NCAC 2023

[Switzerland]

Denison is one of nine colleges in the nation ranked in the top-40 of both the US News and World Report National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings and the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings.

Denison is keeping good company within this elite group, alongside Amherst, Bowdoin, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Middlebury, Pomona-Pitzer, Washington & Lee, Wesleyan, and Williams.

Big Red keeps winning on and off the field/court/pool!

GO BIG RED

https://denisonbigred.com/news/2022/10/ ... 22-23.aspx

No one cares you dweeb #rollfightingscots

Scholar athletes and the parents of those that choose Denison care. Kids that choose Wooster apparently don't as they rank 76 and 255! Continue to embrace mediocrity DAWG .... it suits you wel!

As an aside, I’ll just throw out that under the MC era, he was likely able to dip pretty low to get some talent. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are academically qualified student-athletes, but there is much larger populate of non-athletes that pull up those numbers. As is the case at many schools.

Mid major D1 kids that wash out academically probably aren’t just landing into gen pop at Denison. They will on their teams.

[admin]

Your day of reckoning will come, I tell you that booger boy. No underwear you say? Will make putting my pinky in your stinker that much easier you pigeon.

Big dawg, tone it down...

[BIGDAWG]

Your day of reckoning will come, I tell you that booger boy. No underwear you say? Will make putting my pinky in your stinker that much easier you pigeon.

Big dawg, tone it down...

Yes sir, sorry sir.

[WhiteCarrera]

haha - I think maybe BIGDAWG is used to all the kilts at Wooster.

[LordRaider]

Not to turn the spotlight away from Denison…but what’s up with OWU, Oberlin, the Owls, etc? (PS Go Owls)

[oldtimelax]

The word is OWU will have some talent, but will be young....they have lost 14 experienced players from last year's squad, including their freshman goalie who made all-NCAC and it now chasing a D1 dream. They apparently have a strong core group of first-years coming in. I would expect they will be ranked 3rd or 4th in the pre-season poll -- a long time since that was the case.

[FannOLax]

The word is OWU will have some talent, but will be young....they have lost 14 experienced players from last year's squad, including their freshman goalie who made all-NCAC and it now chasing a D1 dream. They apparently have a strong core group of first-years coming in. I would expect they will be ranked 3rd or 4th in the pre-season poll -- a long time since that was the case.

Gotta wonder how long the OWU powers that be stick with Plantholt if the Bishops again fail to make the NCAC play-off final in 2023; after 2018, this once nationally-prominent program appears to have fallen off a cliff.

[Leonard Washington]

2019 conference championship game (loss)
2020 season derailed by Covid
2021 8-1 and still feeling the specter of Covid and divisional split, were unable to play Denison again for NCAC title
2022 "Down Year" at 10-6

Not sure Administration is moving on from Plantholt anytime soon unless something egregious happens odd field. There are/were rumors Planholt was looking at other jobs this summer. He does have a few NCAC titles on his resume in his 13 years.

[oldtimelax]

2019 conference championship game (loss)
2020 season derailed by Covid
2021 8-1 and still feeling the specter of Covid and divisional split, were unable to play Denison again for NCAC title
2022 "Down Year" at 10-6

Not sure Administration is moving on from Plantholt anytime soon unless something egregious happens odd field. There are/were rumors Planholt was looking at other jobs this summer. He does have a few NCAC titles on his resume in his 13 years.

I agree with your view. Plantholt has done a commendable job over the COVID period keeping the program together during very trying times for the school. He's one of the top coaches in D3 and has interviewed at his alma mater (G'burg) where he's in the Hall of Fame and at a NESCAC school. You certainly can't fault him for that. OWU happens to be the home for some very good coaches who have been there for decades -- Jay Martin in soccer, Mike DeWitt in basketball, Tyler Mott in baseball and Tom Watts in football. They do their best to make great coaches stay.

[Switzerland]

He's one of the top coaches in D3

I’ll have what he’s having…

[Nosey Ned]

He's one of the top coaches in D3

I think that is a stretch. No disrespect, Coach Plantholt is a very capable coach and his teams always play hard from 1st whistle to the last. But everyone has had to deal with Covid, there should be no pass to anyone for that.

I can understand where Fann is coming from because the reality is he’s only 6-15 versus Denison overall and only 2-5 in the biggest game of the year, the conference championship game. They haven’t even made the Conference Championship final the past 2 seasons! That poor record in the CC game means the Bishops have only made the NCAC tournament 5 times under his stewardship - 3 his first 3 years - and none since 2018. OWU of old, made almost annual trips to the NCAA tournament.

Clearly, the advent of the AQ for the NCAC and having to compete against a true legendary coach in Coach Caravana, has had a lot to do with this change in OWUs fortunes. I think it’s safe to say he was thoroughly out recruited by Caravana year in and year out. But now that Caravana is gone Coach P has a chance to change the narrative. So now is the time, while DU is under a first time head coach to take back top dog in the conference. So I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that if Plantholt can’t retake that spot - or at least put it on more of an even matchup against The Big Red soon, it might be time the powers that be think about making a change.

[Leonard Washington]

This is pretty comical. Yes let's fire a coach (oh, excuse me, I mean let go of a coach or replace him) because he has had a little bit of success breaking through the glass ceiling known as Denison, even though he has very few to no off field issues with his team and has won the conference morethen once. Let's not give any credit to the Big Red for their dominance over the past decade and since moving away from Pool B.

While we are at it, we should also let go of Bergen, Campbell, Long, McCabe, Pilat and Randall based on their recent conference tournament and postseason success or should I say lack there of

[Nosey Ned]

This is pretty comical. Yes let's fire a coach (oh, excuse me, I mean let go of a coach or replace him) because he has had a little bit of success breaking through the glass ceiling known as Denison, even though he has very few to no off field issues with his team and has won the conference morethen once. Let's not give any credit to the Big Red for their dominance over the past decade and since moving away from Pool B.

While we are at it, we should also let go of Bergen, Campbell, Long, McCabe, Pilat and Randall based on their recent conference tournament and postseason success or should I say lack there of

Hi Leonard, let me ask you this .... do you share the opinion that Coach Plantholt is "one of the top coaches in D3"? And if yes, please by more specific- where do you rank him, top 10: top 20, top 50?

[Leonard Washington]

Hi Leonard, let me ask you this .... do you share the opinion that Coach Plantholt is "one of the top coaches in D3"? And if yes, please by more specific- where do you rank him, top 10: top 20, top 50?

Ned,

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there is a reason why I did not address the matter of him being one of the top coaches in D3

There are a number of good coaches across this country, especially in D III. Are they good coaches because of the situation, circumstance and team they stepped into/attached themselves to? Possibly. But a brand name can only do so much. Great coaches can elevate their programs and have them take the next step and move up a level. It doesnt have to be National Championships, or deep tourney runs but we know it when we see it. It's not the NCAC, but there is a certain school in the SUNYAC that recruits itself, year in and year out they are there but seemingly know where they are going to end up on thr national scale. Then there is another school in the Empire 8 that seems to have grown in leaps and bounds since a coaching change and has forced their way on to the national picture.

[Leonard Washington]

In regards to the NCAC look what Oberlin has done in such a short time with Polak as the new captain of the ship. Is the jury still out, possibly, but the only major change about that program (support has been there) over the past few years has been him.

My antennas get raised when we talk about letting coaches go cause they cant beat a certain team or get to a "percieved" certain level. Maybe there are better fits for OWU, but then again have we seen the coaching carousel of late (I know I get it, not the greatest jobs have been posted this past cycle)

[Nosey Ned]

In regards to the NCAC look what Oberlin has done in such a short time with Polak as the new captain of the ship. Is the jury still out, possibly, but the only major change about that program (support has been there) over the past few years has been him.

My antennas get raised when we talk about letting coaches go cause they cant beat a certain team or get to a "percieved" certain level. Maybe there are better fits for OWU, but then again have we seen the coaching carousel of late (I know I get it, not the greatest jobs have been posted this past cycle)

Leonard, I get it. And to be clear I was reacting to the claim he's a "top coach in D3". A statement in and of itself which is open to all sorts of different interpretations!

And I was further simply saying that now that Caravana is out and Plantholt is the senior statesman if you like in the NCAC, now is the time to prove he's the coach many apparently think he is. And if he can't get over the "Denison hump" now, maybe someone else will be given the chance. I want to be clear, I wasn't calling for his ouster.it was more a comment that the OWU faithful (read influential lax alum) might run out of patience. Not saying that would be the correct decision. Because as you correctly point out, there is so much more to evaluating what a "successful " coach is to school administrators.

[oldtimelax]

My comment about Plantholt has raised some derisive comments, OK, fine...everybody has an opinion. I still say he's a top coach because he's done more with far less support and resources than say Caravana has had for years at Denison, or recently for Misarti at Kenyon. A lot has changed on the D3 landscape since the glory days for OWU under Mike Pressler and Lelan Rogers -- which is now a longtime ago! Not many coaches have beaten Salisbury twice....

[BIGDAWG]

All these pompous Denison supporters always want to try to belittle other programs and their staff. It seems sometimes they forget the shady reputation their program and past coaches have had. People hate to talk about the forced resignation of their "great" Caravana. Makes you think

[netminder]

Big dawg - get a life and move on. Let us support kids who play in this conference and enjoy watching them compete. So much history in the NCAC and potential for the future. Take your bitterness elsewhere. Be well.

[BIGDAWG]

Big dawg - get a life and move on. Let us support kids who play in this conference and enjoy watching them compete. So much history in the NCAC and potential for the future. Take your bitterness elsewhere. Be well.

I love the NCAC just as much as the next guy. Got to stand up for the programs that some choose to talk down upon so regularly. I refuse to let the ruling elite spit on the common man. And as far as having a life, I make 6 figures each month and have a below average size penis, so suck it.