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RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Dawg_tired — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:06:21 GMT

Can I get an Amen?

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mc Bulldog — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:35:33 GMT

The more I read about Coach Creighton, the more I think he is the perfect fit. I've talked with him, he is a Ron Paul man.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Dawg_tired — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:43:56 GMT

In his blog he said God wanted him to be here. I didn't know
God followed football. Things are looking up. Maybe we'll go back to scholarship D1. I think he's a Hucklebee supporter.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:11:36 GMT

http://www.journalreview.com/articles/2007/12/26/sports/03creighton.txt

Another story from the local Wabash paper. It has a few interesting tidbits:

[quote]Creighton said the next item he has to find out is what role he’s going to play on the offensive staff. He served as Wabash’s offensive coordinator, but he’s unsure whether he will continue those duties at Drake.

“It will be hard for me to not be involved in the offense and calling the plays in some way,” Creighton said. “We are just going to have to see how all the pieces fit together.”

...

He said the main selling point in making the move was the ability to work with his players more often, as Division III rules limited the amount of time he could work with them.

“Drake has a Division I athletic department at a Division I school with a Division I calendar,” Creighton said. “It’s non-scholarship football, so the athletes we will be recruiting are going to be similar to Wabash. The athletes we recruit are going to be talented and passionate about the game of football. But we are going to be able to be with them more.”

Drake’s staff asked Creighton during the season if he would consider making the move to Des Moines, Iowa, and Creighton told them he would be open to talk after the Little Giant season was complete. Drake officials called Creighton on Dec. 14 and asked him to come out and interview Dec. 18.

“During the time I was there I got the sense that I was the type of person they were looking for and I got a growing sense that this was going to happen,” Creighton said. “The AD dropped me off at the airport and I was sitting there in my suit and tie and I just started crying because everything was just so overwhelming and it happened so fast. I had some requests and they met those requests, so I accepted the job.”[/quote]

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:33:26 GMT

http://www2.wabash.edu/blog/goodtogreat/2007/12/the_best_seven_years_of_my_lif_1.html

Creighton's Wabash blog has a farewell letter to the Wabash fans. He talks a little about how he took the Drake job. He sounds like a man of great faith:

[quote]A couple of weeks ago I got a call asking if I would be willing to talk about being the Head Football Coach at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. What transpired in the past couple of weeks is eerily similar to what happened seven years ago. I was not looking to leave Wabash and didn’t want to leave Wabash. I have said a million of times that it is not about “stepping up” or going to a “higher level.” There is no higher level than Wabash.†

I have always been committed to being where I believe God wants me to be. I have screwed up many parts of my life many times but this is an area where I truly want to be 100% on the mark. I want to be where God wants me to be and although leaving Wabash is going to be extremely painful for my family and I, we are convinced that we are supposed to go to Drake University. We believe that God has special things in store for Drake and we are excited about being a part of that.[/quote]

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:17:03 GMT

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071221/SPORTS020402/71221025/-1/SPORTS01

Weather has postponed today's news conference where Drake was to introduce Creighton as the new coach. The news conference is rescheduled for tomorrow at 2pm, which will be in the middle of a freakin' blizzard.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Herdman — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 06:25:11 GMT

Bulldogs choose Division III coach

REGISTER STAFF REPORT • December 21, 2007

Drake has hired Wabash College's Chris Creighton as its new football coach, Wabash officials confirmed Thursday.

Creighton compiled a 63-15 record in seven seasons at the Indiana school. He replaces Steve Loney, who finished 6-5 in one season as interim Bulldogs coach.

"This was a really hard decision to make," Creighton said in a news release. "These last seven years at Wabash have been the best years of my life, both on the field and off."

Drake announced a 2 p.m. news conference today to introduce the coach.

Bulldog officials did not return repeated calls from The Des Moines Register during the day Thursday. Athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb, contacted early Thursday night, declined to confirm or deny the hiring.

"Chris Creighton is a great coach and a great teacher, a mentor who models personal integrity," Wabash President Patrick White said in a statement.

Wabash, in Crawfordsville, Ind., reached the Elite Eight of the Division III playoffs this season before falling to eventual national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Drake is a Division I-AA non-scholarship program.

Creighton was named North Coast Athletic Conference coach of the year in 2002, '05 and '07. He and his wife, Heather, have two young daughters - Hallie and Kate - and an infant son, Luke.

This is a super hire for Drake. Nice job SHC. I do feel a little bad for current assistant coaches who have been a round the Drake community for a long time and didn't get the post however. I guess Sandy wanted a clean skate. Oh well that's college athletics.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:31:35 GMT

http://www.journalreview.com/articles/2007/12/20/viewpoints/01sam.txt

A local columnist has a nice farewell to Creighton:

[quote]In that time I learned that, yes, Creighton is one heckuva football coach. He is also a family man and a very approachable man.

After every game, win or lose, Creighton would kiss his wife Heather and pick up his oldest daughter, Hallie. He’d follow that with congratulating individuals on his team. Then, after all that, Creighton would approach the media.[/quote]

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Blue Bulldog X — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:44:01 GMT

I think this is a great hire (although we don't know about any internal candidates). He's been a substantial winner in both of his head coaching positions, knows how to recruit in a NS program with decent academics and from what I know of Sandy C. he will have very solid character.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

LurkingDog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:34:10 GMT

I see that in 2006, Wabash drew 5,400 per home game (I haven't seen 2007 figures). That was good for #2 home attendance in D-III. 11,669 showed for the DePauw game--which required them to bring in bleachers to more than double their seating capacity of 5,000.

The same year, Drake was around 4,300 pg.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

LurkingDog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:11:19 GMT

Wabash has one of college football's oldest rivalries, with DePauw. It's a big D-III trophy game.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

LurkingDog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:07:58 GMT

Mecha_Bulldog (12/20/2007)

Looking at their defensive starters, it looks like their base defense last year was a 4-3. They also started four games with three lineman and what looks like an extra linebacker playing a position abbreviated J-B. What's that?

I suspect it's a second strong safety, kind of like BYU's "Cougar Back" position. Coach probably has his own nickname for it.

4 down linemen, 2 lb, 2 corners, 2 strong safeties, 1 free safety.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:34:08 GMT

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:43:56 GMT

http://www.wabash.edu/sports/docs/footballstats/2007/teamcume.htm

There's their stats from last year. Wabash won its first 9 games last year. Their average score was 29.9 to 18.1, so they didn't overwhelm a lot of opponents. Offensively, they averaged 101.8 rushing yards and 284.6 passing yards per game. On the season, they rushed 380 times, and passed 450 times. It could just be a matter of personnel, but it looks like he runs a pass-oriented offense.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:29:23 GMT

Crawfordsville, Indiana. Looks like it's about 40-50 miles NW of Indianapolis on I-74.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Crawfordsville,+IN,+United+States+of+America&ie=UTF8&ll=40.025511,-86.039429&spn=0.967477,2.438965&z=9&iwloc=addr&om=1

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

DUBulldog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:04:51 GMT

Where is Wabash College?

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:56:40 GMT

http://www.thepaper24-7.com/main.asp?SectionID=23&SubSectionID=22&ArticleID=13542

There's a local story.

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mc Bulldog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:53:59 GMT

As soon as found out about this guy I contacted SHC .. she had never heard of him. He is a heck of a great man and will be a heck of a great coach. Thank me later with cash .. no checks please.

Seriously, has anyone ever heard of him before?

RE: New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:48:17 GMT

http://www2.wabash.edu/blog/goodtogreat/

He kept a blog at Wabash.

New Football Coach Chris Creighton

Mecha_Bulldog — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:41:41 GMT

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071220/SPORTS020402/71220053

[quote]Drake has hired Wabash College’s Chris Creighton as its new football coach, Wabash officials confirmed this afternoon.

Creighton compiled a 63-15 record in seven seasons.[/quote]

Creighton?!?