Western Illinois opened fall camp this week under first-year head coach and WIU alum Myers Hendrickson. (photo courtesy WIU)

Football coaches often talk about wide open position battles this time of year. Perhaps that has never been more true than this fall under first-year head coach and Western Illinois alum Myers Hendrickson.

Graduation and the transfer portal left Hendrickson tasked with rebuilding a team that had just 58 players listed on the roster for April’s annual Bruce Craddock Memorial Spring Game.

“I’m really excited to be back at Western,” the 33-year-old Hendrickson said during Monday’s Missouri Valley Football Conference media days Zoom call. “We’re gearing up for fall.”

Part of that gearing up included adding players to the Leatherneck roster.

“We’ll be at 110 for fall camp,” Hendrickson said following a whirlwind of recruiting both transfers and high school athletes.

“Right now our strength lies in competition, so right now our players know where we stand and there’s open competition at every position,” Hendrickson said. “In fairness to the team and the players, I’m not going to pinpoint any position group here this afternoon.”

“What I tell the team is to look at challenges as opportunity. We’ve got a huge opportunity in front of us,” he said. “You look at where we were at in the winter (when I got hired). I felt like we had a great spring.”

Hendrickson further explained that his staff broke the roster into off-season team-building units.

“We competed in everything that we did — the classroom, community service, weight room competitions. In college football you get the student-athletes on the field for such as small period of time, so I think we really grew that way in our team chemistry and program development.

“That led us into a strong spring ball . . . and then summer. Our players were here and worked really hard.”

The Leathernecks began fall camp Monday in preparation of their season opener Sept. 1 at UT-Martin.

WIU visits the University of Minnesota Sept. 10 and then has its home opener Sept. 17 against Southern Utah, a nonleague opponent from the Big Sky Conference.

The Leathernecks host Northern Iowa to begin the Missouri Valley schedule Sept. 24 at Hanson Field in Macomb.

“It’s such a thin line between what your record is. From being 2-9 or 6-5 it’s just an incredibly thin line,” said Hendrickson, who played for the Leathernecks from 2009-11 when his father Mark was the Western head coach.

A winning track record

Henrickson is accustomed to success. He accumulated a 30-4 record, which included two Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) championship titles, at NAIA Kansas Wesleyan prior to being hired at WIU.

Being a new coach is one thing. Being a new coach with nearly an entirely rebuilt roster is another. Does that put added importance on the fall camp practices?

“Absolutely,” Hendrickson said. “Now our roster has doubled (since spring). So now the challenge to our staff is as we plan every period and every rep of practice to make sure that we improve every single day.

“You only get one practice a day during camp according to the NCAA rules so we have to be precise and very efficient. We have to make every practice count as we get ready for Tennessee Martin.”

I’m not sure when ChicagoNow will stop existing, but I thought I would get this out to you ASAP.

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I’m going to keep my Catholic theme of writing going, but I’m also going to talk about navigating my senior years. I’ve been a senior for a while, so I have a bit of experience.

I exported all your emails to the new site (I don’t know if it even worked), but if you’re not interested, no hard feelings. Feel free to unsubscribe.

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Patty Viverito has been the Missouri Valley Football Conference commissioner since the league’s inception in 1985. While she has seen change, today’s issues stand atop the mountain of transition.

“In my 40 years working in college sports, I have never witnessed so much uncertainty in the collegiate landscape,” Viverito said during Monday’s MVFC media days opening Zoom session.

“We’ve got the continuing pandemic. We’ve got the transformation committee working on issues that surround our transfer rules, our name, image and likeness rules,” she said, also noting conference realignment and legal issues.

Yet, Viverito does also see positives.

“Despite that upheaval, we didn’t just get through the 2021 season,” Viverito said, “we had unprecedented success.”

The 70-year-old commissioner then listed the MVFC’s many achievements from wins over FBS teams to establishing the league as the best at the FCS level to North Dakota State capping the year with yet another national championship.

She also noted that the conference is coming off a season in which six of its members made the 24-school playoff field, the highest total in its history. Southern Illinois was one of those six playoff qualifiers; in fact, the Salukis have made the postseason two straight seasons.

Illinois State and Western Illinois are also members of the 11-team conference. Murray State, in its final year in the Ohio Valley Conference, joins the football league next season.

The MVFC has reached the FCS title game 11 straight seasons. Of course that total is mostly thanks for North Dakota State, winners of nine national titles since 2011.

Moreover, that stronghold seems even greater as former FCS title rivals James Madison, Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State are transitioning to the FBS level.

Asked if the Bison dominance was good for FCS as a whole, Viverito said, “I think every time you win a national championship is a good thing. I’ll leave it at that.”

The future of FCS

Given the uncertainty of collegiate football as the FBS appears to be headed toward mega conferences, where do teams at the FCS level fit in?

“I think that is a league-wide discussion that will ultimately be decided by (university) presidents,” Viverito said. “I can tell you that each and every year I get to (each conference) campus and this year will be no exception.”

Viverito also shared that she will no longer be serving as league commissioner on a multisport level, thus giving her time to focus solely on football.

“This year I’ll be able to come early, stay late. I intend to meet with every coach, every AD and every president over the course of this fall,” she said. “As things unfold nationally, I think we have to have a game plan in place for how we will fit into whatever landscape develops.

“To me, the key to success across the entire division is that we maintain our ties to the highest level of Division I football. And that’s for the good of the game.”

Western Illinois opened fall camp this week under first-year head coach and WIU alum Myers Hendrickson. (photo courtesy WIU)

Football coaches often talk about wide open position battles this time of year. Perhaps that has never been more true than this fall under first-year head coach and Western Illinois alum Myers Hendrickson.

Graduation and the transfer portal left Hendrickson tasked with rebuilding a team that had just 58 players listed on the roster for April’s annual Bruce Craddock Memorial Spring Game.

“I’m really excited to be back at Western,” the 33-year-old Hendrickson said during Monday’s Missouri Valley Football Conference media days Zoom call. “We’re gearing up for fall.”

Part of that gearing up included adding players to the Leatherneck roster.

“We’ll be at 110 for fall camp,” Hendrickson said following a whirlwind of recruiting both transfers and high school athletes.

“Right now our strength lies in competition, so right now our players know where we stand and there’s open competition at every position,” Hendrickson said. “In fairness to the team and the players, I’m not going to pinpoint any position group here this afternoon.”

“What I tell the team is to look at challenges as opportunity. We’ve got a huge opportunity in front of us,” he said. “You look at where we were at in the winter (when I got hired). I felt like we had a great spring.”

Hendrickson further explained that his staff broke the roster into off-season team-building units.

“We competed in everything that we did — the classroom, community service, weight room competitions. In college football you get the student-athletes on the field for such as small period of time, so I think we really grew that way in our team chemistry and program development.

“That led us into a strong spring ball . . . and then summer. Our players were here and worked really hard.”

The Leathernecks began fall camp Monday in preparation of their season opener Sept. 1 at UT-Martin.

WIU visits the University of Minnesota Sept. 10 and then has its home opener Sept. 17 against Southern Utah, a nonleague opponent from the Big Sky Conference.

The Leathernecks host Northern Iowa to begin the Missouri Valley schedule Sept. 24 at Hanson Field in Macomb.

“It’s such a thin line between what your record is. From being 2-9 or 6-5 it’s just an incredibly thin line,” said Hendrickson, who played for the Leathernecks from 2009-11 when his father Mark was the Western head coach.

A winning track record

Henrickson is accustomed to success. He accumulated a 30-4 record, which included two Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) championship titles, at NAIA Kansas Wesleyan prior to being hired at WIU.

Being a new coach is one thing. Being a new coach with nearly an entirely rebuilt roster is another. Does that put added importance on the fall camp practices?

“Absolutely,” Hendrickson said. “Now our roster has doubled (since spring). So now the challenge to our staff is as we plan every period and every rep of practice to make sure that we improve every single day.

“You only get one practice a day during camp according to the NCAA rules so we have to be precise and very efficient. We have to make every practice count as we get ready for Tennessee Martin.”

I’m not sure when ChicagoNow will stop existing, but I thought I would get this out to you ASAP.

I have no idea how this is going to work, but I decided to try Substack to see what happens. I do have other options which I’ll investigate eventually.

I’m going to keep my Catholic theme of writing going, but I’m also going to talk about navigating my senior years. I’ve been a senior for a while, so I have a bit of experience.

I exported all your emails to the new site (I don’t know if it even worked), but if you’re not interested, no hard feelings. Feel free to unsubscribe.

I’m still on Facebook so I welcome your interaction, following and sharing!

Substack here I come!

Patty Viverito has been the Missouri Valley Football Conference commissioner since the league’s inception in 1985. While she has seen change, today’s issues stand atop the mountain of transition.

“In my 40 years working in college sports, I have never witnessed so much uncertainty in the collegiate landscape,” Viverito said during Monday’s MVFC media days opening Zoom session.

“We’ve got the continuing pandemic. We’ve got the transformation committee working on issues that surround our transfer rules, our name, image and likeness rules,” she said, also noting conference realignment and legal issues.

Yet, Viverito does also see positives.

“Despite that upheaval, we didn’t just get through the 2021 season,” Viverito said, “we had unprecedented success.”

The 70-year-old commissioner then listed the MVFC’s many achievements from wins over FBS teams to establishing the league as the best at the FCS level to North Dakota State capping the year with yet another national championship.

She also noted that the conference is coming off a season in which six of its members made the 24-school playoff field, the highest total in its history. Southern Illinois was one of those six playoff qualifiers; in fact, the Salukis have made the postseason two straight seasons.

Illinois State and Western Illinois are also members of the 11-team conference. Murray State, in its final year in the Ohio Valley Conference, joins the football league next season.

The MVFC has reached the FCS title game 11 straight seasons. Of course that total is mostly thanks for North Dakota State, winners of nine national titles since 2011.

Moreover, that stronghold seems even greater as former FCS title rivals James Madison, Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State are transitioning to the FBS level.

Asked if the Bison dominance was good for FCS as a whole, Viverito said, “I think every time you win a national championship is a good thing. I’ll leave it at that.”

The future of FCS

Given the uncertainty of collegiate football as the FBS appears to be headed toward mega conferences, where do teams at the FCS level fit in?

“I think that is a league-wide discussion that will ultimately be decided by (university) presidents,” Viverito said. “I can tell you that each and every year I get to (each conference) campus and this year will be no exception.”

Viverito also shared that she will no longer be serving as league commissioner on a multisport level, thus giving her time to focus solely on football.

“This year I’ll be able to come early, stay late. I intend to meet with every coach, every AD and every president over the course of this fall,” she said. “As things unfold nationally, I think we have to have a game plan in place for how we will fit into whatever landscape develops.

“To me, the key to success across the entire division is that we maintain our ties to the highest level of Division I football. And that’s for the good of the game.”

I’m not sure when ChicagoNow will stop existing, but I thought I would get this out to you ASAP.

I have no idea how this is going to work, but I decided to try Substack to see what happens. I do have other options which I’ll investigate eventually.

I’m going to keep my Catholic theme of writing going, but I’m also going to talk about navigating my senior years. I’ve been a senior for a while, so I have a bit of experience.

I exported all your emails to the new site (I don’t know if it even worked), but if you’re not interested, no hard feelings. Feel free to unsubscribe.

I’m still on Facebook so I welcome your interaction, following and sharing!

Substack here I come!