've seen here for our program is definitely a positive."

Thomas joins two other one-time head coaches, Carlos Briggs (Schoolcraft College) and Jay Smith (Central Michigan), as members of McCallum's first UDM coaching staff. The fact that he has put together such an experienced and successful staff - each member has taken teams to post-season play - at Detroit is not lost on McCallum, himself a veteran of 11 years as a college head coach.

"I wanted to get as much experience at the college level as I could for our coaching staff," McCallum said. "With Carlos and Jay, and now Derek, we got that accomplished."

Early in his career, the newest Titan assistant also served the head coach of Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis from 1992 to '95. There, Thomas posted a 45-36 record and was named the Metro Catholic Conference Coach of the Year after winning the 1995 league championship.

The 41-year-old Thomas is a 1989 graduate of Missouri-St. Louis, where he co-captained the Rivermen team that reached the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen in 1988. His father Emmitt is the secondary coach for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. The elder Thomas enjoyed a 13-year playing career with the Kansas City Chiefs, and will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.

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Summit Presidents meeting...

Leatherface — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:53:07 GMT

was held in Chicago today. League stability was the key topic. Seems Centenary has committed to D1, and will upgrade facilities. SUU expressed some difficulties financially-travel expenses being the key. ORU is gaining from their scandal, and hopes to be on the way back-regarding finances for athletics at D1 and the Summit expectations. They will probably be ok in the future again.

One wonders about SUU- if they will stay.The Presidents were concerned about these three schools. The league needs them for auto qualifying etc.

Final D2 Director's Cup

Leatherface — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:56:16 GMT

Released today. D1 final ranking will be out on 26 June.

U of North Dakota- 10
U of South Dakota- 11
SIUe- 14
Truman State- 24
Quincy- 170

Nobody drafted again?

WIU BB 31 — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:22:18 GMT

Unless I am mistaken, it appears that no WIU baseball players were drafted. I believe that this has been the case since about 1994. Our talent level is getting better, but still not one player drafted. Even in-state teams who we are competitive with like Bradley and ISU had multiple players drafted. Stan seems to really hype his kids pre-season, and then gets no results.

Missouri Valley Football?

Leatherface — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:50:53 GMT

A lot of talk on the Valley site about the Gateway changing it's name to the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Rumor has the vote taking place on 6 June. Supposedly, President Goldfarb has been holding things up by indicating he wouldn't vote for it unless the entire WESTERN program was admitted to the MVC. If this be true- KUDOS TO PRESIDENT GOLDFARB for taking a stand! Unfortunately, the vote appears to be stacked against him.
Not much love on the Valley site for admitting WESTERN to the conference.

This could play out several ways in the future. Not all of which could be favorable to WESTERN.

New Trivia....

Leatherface — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:16:08 GMT

Track and Field.

Outdoor: 100 meter dash- what is the record for the men (time), and what year. It is held by Dave Moore.

Women 100 meter dash- record time,year. Held by Pam Ashford.

Who are the "BCS" of the FCS?

western-101 — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:26:01 GMT

The BCS is a further clasification of elite FBS conferences that include, BigTen, SEC, BigXII, BigEast, Pac10, ACC, and Notre Dame.

So FBS runs the gamet from LSU to Ball State quite a broad spectrem of good to not so good talent. FCS, is similar in that regard, there are some perenial FCS powers year in and year out and there certainly are certain conferences in FCS that are a "cut above the rest".

For lack of a better terminology what conferences are the BCS of the FCS?

My picks, best to least.

1 Southern Conference
Tied2 Gateway Football Conference
Tied2 Colonial Athletic Association
4 Southland Conference
5 Big Sky Conference.

Come 2008 I bump Gateway above SoCon.

NCAA Regional Softball a real treat!

Neckfansince71 — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:32:25 GMT

Took the day off last Friday from school and took daughter #2 (junior at WIU) to the softball regional at Northwestern. Nice facility, sunny day, and the Lady Necks performed well but lost to an excellent Northwestern squad. The fact that they beat the Missouri Valley Conference Champions from Drake the next day only made the weekend better.

My hat goes off to Holly and her coaching staff, the Lady Necks, and their great effort in the tournament. What an up and down year with the loss of their all conference starting catcher, their number one pitcher, and a returning senior in the outfield. But they never quit and Holly never quit on them! The result, not only did they win the Summit League title, but they proved without a doubt that they belonged in the tournament as well. Two great recruits for next year, an improved pitching staff, hopefully a medical redshirt for the starting pitcher, tournament experience, and the chance to reverse a record that does not come close to telling the tale! How great was it to sit in the stands with a number of WIU fans that took the time to travel to Evanston to experience NCAA Softball. Purple and Gold uniforms, a group game for anything!

Well done ladies!!!! Well done coaching staff!!!! Not too bad of a spring in hindsight!!!!

Track Meet

Leatherface — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:34:59 GMT

Congrats to the men and women for some good individual accomplishments at the conference meet.

Disappointing to see the women and men come in fourth in team standings,especially on their home track. Seems there are some younger athletes, who will improve as the years come.

Montana and Montana St. to join WAC?

western-101 — Sun, 18 May 2008 01:00:34 GMT

We all know the current version of the WAC ain't what it used to be ever since the inception of the MWC. That being said it must look attractive to the Big Sky Conference members, the current membership of the WAC has three former Big Sky members Boise State, Nevada, Idaho.

Many at Montana have kicked around the Idea for years about going FBS. Montana has arguably the best school owned FCS Stadium in the Nation. However, any thoughts of moving up were contingent upon Montana and Montana State making the jump together.

Well, Montana State has big plans to build a 22,000 bowl type seating stadium. Is there a plan in place for these two schools to move to the WAC in the next five years?

http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/?title=montana-state-unveils-plans-for-bobcat-s&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

LSU O-lineman transfers to S.F.Austin

western-101 — Sun, 18 May 2008 00:43:08 GMT

Max Holmes 6'3" 285 pound reserve lineman plans to play Center for Steven F. Austin.

This certainly will be a welcome addition to SFA O-line. Wish we were getting him.

http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/?title=lsu-lineman-going-to-stephen-f-austin&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

New trivia question....

Leatherface — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:50:27 GMT

When -year- was Hanson Field dedicated? When was the first game, opponent, and did WESTERN win ??

Trivia quiz....

Leatherface — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:49:22 GMT

Name the following: single game attendance record at Hanson Field (year, opponent, and attendance )

Michna

The "PIT" Prognosticator — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:30:55 GMT

Glad to see him get a shot and make the most of it. I assume it's back to th bench, though.

http://chicagorush.com/news.asp?ID=1121

Hey guys...

aku01 — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:00:20 GMT

Hey there,

This post isn’t about cars, but if any of you like poker you’ll want to check out today’s webcast on www.worldpokercrown.com. Four Canadians are vying for the world title and a $1 million prize. Cast your vote for the player you think will come out on top and you could win a prize package valued at $17,000!

South Dakota State

western-101 — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:28:36 GMT

This is for you Bluehat, You are a well respected level headed poster (I have seen some of your stuff at Bisonville.com too). I am impressed with the level of play that the xDSU's bring. NDSU beat us, You could very well have beat us, and You beat NDSU. Props.

Give us a taste over hear at Leathernecknation. Of course nothing like a scouting report (that would be silly0 just some friendly conjecture on what you think of your Jacks' and what you think of '08. Oh, and, welcome to the league.

(love your post's have'nt heard from you in a while consider this your welcome back).

how come we never talk..

DOG — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:15:15 GMT

about baseball on this board?

is it because
a. they suck
b. nobody cares
c. this is a football school
d. all of the above

Future Necks on TV

The "PIT" Prognosticator — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:18:46 GMT

I think Palermo and Franken from Addison Driscoll just sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game at the Cubs game.

Regina Miller out at UNLV

LeatherCy — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:39:19 GMT

Pretty short announcement from UNLV:

Regina Miller had a 175-125 record as the UNLV coach in her 10 seasons in Las Vegas.

Women's Basketball Home

HEADLINES
Miller Out As Lady Rebels Head Coach
UNLV Falls To CSU in MWC First Round

Lady Rebels Open MWC Tournament Tuesday

RELATED LINKS
• Follow all of the college basketball action at CollegeSports.com

• Email this story to a friend

Miller Out As Lady Rebels Head Coach
Regina Miller spent 10 years as head coach at UNLV.

March 14, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Effective as of 5 p.m. on Friday, Regina Miller is no longer serving as head coach of the women's basketball team at UNLV.

According to Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick, this is a personnel matter and the University can make no further comment at this time.

Hogcall.com

western-101 — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:23:32 GMT

I started a thread over at one of Arkansa's message boards under the name JustCheckin.

http://hogcall.com/mbdThread.asp?threadid=31699

North Dakota joining Summit?

meganeck — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:32:55 GMT

I was reading an article about North Dakota playing at Iowa State last Saturday. North Dakota, which is now coached by former Iowa assistant coach Brian Jones, said they are in negotations to join the Summit League. I can;t remember if this has been discussed before or not, but I thought I would bring it up.

Schedule valpo in football

Leatherface — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:37:46 GMT

Pass it on- schedule valpo in football.Put it in alumni response cards- any communication with WESTERN- say we want valpo in football.

Which is better NCAA DII or NAIA

western-101 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:00:40 GMT

I sometimes wonder how much difference in the level of play there is Between NAIA and DII in football.

From what I have gathered DII schools usually have a somewhat bigger enrollment than NAIA do. Also, I think DII is allowed 36 scholarships for football compared to 24 for NAIA. I am inclined to think DII is better than NAIA but, NAIA more closley resembles DII with level of play than DIII.

Can anyone with better knowledge of these two entities compare and contrast?

South Dakota State Uniforms

WIU712 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:34:38 GMT

I was at the WESTERN vs South Dakota State men's basketball game on Thursday night.

The SDSU road uniforms only have "State" on the front of their uniforms. I saw no mention anywhere of "South Dakota" on their uniforms.

While just having "State" may be ok for their home uniforms, I found it odd for their road uniforms. You would think that their road unforms would say "South Dakota State" rather than just "State".

Maybe the Blue Hat Man can advise as to the uniforms.

Domes in Division 1

western-101 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:47:41 GMT

Since everybody here are such good sports thought I would through out another thing to ponder.

I was thinking that it was interresting that the Gateway Football Conference has two member schools that play their home games indoors. Also, before S. Dakota joined I thought it was interresting that Western was the only school whos team's home field had real grass playing surface.

Anyway fun trivia:

How many D-1 (FBS/FCS) football teams play their home games indoors (domes)?
(hint: not all are cold weather teams)

Director Cup rankings

Leatherface — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:58:55 GMT

As of Dec. 2007-- for D2:
# 17 SIUe
#43 U of North Dakota
#49 U of South Dakota
(# 46 Truman State)

As of Jan. 10,2008--D1
#66 SIUC
#64 Northern Iowa
#69 Oakland (Mich)
#tied at #118- Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, Missouri State, South Dakota State

I might have missed one of WESTERN'S conference mates. WESTERN didn't make the listing.

Reggie Gray to AFL Chicago

western-101 — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:02:09 GMT

According to the Peoria Journal Star former Western Illinois wide receiver Reggie Gray will not be playing for the Peoria Pirates of the Af2 this season but, will instead be joining his former teamate Russ Michna with the AFL Chicago Rush.

Good for you Reggie! Good for Russ too, I'm sure Russ is pleased to have a familiar "go to target" back in his sights. Those two sure bring back good memories of '02 and '03.

I'd like to get to a Rush game one of these days. I here it is a ton of fun.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/022108/PIR_BFRHLH07.W02.php

http://www.chicagorush.com/

athletic monies

Leatherface — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:00:51 GMT

Does anyone know how much money is available for WESTERN athletics-as budgeted for useage? Next, does anyone know how WESTERN might fare compared to the other schools in the Summit/Gateway? Football budget would need to be looked at separately, since the Gateway involves different schools.

I believe you see my question, how does WESTERN compare in available athletic monies vs. their conference opponents? Middle of the pack? High/low?

I'm sure it's public information- for the state schools, I just wouldn't know where to look as a comparison. Maybe someone has seen these figures somewhere.

D-1 arenas in Illinois

western-101 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:10:57 GMT

Thought as long as we were looking at budgets why not compare arenas.

D-1 BASKETBALL ARENAS IN ILLINOIS (rounded to nearest 100)
------------------------------------
DePaul 17,500
Illinois 16,700
Bradley 11,400
Illinois St. 10,200
Southern 9,800
Northern 9,000
N.western 8,100
UIC 7,000
ChicagoSt. 7,000
Eastern 5,300
Loyola 5,200
Western 5,100

SUMMIT LEAGUE ARENAS (rounded o nearest 100)
------------------------
IPFW 13,000
ORU 10,500
UMKC 9,600
SDSU 6,500
NDSU 6,000
S. Utah 5,300
Western 5,100
Oakland 4,000
Centenary 3,000
IUPUI 2,000

I remember reading a thread on this board back in 1964 after Western Hall was built, stating that a New Arena was needed for the campus. Wasn't it 1964 the year Assembly Hall in Champaign was built? or is A.H. actually older. I guess we should have hired that architect instead of the firm we got thats specialty must have been desiging warehouses.

What? obstucted views? Musta been the same firm that designed old Comisky Park. I guess I would have bothered my dad alot less for cotton candy back in the day if I could have seen more than the back side of a steel suport girder(talk about cheep seats). It wasn't untill years later I found out we were going to Sox games, I told all my friends I went up to watch the Cubs. Must be the same feeling the fans would have in the balcony at W. H., if there were any fans there.

New SIU coach...

Leatherface — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:53:30 GMT

is apparently the U of North Dakota coach. Maybe Bluehat can fill us in on him. Strange since UND is moving up to FCS anyway.

Has a message been sent!

Neckfansince71 — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 09:05:48 GMT

Western's mission for 2008 is what it always is - make the playoffs. But in 2008 there will be an addendum - or else. The pieces are in place, maybe more so now than any other time in Patterson's nine-year tenure.

Kevin Capie is a Journal Star sports reporter. Write him at 1 News Plaza, Peoria, IL 61643, call (309) 686-3214 or e-mail kcapie@pjstar.com.

I was a little surprised by the tone of this article! Or should I be???? There was a comment in this article about some of the offensive play calling, especially the bum pass versus NDst. With Donaldson and Barr, the defense, this guy is thinking what I am thinking! Its going to be our year!

Nebraska football coach position

strongside — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 15:45:40 GMT

As most of you know, Nebraska fired Callahan today as announced by Tom Osborne and don't be surprised if NU calls North Dakota St football coach Craig Bohl for the job. This soon to be a Gateway coach is a Lincoln native, played for the Huskers and coach there as well for 8+ years including tenure as the defensive coordinator under Osborne. His performance at the Bison has been impressive and he's one of many Gateway coaches who can step into this level of job and be successful.(seems to have worked for Tressel at Ohio State.)

WIU712- come on back....

Leatherface — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:51:16 GMT

give us some updates about the eastern game!Let us know what the crowd was like, how the team looked etc.

The 2002 Gateway Champions

WIU712 — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 12:50:37 GMT

I went over to Hanson Field today and took a look at the listing of the Gateway Championships that are now posted on the north end of the new east-side bleachers.

I think the problem is that "2001" is listed. I think this should actually be "2002" instead.

The bottom of the Hanson Field scoreboard (where the Gateway Championships are recorded) lists "2002" and not "2001".

The banner inside of Western Hall also lists "2002" and not not "2001".

So apparently, the listing of "2001" on the new bleachers should actually be "2002" instead.

So if any of you have contact with the WESTERN Athletic Dept, could you pass on this mistake so that it can be corrected.

Football Gameplan's Predicting an Upset!!!

Neck of Leather — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:33:27 GMT

http://www.footballgameplan.com/fcs-division-i-aa-predictions

The have some interesting picks this week. I just emailed him about our game

bluehatman...

Leatherface — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:17:47 GMT

Any updates you can share regarding SDSU and the upcoming Summit season-any sports SDSU will challenge for the "top of the Summit"?

Coach Patterson to be a guest on this weeks Football Championship Show

SMEnetwork — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:35:58 GMT

Make sure you check out this week’s bracket projections which are done each week by the “Football Championship Show” hosts Ray Alexander and Ralph Bednarczyk. They can now be viewed at: http://www.smebroadcasting.com/fcsbrackets.html

SHOW INFO

This week the guys are joined by Delaware Broadcaster Chris Blair, NDSU Quarterback Steve Walker, and Western Illinois Head Coach Don Patterson. If you missed any of last weeks show there is still time to check them out on our football archives page.

Don’t forget our Weekly Stars page, where you can check out the nation’s best from this past weekend, as well as our Top 25, “Game of the Week” poll, and “Play of the Week” poll.

Call in, We want to hear what you think about the playoffs. They guys will answer your calls an e-mails.

Game of the Week: http://www.smebroadcasting.com
Play of the Week: http://www.smebroadcasting.com/football.html
Top 25 Poll: http://www.smebroadcasting.com/footballTop25.html
Weekly Stars: http://www.smebroadcasting.com/footballWeeklyStars.html
Week 9 Appearance Photos: http://www.smebroadcasting.com/photos.html

The Football Game at Illinois State

WIU712 — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 23:13:51 GMT

Hey Leatherneck Fans!

Many announcements were made during the game with Northern Iowa saying the WESTERN game at Illinois State on Oct 27 is a sell out. BUT, there are still tickets available thru the WESTERN Athletic Office and the WESTERN Alumni Association.

So if you are planning on making the trip to Normal, you will need to get your tickets thru WESTERN. Apparently there won't be any tickets sold at the game.

Indiana State releases FB coach

Leatherface — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:06:40 GMT

Saw in the paper today that Indiana State has released their coach. One must wonder if their continuing football problems are coaching related or institutional related. Wonder how much support the program actually gets from the schools administration? This football program issue has been going on for some time, yet, somewhat uncommon to release a coach after four games. They brought back a retiree as interim coach- talk about a dysfunctional situation.

Welcome any ORU fans

Leatherface — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:49:55 GMT

Yes, we know our men's BB team is terrible!However, many of our other programs do quite well in the conference. As someone with former ties to ORU, when not cheering for WESTERN, I would just as soon see ORU win in conference play.

Right now, we are excited about football. I believe WESTERN has always been a "football school", but thats just me. We belong to the Gateway- SIU,Northern Iowa,etc.

I know many ORU folks like to talk sports, so I hank 89rabbit for passing along this site- the old voy was horrible. Maybe we can create a healthy rivalry with ORU as the season progresses.