Wayzata DC to Maple Grove

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MaxyJR1

MaxyJR1

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This is big as he was the director of the best defense in the state year after year.

From MSHSL Tweet.

"Major football coaching hire: Wayzata defensive coordinator Matt Lombardi has been named head coach at nearby Maple Grove. Wayzata has won three 5A state titles since 2005, with Lombardi's coaching one of the keys. He replaces the retiring Craig Hansen, who started the Maple Grove football program 14 years ago."
 

I attended Maple Grove when the school opened, and remember all too well going to games the first two years when Craig Hansen's teams were getting smoked by scores like 69-14. In fact, the first team didn't score until the fourth game of the season, and was outscored 200-6 in those first four games.

He did a nice job of building the program, but they were overtaken by Osseo in recent years and have struggled.
 

very good get for Maple Grove, Wayzata will deeply miss him.
Think of all the defense players he coached.
-Dom Barber (Minnesota and Teans )
-James L (Ohio State and St. Louis Rams)
-Grant Olsen (NDSU)
-Tobi Oki (Nebraska)
-Matt Tarpley (Stanford)
-Tommy Becker (Minnesota then St thomas)
 

My son played for maple grove, and Hansen did a nice job of starting the program, in fact a really nice job. But the staff actually went down hill after about year seven, and they are in too good a conference to get away with that. The first time I ever saw MBIII was in the playoffs when he made two interceptions that literally had him coming out of nowhere to take the ball. the plays were actually stunning. You knew he was quick after you saw those two plays, no way any other kid we saw that year would have gotten to those balls.
 

Damn ... I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Osseo kick the crap out of Maple Grove the past couple of years. Much of that due to the superior coach at Osseo. Maybe not so much anymore.
 


Jike Spingleton said:
I attended Maple Grove when the school opened, and remember all too well going to games the first two years when Craig Hansen's teams were getting smoked by scores like 69-14. In fact, the first team didn't score until the fourth game of the season, and was outscored 200-6 in those first four games.

He did a nice job of building the program, but they were overtaken by Osseo in recent years and have struggled.
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Might be taking over at the right time as the young families with kids that have moved to the new parts of town should be getting to High School age. Shakopee is starting to see it and so is Prior Lake.
 



This guy will find D1 linebackers aren't as easy to find at a school that is 40% smaller.
 




hater? You think the fact that his defenses are producing more D1 linebackers than the rest of the state combines is just because of his coaching?

He happens to coach at the largest school in the state. He happens to coach at one of the richest schools in the state. He is a solid coach. He is not a miracle worker. Maple Grove will be better under him than they are right now. He won't be producing a D1 linebacker every other year though.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Might be taking over at the right time as the young families with kids that have moved to the new parts of town should be getting to High School age. Shakopee is starting to see it and so is Prior Lake.
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Prior Lake and too a lesser extent Shakopee are the two cities that may be able to compete with Eden prairie and Wayzata in the coming years. Large growing schools in districts that will not open new High Schools. Think about Lakeville before they split, that is what Prior Lake is (and they won't split).

Prior Lake would have finished second in the South Suburban last year if they would have had a decent secondary.
 

They wont get better than they are currently? How do you even make a blanket statment like this without even knowing the guy? You are a hater plain and simple or maybe you are bitter that the gophers did not even offer laurinaitis a full scholorship out of high school!
 



raragophers said:
They wont get better than they are currently? How do you even make a blanket statment like this without even knowing the guy? You are a hater plain and simple or maybe you are bitter that the gophers did not even offer laurinaitis a full scholorship out of high school!
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I did say that Maple Grove would get better than they are currently......so I guess I do not know what you are talking about.
I do know the guy....so I guess you don't know what you are talking about either.
 

I was not just talking about D1 players or linebackers. Wayzata won state this year with no D1 talent on the defense side of the ball. These kids are great athletes (even thought their not d1) but their coach also puts them in a GREAT position to succeed.
And to say he isnt a good coach means your just filled with ignorance. He was the "real" head coach of the team, Anderson is just the organizer and the AD-LOL.
 

killcrew said:
I was not just talking about D1 players or linebackers. Wayzata won state this year with no D1 talent on the defense side of the ball. These kids are great athletes (even thought their not d1) but their coach also puts them in a GREAT position to succeed.
And to say he isnt a good coach means your just filled with ignorance. He was the "real" head coach of the team, Anderson is just the organizer and the AD-LOL.
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Who said he isn't a good coach?

You are getting a little defensive.
 

corcoran1 said:
My son played for maple grove, and Hansen did a nice job of starting the program, in fact a really nice job. But the staff actually went down hill after about year seven, and they are in too good a conference to get away with that. The first time I ever saw MBIII was in the playoffs when he made two interceptions that literally had him coming out of nowhere to take the ball. the plays were actually stunning. You knew he was quick after you saw those two plays, no way any other kid we saw that year would have gotten to those balls.
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Ha, I actually threw those two INT's to Barber. It was fun watching him play, albeit to our team's demise.

Craig Hansen did do a great job of building the program at MG, and I enjoyed playing under him. His first couple years were horrible, as the majority of their team were Sophmores, being that the upper-classmen stayed at Osseo for the split. Unfortunately, his staff did go down hill as Corcoran1 suggested, and his system rarely changed, and unfortunately has not been the same since. I look forward to seeing what the new coach can do, and may actually attend more than one game every other year.
 

Rosemountian said:
This guy will find D1 linebackers aren't as easy to find at a school that is 40% smaller.
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As Rose states, football is clearly a numbers game. My son plays 4 grade football in Hopkins. 3 teams. Plymouth has 8 teams. Average 15 a team. Hopkins has to find enough kids that can play starting with 45 kids in a class that play. Wayzata (Plymouth) needs to find enough kids that can play starting with 120 kids in a class. It is not rocket science.

It does not mean Plymouth is not well coached, but the size of that district, gives them huge advantages. It is no accident, that for the most part in the public schools, the same schools are good every year. It is numbers and the time and money that the community invests in the youth program.

If he is very good, he can get the community behind the youth program and improve it in Maple Grove. He will always have the numbers issue. You need a couple of special players on a given team to overcome the numbers and depth of some schools and even then it usually does not matter.
 

GVBadger said:
As Rose states, football is clearly a numbers game. My son plays 4 grade football in Hopkins. 3 teams. Plymouth has 8 teams. Average 15 a team. Hopkins has to find enough kids that can play starting with 45 kids in a class that play. Wayzata (Plymouth) needs to find enough kids that can play starting with 120 kids in a class. It is not rocket science.

It does not mean Plymouth is not well coached, but the size of that district, gives them huge advantages. It is no accident, that for the most part in the public schools, the same schools are good every year. It is numbers and the time and money that the community invests in the youth program.

If he is very good, he can get the community behind the youth program and improve it in Maple Grove. He will always have the numbers issue. You need a couple of special players on a given team to overcome the numbers and depth of some schools and even then it usually does not matter.
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I think Hopkins' staff does a great job. Staying competitive with Minnetonka, EP, and Wayzata is a tough task for them, but they seem to do it. Edina is in a really tough spot in that conference. I think the South Suburban should have left the bloomingtons behind in the Lake. They would all play 6 games and 2 non-conference games. South Suburban would have 8 teams...all play 7 games and 1 nonconference game. The bloomington schools could play with Edina in most years, it would allow them to schedule nonconference games against teams like Richfield, Cooper, Armstrong........If the South Suburban would have left the Bloomington's behind a lot of the scheduling controversy would not presently exist. Granted there is a pretty good chance Bloomington would drop out of the Lake.
 

Rosemountian said:
I think Hopkins' staff does a great job. Staying competitive with Minnetonka, EP, and Wayzata is a tough task for them, but they seem to do it. Edina is in a really tough spot in that conference. I think the South Suburban should have left the bloomingtons behind in the Lake. They would all play 6 games and 2 non-conference games. South Suburban would have 8 teams...all play 7 games and 1 nonconference game. The bloomington schools could play with Edina in most years, it would allow them to schedule nonconference games against teams like Richfield, Cooper, Armstrong........If the South Suburban would have left the Bloomington's behind a lot of the scheduling controversy would not presently exist. Granted there is a pretty good chance Bloomington would drop out of the Lake.
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Scheduling is a state-wide issue and will likely lead to the end of conferences in football altogether.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Scheduling is a state-wide issue and will likely lead to the end of conferences in football altogether.
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Scheduling is a problem for smaller schools in the outstate at times. In 5A football it is only a problem for 3 teams. 5A football drives the bus. They wouldn't blow it up if EP and Wayzata weren't complaining. They are, it is going to get blown up. It will be hard to create balanced sections and maintain rivalries. Think how bad CDH's section will be when they move Eagan into the section with the rest of the South Suburban Conference.

Redoing the entire system will benefit more than it hurts in all likelihood. But for conferences that have longstanding rivalries and few problems (South Suburban, East Suburban, NW Suburban) it will be tough to take.
 

Rosemountian said:
Scheduling is a problem for smaller schools in the outstate at times. In 5A football it is only a problem for 3 teams. 5A football drives the bus. They wouldn't blow it up if EP and Wayzata weren't complaining. They are, it is going to get blown up. It will be hard to create balanced sections and maintain rivalries. Think how bad CDH's section will be when they move Eagan into the section with the rest of the South Suburban Conference.

Redoing the entire system will benefit more than it hurts in all likelihood. But for conferences that have longstanding rivalries and few problems (South Suburban, East Suburban, NW Suburban) it will be tough to take.
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If the professionals can reallign the HS in MN can. They will get over it. I think it makes too much sense to do away with conferences in football.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
If the professionals can reallign the HS in MN can. They will get over it. I think it makes too much sense to do away with conferences in football.
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Alright, you can tell Lakeville South and Lakeville North that instead of playing Rosemount, Eastview, Apple Valley, Prior Lake,Burnsville, Eagan, and Bloomington every year that they get to drive to Rochester and Owatonna 2-3 times a year in football and 6 times in sports that play round robin schedules.

Maybe you should offer to pay that district for the extra transportation costs too.
 

Rosemountian said:
Alright, you can tell Lakeville South and Lakeville North that instead of playing Rosemount, Eastview, Apple Valley, Prior Lake,Burnsville, Eagan, and Bloomington every year that they get to drive to Rochester and Owatonna 2-3 times a year in football and 6 times in sports that play round robin schedules.

Maybe you should offer to pay that district for the extra transportation costs too.
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Who says those will be the sections? Will there be a top tier of 16-24 teams? It won't affect other sports. After reading the paper, Lakeville will just charge the kids another couple hundred dollars to play ;)

Maybe they can just limit road games to 1 bus and fewer players like colleges do? Only difference in cost from smaller schools traveling 3 hours is 1 bus. Also Owatonna might be a shorter drive without traffic of the metro. +/- to each.

I look at it mostly from out-state. If I had to travel 1 hr+ to play a conference team not in my class, why not travel 1hr+ to play a section team in a game that affects seeding? Just a thought.
 

Rosemountian said:
Alright, you can tell Lakeville South and Lakeville North that instead of playing Rosemount, Eastview, Apple Valley, Prior Lake,Burnsville, Eagan, and Bloomington every year that they get to drive to Rochester and Owatonna 2-3 times a year in football and 6 times in sports that play round robin schedules.
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Football is the only sport where section play is on the table. There is no mention of modifying things in any other sport.
 

GopherRock said:
Football is the only sport where section play is on the table. There is no mention of modifying things in any other sport.
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What are these modifications? Conferences? Sections? I don't get the chance to follow Minnesota high school sports much being out of state.

After seeing the article, I checked Maple Grove's football site and saw they are hosting Eden Prairie next season. That's cool to see, because I don't think MG has played a non-conference game in several years. If these modifications lead to more non-con games, I'd like for it to happen.
 

Rosemountian said:
Scheduling is a problem for smaller schools in the outstate at times.
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This is very true for Detroit Lakes football and has been for many years. DL frequently travels long distances to play opponents. After playing independent for many years they are now part of a conference that includes the 3 Duluth schools, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, and Thief River Falls.
 

Jike Spingleton said:
What are these modifications? Conferences? Sections? I don't get the chance to follow Minnesota high school sports much being out of state.

After seeing the article, I checked Maple Grove's football site and saw they are hosting Eden Prairie next season. That's cool to see, because I don't think MG has played a non-conference game in several years. If these modifications lead to more non-con games, I'd like for it to happen.
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Essentially, section football is what is played in Iowa and Wisconsin.

http://www.wiaawi.org/index.php?id=44
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Who says those will be the sections? Will there be a top tier of 16-24 teams? It won't affect other sports. After reading the paper, Lakeville will just charge the kids another couple hundred dollars to play ;)

Maybe they can just limit road games to 1 bus and fewer players like colleges do? Only difference in cost from smaller schools traveling 3 hours is 1 bus. Also Owatonna might be a shorter drive without traffic of the metro. +/- to each.

I look at it mostly from out-state. If I had to travel 1 hr+ to play a conference team not in my class, why not travel 1hr+ to play a section team in a game that affects seeding? Just a thought.
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You are really reaching. If the point is fairness to all players getting a chance to play a full schedule...but it requires you to leave half your team at home for cost reasons that doesnt work.

Why force some teams to travel an hour or more to games when there is a team that they want to play that wants to play them just 15 minutes away?

Outstate it makes more sense and I understand that. In the metro it makes no sense to force Kennedy to play Eden Prairie when Kennedy wants to play burnsville and burnsville wants to play them. If it is about fairness for everyone, letting school choose who schools want to play is key. If the MSHSL overreaches, they will risk teams in certain conferences dropping out in football and forming their own state tourney (Misssota, South Suburban, East Suburban, NW suburban are all conferences that would be negatively affected by realignment and sectional scheduling).
 

GopherRock said:
Football is the only sport where section play is on the table. There is no mention of modifying things in any other sport.
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I mentioned the other sports because someone suggested that conferences make no sense.
 

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