from tuesday's (july 21) terre haute tribune-star....
MVFC Media Day: ISU hopes ’09 reality doesn’t match perception
By Todd Golden
The Tribune-Star
St. Louis — If it’s July, it must mean one thing in Missouri Valley Football Conference circles.
It’s MVFC Media Day … and Indiana State was picked to finish last in the conference.
It’s a “tradition” that dates to 2002, the last time ISU wasn’t tabbed for the bottom spot in the Gateway/MVFC preseason poll. The Sycamores were a near unanimous pick to finish in the league’s basement.
This is nothing new for the Sycamores, who have the nation’s longest losing streak at 26 consecutive losses, and who have been an overwhelming last place pick every year since 2003.
Every year at media day, the Sycamore players who make the trip to St. Louis take a defiant tone and stress their desire to prove the pollsters wrong … and then fall well short of the mark.
The difference this season might come down to simple action speaking louder than words. The Sycamores have worked a lot harder in the offseason than they have during their 2000s doldrums — the players have worked harder in offseason activities and the coaches have worked harder to recruit.
Given the improvement the team showed through the course of the MVFC season last year, along with complete participation in all team offseason activities, there is more optimism around the ISU program than its lot in the MVFC pecking order suggests., or its recent win total, might suggest.
“A lot of teams are going to be shocked. I’ve been around a lot of losing teams, I can honestly say I don’t feel this is a losing team. We’ve never had higher participation in what we do during the summer,” said ISU safety Donye McCleskey, who was an All-MVFC honorable mention selection, along with fellow safety Alex Sewall.
ISU defensive end Daniel Millington admitted that motivation in past season’s isn’t enough without the work to go with it.
“We’ve used [getting picked last] as motivation the last several years, but obviously, we didn’t put in the work to show for it like we have this past summer and winter. I think this year is going to be different. Everyone has the desire, everyone’s hungry. We owe it to each other, having worked beside each other, to win for each other,” Millington said.
Motivational tool or not, preseason polls ultimately mean nothing once the real action begins. McCleskey acknowledged that, but as far as how the poll can influence the Sycamores for the better, he approached it from what might appear at first to be a contradictory angle.
“As far as our place in the pecking order? We can blow it off and use it as motivation,” McCleskey said. “They have every right to their opinion, we haven’t won a game in three years, so if you put yourself in their position, you might do the same thing, but they don’t know what’s going on with us now. I know what’s going on. It’s motivation and you blow it off. You use it, but you don’t let it get to you.”
ISU coach Trent Miles didn’t disagree with anything his players said, or, the progress the program has made in terms of putting in the offseason effort to earn elusive wins. On the other hand, Miles minced no words when it came to the perception the Sycamores have around the league and their spot in the pecking order.
“You’ve got to pick us last. You have no choice … I picked us last,” Miles said. “We have the longest losing streak in the nation, until we prove we can win, you have to pick us last. But our confidence is rising and rising everyday. We’re probably the most confident 1-50 team [ISU’s record since mid-2004] in America. We know what we can do, we know what we’re about, we know what we stand for.
“We’re winning everywhere else, it just needs to flip over to winning on the field. They believe they’re going to win games, we just need to do it, we need to get that first one to get the monkey off their back.”
Not only does Miles feel the Sycamores are still in building mode, he goes so far to use the construction of a house as a metaphor.
“Wins are the last thing to come. It’s like building a house. The concrete was poured and its hardened. Now the frame is going up. Is all the furniture inside and is the drywall up yet? We’re not quite there yet, but you can see the structure of your home now. You can visualize living in there. That’s where we’re at now,” Miles said.
Northern Iowa — national runner-up in 2008 — was chosen as the league favorite and the Panthers had seven players on the All-MVFC preseason team. Southern Illinois was chosen second, the Salukis had four All-MVFC defenders.
ISU begins its regular season at home against Quincy on Aug. 27.
MVFC Media Day: ISU hopes ’09 reality doesn’t match perception
By Todd Golden
The Tribune-Star
St. Louis — If it’s July, it must mean one thing in Missouri Valley Football Conference circles.
It’s MVFC Media Day … and Indiana State was picked to finish last in the conference.
It’s a “tradition” that dates to 2002, the last time ISU wasn’t tabbed for the bottom spot in the Gateway/MVFC preseason poll. The Sycamores were a near unanimous pick to finish in the league’s basement.
This is nothing new for the Sycamores, who have the nation’s longest losing streak at 26 consecutive losses, and who have been an overwhelming last place pick every year since 2003.
Every year at media day, the Sycamore players who make the trip to St. Louis take a defiant tone and stress their desire to prove the pollsters wrong … and then fall well short of the mark.
The difference this season might come down to simple action speaking louder than words. The Sycamores have worked a lot harder in the offseason than they have during their 2000s doldrums — the players have worked harder in offseason activities and the coaches have worked harder to recruit.
Given the improvement the team showed through the course of the MVFC season last year, along with complete participation in all team offseason activities, there is more optimism around the ISU program than its lot in the MVFC pecking order suggests., or its recent win total, might suggest.
“A lot of teams are going to be shocked. I’ve been around a lot of losing teams, I can honestly say I don’t feel this is a losing team. We’ve never had higher participation in what we do during the summer,” said ISU safety Donye McCleskey, who was an All-MVFC honorable mention selection, along with fellow safety Alex Sewall.
ISU defensive end Daniel Millington admitted that motivation in past season’s isn’t enough without the work to go with it.
“We’ve used [getting picked last] as motivation the last several years, but obviously, we didn’t put in the work to show for it like we have this past summer and winter. I think this year is going to be different. Everyone has the desire, everyone’s hungry. We owe it to each other, having worked beside each other, to win for each other,” Millington said.
Motivational tool or not, preseason polls ultimately mean nothing once the real action begins. McCleskey acknowledged that, but as far as how the poll can influence the Sycamores for the better, he approached it from what might appear at first to be a contradictory angle.
“As far as our place in the pecking order? We can blow it off and use it as motivation,” McCleskey said. “They have every right to their opinion, we haven’t won a game in three years, so if you put yourself in their position, you might do the same thing, but they don’t know what’s going on with us now. I know what’s going on. It’s motivation and you blow it off. You use it, but you don’t let it get to you.”
ISU coach Trent Miles didn’t disagree with anything his players said, or, the progress the program has made in terms of putting in the offseason effort to earn elusive wins. On the other hand, Miles minced no words when it came to the perception the Sycamores have around the league and their spot in the pecking order.
“You’ve got to pick us last. You have no choice … I picked us last,” Miles said. “We have the longest losing streak in the nation, until we prove we can win, you have to pick us last. But our confidence is rising and rising everyday. We’re probably the most confident 1-50 team [ISU’s record since mid-2004] in America. We know what we can do, we know what we’re about, we know what we stand for.
“We’re winning everywhere else, it just needs to flip over to winning on the field. They believe they’re going to win games, we just need to do it, we need to get that first one to get the monkey off their back.”
Not only does Miles feel the Sycamores are still in building mode, he goes so far to use the construction of a house as a metaphor.
“Wins are the last thing to come. It’s like building a house. The concrete was poured and its hardened. Now the frame is going up. Is all the furniture inside and is the drywall up yet? We’re not quite there yet, but you can see the structure of your home now. You can visualize living in there. That’s where we’re at now,” Miles said.
Northern Iowa — national runner-up in 2008 — was chosen as the league favorite and the Panthers had seven players on the All-MVFC preseason team. Southern Illinois was chosen second, the Salukis had four All-MVFC defenders.
ISU begins its regular season at home against Quincy on Aug. 27.
