DVC: February 2009 Archives

According to Naperville North athletic director Doug Smith, Harshbarger-Welzel Field will be ready for the beginning of next season. Its renovation pushed the Huskies and linebacker Nick Lifka (pictured) to Benedictine for the first and second rounds of the 2008 playoffs, but coming off a 10-1 season they are expected to have a full slate of home games.

The 2009 schedule includes nonconference games against Neuqua Valley and St. Charles East, an Oct. 2 crosstown matchup versus Naperville Central at North Central College and a new DuPage Valley Conference rotation. The Wheaton Warrenville South showdown has been moved from Week 9 to Week 5.

NAPERVILLE NORTH 2009 SCHEDULE
Aug. 28 at Neuqua Valley
Sept. 4 vs. St. Charles East
Sept. 11 at Glenbard North
Sept. 18 vs. West Aurora
Sept. 25 vs. Wheaton Warrenville South
Oct. 2 vs. Naperville Central at North Central College
Oct. 9 at Glenbard East
Oct. 16 vs. Wheaton North
Oct. 23 vs. West Chicago

All games are scheduled for Fridays at 7:30 p.m.

When the ACC raided the Big East a few years ago, it created a ripple effect across the country. It can still be felt in Lincoln Park, where the DePaul hoops program is 0-13 in the rugged Big East. To make matters worse, its next two games are against Pittsburgh and Villanova, which combined are 43-7.

With that in mind - and on a much smaller scale - we looked at the recent rumblings of defections and realignment within the area's conferences. In the same way that Miami football can set off a chain of events that impacts DePaul basketball, the Western Sun's potential movement could force the DuPage Valley and Upstate Eight to make some decisions.

Before we go any further, let's stress that nothing is about to happen. Last week Metea Valley principal Jim Schmid was gracious enough to field our hypothetical questions before a single practice was held at the school, and said the UEC would require some advance notice.

"It's usually at least a year. I know that when DeKalb left, they let us know about a (year-plus) ahead of time. It's usually primarily because of scheduling," Schmid said. "It's certainly ample time where they're able (to) deal with the nuances of primarily the football schedule, (which) is the most challenging one."

Football may not drive everything at every school, but it's a major consideration. Jim Owczarski and Rick Armstrong mapped out some potential scenarios in the Beacon News. What if dominos start falling and, say, a West Chicago leaves the DVC? Or if Geneva spins out and links up with the St. Charles schools? The Glenbard schools aren't all in the same conference - should District 204 stay together?

This is entirely a game of "what-if." But if you were an area athletic director, what would you be looking for to protect your football program's interest?

Recruiting comes down to where you fit on a program's big board. If a team needs a quarterback, Illinois would be a good place to look.

Of the top 30 juniors in the Chicago area, five are quarterbacks, all of whom are slotted within the first 21 spots. The list compiled by Taylor Bell and Tom Lemming includes Chandler Whitmer (Downers Grove South) at No. 6, John Whitelaw (Hinsdale Central) at No. 7 and Taylor Graham (Wheaton North) at No. 19. It appears the class of 2010 is stocked at the position.

It's winter, so Naperville Central guard Nick Linne is into basketball. But the spread offense quarterback who was responsible for more than 2,000 yards of total offense as a junior has begun receiving the mass mailings from college football programs, Arizona and Northern Illinois in particular. But baseball is another sport the 6-foot-1-inch, 195-pound athlete could potentially play on the next level. Linne said he'll be more prepared to weigh his options after the spring season.

"Really either football or baseball," Linne said. "Right now (I'm) really focused on football because I've already had my junior season. ... I still have to play my junior season for baseball and you really don't start getting letters for baseball until after that junior season so I got a ways to go."

Central's football and baseball programs enjoy state-wide reputations and its athletes are encouraged to play both sports. But relatively speaking the baseball team, which won a state championship in 2006, may have a slightly higher profile. Assistant Phil Lawler - whose son Scott is the associate head baseball coach at Notre Dame and brother Jim was a long-time assistant at Texas A&M - could open some doors.

"Coach Lawler's got a bunch of connections," Linne said. "If you're playing good for our team, he's going to get your name out there."

Arizona is a relatively short flight from Chicago, and within days pitchers and catchers will report, giving the city's baseball fans a chance to escape the deep freeze. The White Sox recently moved their spring training facility away from Tucson to Glendale, but the college town is still a draw for transplants.

Bill Bedenbaugh has carved out a nice little niche for himself as the Arizona offensive line/running game coordinator. The Wildcats assistant is from St. Charles and later played at Iowa Wesleyan for Mike Leach, the passing-game savant, lover of pirates and his future boss at Texas Tech.

Part of Bedenbaugh's recruiting territory is Illinois, where he knows several coaches from his playing days. Bedenbaugh helped lure Nick Booth, the former Naperville North running back, out of the College of DuPage. This recruiting cycle Bedenbaugh landed North offensive lineman Jake Baratz. The assistant has also tried to convince Naperville Central wide receiver Riley O'Toole to accept a spot in Tucson as a preferred walk-on.

Over the phone on Wednesday, Bedenbaugh offered this nugget: Outside of Arizona and California, Illinois sends the most students to the university. That's general-population figures, but a specific selling point to recruits is New Year's Day.

"I grew up in that area. And you grow up watching the Big Ten vs. the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl. Those people in the Midwest are more familiar with the Pac-10 than most parts of the country," Bedenbaugh said. "You grow up watching that and that being the bowl game. You get a feel for the other Pac-10 teams."

Wednesday is the NCAA National Letter of Intent signing day for football, as well as several other sports, and we want to talk to you about it. Join Sun staff writers Patrick Mooney and Paul LaTour and Beacon News football writer Jim Owczarski live throughout the day to talk about who is going where and why.