Welcome to the HERO Sports FCS Mailbag. In partnership with FCS Football Fans Nation, we will ask for questions with a post on their Facebook page every Sunday and our FCS crew of Brian McLaughlin and Sam Herder will give in-depth answers with these Thursday articles.
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Podcast: Looking Ahead To Frisco [divider]
Matthew Fraase – Hypothetical. You’re the Coach of Delaware. Redshirt Sophomore Easton Stick & Redshirt Sophomore Eric Barriere both want to transfer in and you can only take 1. Who do you take and why?
Brian: Matthew, why'd you pick Delaware for this? You trying to start stuff with the Blue Hens? Oh, what would I do? I'd take both of them and alternate them each possession for the rest of their careers and mess up their names every game and call them Easton Barriere and Eric Stick. Nah, they're both awesome. I'd flip a coin.
Sam: "There's no way Brian gives a straight-up answer on this," me after reading this question.
So I'll provide something here. I'd take Stick if I was Delaware in this situation. And the biggest reason is Stick fits into Delaware's offense much better. Unless you revamp the entire offense for Barriere, there'd be a bit of a transition for him to be under center, the footwork on play-action passes, etc.
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Adam Willey – What should I say to my parents to convince them to take me to Frisco?
Brian: This is easy … say Mom, Dad, if you take me to Frisco I promise to do the dishes every time I come home to visit until rapture.
Sam: Tell them you'll get to meet The Brian McLaughlin and that should convince them! 🙂
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Andy Rieckhoff – How do the new coaching hires affect those programs?
Brian: Usually it's like driving on a road with a bunch of speed bumps and potholes. But apparently in Fargo, road maintenance is a high priority, because I didn't see anything resembling a stall out or swerve in last Friday night's semifinal clinic.
Sam: Well there's been a bunch of coaching changes and hires lately. It'd be a bit much to go into each of them. But for the two biggies, I think JMU's hire of Curt Cignetti is terrific. The Dukes should expect to compete for a national title next year and Cignetti says he has those expectations.
NDSU hiring Matt Entz is also a great hire. Don't stop the momentum of the program or switch anything up in the winning formula. And staying in-house was the obvious choice. The Bison won't be as dominant next year as they are this year, but that'd be the case with or without a coaching change.
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Scott Moody – What can the FCS Championship game learn after witnessing the Celebration Bowl in terms of coverage, fan experience, and attendance?
Brian: I really think these are two completely different types of games. First of all, the Celebration Bowl is in the south (Atlanta) and the SWAC and MEAC are all within a "breakfast to dinner" drive, at worst — and in some instances it's not even that. It's different than Eastern Washington matching up with say, Wofford. I think the C-Bowl has a ton of HBCU tradition behind it too, and that helps with attendance. When it comes to coverage? What's wrong with the FCS title game coverage? You trying to start somethin'? LOL
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Rory J Mattheisen – Who will be the dark horse program from each conference next year?
Brian: I'll give you a couple that stick out, teams that missed the playoffs — Keep an eye on Mercer, Western Carolina, Furman, Citadel and Chattanooga in the SoCon (it'll be nuts again next year in the SoCon – watch), Indiana State, Missouri State and Illinois State in the Missouri Valley, Montana, Portland State and Idaho State in the Big Sky, Central Arkansas from the Southland, New Hampshire will be back in it in the CAA.
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Garrett Meyer – With the announcement that Augustana will be moving up to D-1, do you expect them to be joining the Pioneer League or do you think maybe the MVFC will be trying to get the NCC band back together?
Brian: I'll go with the Pioneer League for a slower transition. Going straight to the MVFC is a buzzsaw. But honestly Garrett — I know nothing.
Sam: I haven't done a ton of research on this, but my best guess is Augustana is making this jump because of basketball and with Sioux Falls being a big basketball town. Jumping into the MVFC might be swimming with the sharks right away. The Pioneer makes much more sense.
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ALL-AMERICANS: The Teams
