Coach Lea

[jackrabbit1979]

A comment on the bottom of TV's Blog entry hinted at Coach Lea taking a position at UCLA....has anybody else heard anything?

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...rgusleader.com

[musicman]

Re: Coach Lea

Yes he is - we where at the football banquet where they made the announcement. Great coach and all around great guy. He was due to flyout I think on Monday. Speaks highly of not only the players Stig recruits but also the coaches he is able to hire.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Coach Lea

USD lost their O-coord today to Hawaii where he will be their new o-line coach. U now looking for o and d coordinators.

[jackmd]

Re: Coach Lea

USD lost their O-coord today to Hawaii where he will be their new o-line coach. U now looking for o and d coordinators.

When they signed Shaw I was wondering what the heck is this guy doing? Someone mentioned that he had family near Vermillion and a relationship with Meirkort. I'm not at all surprised to see him leave for Hawaii. He is one heck of an O-line coach, at least thats what Hawaii is counting on. When a program has success you expect coaches to move on. Success isn't really what I would describe going on at USD and now they have lost both head coordinators.

[BTownJack]

Re: Coach Lea

When they signed Shaw I was wondering what the heck is this guy doing? Someone mentioned that he had family near Vermillion and a relationship with Meirkort. I'm not at all surprised to see him leave for Hawaii. He is one heck of an O-line coach, at least thats what Hawaii is counting on. When a program has success you expect coaches to move on. Success isn't really what I would describe going on at USD and now they have lost both head coordinators.

Or how they have lost numerous coaches and administrators since announcing the D-I move.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Coach Lea

Kind of funny, in the Argus today Meierkort basically says as long as they are successful they will lose coaches? Huh? Shaw was there one year and it was a successful year? Losing to 1-AA schools and pounding bad NAIA programs?

I'm not a big Meierkort fan to begin with. He recruited my bro-in-law and was not the nicest guy. Then a couple years ago he recruits a family firend. That young man, a highly touted HS player at the time, verballed to USD but then backed out after Brad Salem entered the picture. Meierkort found out and basically hounded the kid to the point where the father had to intervene.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Coach Lea

Or how they have lost numerous coaches and administrators since announcing the D-I move.

Like I said earlier, I haven't followed the Jacks as close as many of you but as I get older I am really starting to enjoy following the local kids and my favorite local university. The Jack fan in me has gone from following them in print and WNAX to going to games and getting more involved. Anyway, I remember when State made the jump to D-1 five years ago. I was ecstatic (even sent Peggy Miller a thank you letter) but it seemed few around this state thought it was a good move, despite Northern Col leaving the NCC and NDSU planning to leave. I remember the folks in Vermillion were especially nasty about it. I remember Chad Lavin acting like a jerk about it during a radio interview. USD calling themselves "South Dakota's team" and talking about how State won't recruit local anymore. The way I saw it, it was a total hack job from the Vermillion people. Jump ahead 5 years and how silly and shortsighted do they look now? SDSU has done all the work and will make the transition for USD so much easier.

[Nidaros]

Re: Coach Lea

I guess Coach Lea is long gone. I opened this thread hoping to read an update about his arrival at UCLA.

In all respect to TeaJackrabbit, much of what you mentioned in the two posts to this thread has been hashed over and over. I do appreciate your loyality to SDSU. Some of the things you mention are old though, and USD has changed their outlook some, and I think they will be facing off at SDSU in many sports in the near future. Revenuewise, it can not hurt us.

As far as the comments about Mierkort, I really dont know how to respond. Recruiting I suppose gets to be very emotional, and if what you say is true, then some of his actions do not reflect postively for him or USD. I am sure you are well aware of our Classy coach and I would be surpised if stories cropped up that he did something similar.

What is classy about Coach Stig in those final years of D2, is he lost a bunch of battles with Dale Lennon, and they are still very good friends. I recall asking about a few of them. The one where we got the good kid from Crookston was a rare exception. I had a brain fart, I can't recall his name, but that speaks volumes about our Coach Stig.

[TeaJackrabbit]

Re: Coach Lea

Chris Coauette. I used to live in Crox and coached his brother Andy in Babe Ruth baseball.

[BitsTD]

Re: Coach Lea

Coach Lea has been replaced according to Monday's Argus Leader.

Shawn Mennenga is an Iowa native and former University of Missouri player. Most recently spent 4 years as D-coordinator at Fort Hays State. Also has worked at Western Kentucky and Culver-Stockton where he was head coach for three seasons.

I could not find a link to the article.

[rabbitears]

Re: Coach Lea

Found this link..
Looks like he worked with another former football coach...Doug McFadden


http://www.tigersportszone.com/tsz/football/coaches/

[musicman]

Re: Coach Lea

Coach Lea's info now shows in the UCLA Bruins Spring Football Media Guide for anyone interested.