News Summary

DELAWARE — Wooster football coach Mike Schmitz listened closely when master of ceremonies Scott Leo quizzed new Wabash coach Erik Raeburn.

Schmitz and the other coaches didn't hear what they wanted when Leo, a broadcaster for Wittenberg and the Columbus Clippers, asked Raeburn about his coaching schemes.

"I want to thank you for attempting to get Erik to tell us what he's doing," Schmitz told Leo.

"I tried," Leo said. "He sidestepped it."

Raeburn is new to Wabash, but he isn't a rookie. He said all the right things at the North Coast Athletic Conference Media Day on Friday, Aug. 8, at Oakhaven Golf Club.

"I had some preconceived notions about how good Wittenberg is," Raeburn said, "and of course, everybody at Wabash feels that has been an unbelievable game every year."

Wabash and Wittenberg tied for first in preseason voting by the media, and Wittenberg was the coaches' favorite.

Raeburn replaces Chris Creighton, who left for Drake University after leading the Little Giants to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III playoffs last fall. Raeburn had been the head coach at Coe College for eight seasons. Prior to that, Raeburn got to know the Tigers well as an assistant coach and player at Mount Union.

When Raeburn visited Mount Union in high school, he went to see a playoff game between the Purple Raiders and Tigers. In the last couple of months, Raeburn has caught up on his Wittenberg history by watching game tape from recent Wittenberg-Wabash games.

Raeburn and Wittenberg coach Joe Fincham had met before Friday, but they don't know each other well.

"We get Indiana kids, but we don't recruit against Wabash," Fincham said. "When you're in the same recruiting areas, that's really where you have an opportunity to develop more of a relationship with coaches."

The edge

The home team has won six straight games in the Wittenberg-Wabash rivalry. The Tigers host the Little Giants on Oct. 18.

"I think if you look at the league across the board, being at home is a great thing," Fincham said. "We've lost the last two times we've been to Ohio Wesleyan. Our record at Allegheny has not been great in recent years. We won this past year, but we lost the two prior to that. I think anytime you can be at home for a big ballgame, especially in Division III, I think it's a plus."

Tigers on TV

This is the first year of a new schedule agreement between the NCAC and the University Athletic Association. Each NCAC team will play nonconference games against UAA schools each season through 2011.

Wittenberg hosts Washington University of St. Louis on Sept. 20 and plays at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh on Oct. 25. Carnegie Mellon announced this week that it is paying to have its homecoming game against Wittenberg broadcast on ESPNU. The 2 p.m. game will play on tape delay the following morning.

First practice looming

Wittenberg players report to campus Wednesday, Aug. 13, and the first practice is the next evening. Wittenberg plays its first game at 7 p.m. Sept. 6 at home against Olivet.

"It's really been, knock on wood, a quiet time," Fincham said. "We lost two (coaching) interns in Ryan Gresham and J.R. Dorman. But from the standpoint of our players, guys are still with us, and I guess a quiet offseason is a good offseason."