2024-2025 Off Season

[ronfitch]

Five-year deal - any specifics on it? Guaranteed, buyouts, etc.

[Blue42]

That recruiting strategy is literally the foundation of UNI Football for 100 years.

If you think some guy is just gonna come in here and dominate by loading up with JUCO's and portal guys, you are going to be mistaken.

Never said anything of the sort.

That said...I would like to hear a coach say that the transfer portal is a significant factor in college sports and it's here to stay.

Whether any of us like it or not it immaterial. It is reality and it is going to dilute your developed talent annually...so to be competitive realistically, we are going to have to use it at least in a targeted manner.

What I don't want to hear is..."I don't like it...". It doesn't matter if you like it or not.

As well...the transfer portal has brought a lot of great players and kids to UNI. We could rattle of a list of names...Dom Williams, Quan Hampton, Theo Day, Benny Sapp III, etc, etc.

There's a tendency to demonize kids that transfer in and it's misplaced. They are looking for a place to be successful like anyone else.

[BCPanther]

Speaking of the portal...

JJ Kohl is in it and Nelly has a big time relationship with him.

He'd be the piece to build an offense around.

[Wxcpanther]

Speaking of the portal...

JJ Kohl is in it and Nelly has a big time relationship with him.

He'd be the piece to build an offense around.

He seems like he'd be destined for Iowa City given the exodus there, no?

[edgecat]

That recruiting strategy is literally the foundation of UNI Football for 100 years.

If you think some guy is just gonna come in here and dominate by loading up with JUCO's and portal guys, you are going to be mistaken.

I disagree. Most of Farleys best teams had transfers playing significant roles.

[edgecat]

He seems like he'd be destined for Iowa City given the exodus there, no?

Does not fit what they’re looking for.

personally, I’m not sold he’s a D1 guy.

[Blue42]

Didn't like Coach Stepsis' comments today about the UNI job "not being a no brainer" for him.

There was a Timmy Birch article in the Des Moines Register last week where he said the same thing.

I don't care if you feel that way or not...when you hit the city limits of Cedar Falls, the only words that should come out of your mouth are "I'm all in. I couldn't wait to get here."

Frankly it speaks to a lack of appreciation of the moment...and the role he is now in.

In a leadership role, there's things you think...and there's things you say publicly.

Work out your conflict ahead of time...and when you hit the podium you're all in.

[clenz]

Didn't like Coach Stepsis' comments today about the UNI job "not being a no brainer" for him.

There was a Timmy Birch article in the Des Moines Register last week where he said the same thing.

I don't care if you feel that way or not...when you hit the city limits of Cedar Falls, the only words that should come out of your mouth are "I'm all in. I couldn't wait to get here."

Frankly it speaks to a lack of appreciation of the moment...and the role he is now in.

In a leadership role, there's things you think...and there's things you say publicly.

Work out your conflict ahead of time...and when you hit the podium you're all in.

Agreed. I said the same thing today, and when I read that last week, to some people off forum.

I don't know how I feel about a coach that had to be talked into it. A coach that admits he isn't sure he is all in.

That goes along with what I mentioned about him saying "I'm not in this for wins or championships" quote along in the "things you think but don't say" category and if they are things you are going to say you needs to make damn sure your messaging around it is overly clear

[Blue42]

Why not say my goal is to build champions and win championships?

I'm pretty sure that's the full job description.

[MVCBeat]

I was worried he was not going to be a portal guy before I read anything about him. His background in non-scholarship D1 and D2 and D3. You can win at that level with high school kids from your state. The portal is outside his comfort zone. In the MVFC, you're going to need to utilize the portal and you're going to need to go outside the state lines if you want to be successful. Yes, there should always be a premium number of high school kids from Iowa, and there always will be. That is the low hanging fruit. And we should take pride in that. But you're going to struggle if you don't make a strong effort in the porta and outside of Iowa as well.

We have a guy that has never coached or played at this level, who had a losing record at his last job, who had to be convinced to come here, said he didn't get in it to win championships, and doesn't want to use the portal. That could all be meaningless hyperbole, but I sure wish he had said some of the things we wanted to hear.

I don't know guys.

[BCPanther]

He seems like he'd be destined for Iowa City given the exodus there, no?

You think the collective and fan base down there are going to accept the 3rd string guy at Iowa State?

He was way overcooked coming out of high school. He was always an FCS kid.

[kochrab]

Why not say my goal is to build champions and win championships?

I'm pretty sure that's the full job description.

I'm not sure we were listening to the same thing. I'm pretty sure I heard him say that very thing with wanting to build champions and desiring to pursue championships fully understanding the expectations of this university. That came across clearly to me. I really like him.

[kochrab]

Also, one of the things that I really like that he said in his speech is the reality of what happens when football is over. I understand that we all want the best of the best players, I believe Coach Stepsis does as well, but as a coach, you carry the burden of what happens to your players after football is over, whether that be NFL or after college. You cannot have the churn and burn philosophy of just burning through guys and screw whatever happens after--that's not a coach I want at our school.

[clenz]

Slept on it all and here is a more rational take than I would have had yesterday regarding "champions vs championships"

It would be one thing if he messaged it all something line “Our goal is winning championships. However, to do that we need to develop the mentality of champions, on and off the field. It's not enough to have talent. We have to have the mentality to attack every day, on and off the field, with the mentality of a champion. Everything we do in life, and football, must be done with intentionality. We do that and everything else will fall into place. It will lead to championships, but more importantly, for the kids, it will lead to them being champions in life as well.”

But when you word it the way he does, combined with saying he isn’t in this for wins or titles, and he has to be talked into the job by his 11-year-old daughter it’s a bit of a hard pill to swallow for some/many.

Maybe he just messaged everything he said in ways I don't understand, and that's on me. I get it. Maybe when he met with the legacy team and the players it is was different and it is more of that attitude. But when you’re the coach you have to “win” media and fans over from the start. Messaging matters. At a place like UNI to say “it’s not about wins or championships. It’s about building champions” and leave it at that is a tough pill to swallow.

Yes, he said acknowledged the history at UNI and the goal here is to add those titles. It just came across as those are secondary, hell maybe quaternary, in his list of things to accomplish and worry about.

He hasn't coached. He hasn't signed a single recruit. He has plenty of time to prove me to be the most levels of wrong with how I took those statements. I have rarely wanted to be wrong more than I do right now. I hope he does it.

Also, to be clear, I don' think he's a bad coach. On the flip side I think he's probably pretty solid. My worry is how his experience at only non-scholarship programs will translate. Maybe it will actually be easier for him because he can finally give money to kids he is trying to recruit. On the flip side, he isn't recruiting against Grandview, Morningside, Valpo, NWMOST, Upper Iowa, Sioux Falls, Simpson, etc. anymore. He is up against the Dakotas and Iowa and Iowa State and Wisconsin and a list of others. I like what he said about closing our borders to those schools. Let's see if he can do it. I just hope he doesn't focus so much on closing our borders that we lose track of the areas outside of our borders that have made us great in the past.

[kochrab]

Also, to be clear, I don' think he's a bad coach. On the flip side I think he's probably pretty solid. My worry is how his experience at only non-scholarship programs will translate. Maybe it will actually be easier for him because he can finally give money to kids he is trying to recruit. On the flip side, he isn't recruiting against Grandview, Morningside, Valpo, NWMOST, Upper Iowa, Sioux Falls, Simpson, etc. anymore. He is up against the Dakotas and Iowa and Iowa State and Wisconsin and a list of others. I like what he said about closing our borders to those schools. Let's see if he can do it. I just hope he doesn't focus so much on closing our borders that we lose track of the areas outside of our borders that have made us great in the past.

One thing that I heard him say, and I remember BC saying this too, is that Drake is non-scholly because they use those funds kids pay to attend Drake to fund programs (I didn't think of it like that until BC's comment). He mentioned that he has had many kids who wanted to play for him but couldn't afford the tuition. At UNI, he's finally able to have access to a wider pool of people with a lower tuition cost, scholarships, etc... I think that's a big deal too.

Ultimately, the proof will be in what happens this next season and going forward. It's all hearsay until then.