UW-Whitewater football coach Lance Leipold has football on his mind 365 days of the year. As the leader of one of the most respected Division III programs in the country, Leipold's work never stops. Every opponent the team faces looks at Whitewater as a Goliath, meaning the Warhawks have to play their "A" game every Saturday in the fall. Last year, Leipold's club never offered anything else, posting a 15-0 record that was capped by a 38-28 win over rival Mount Union in the Stagg Bowl.
Coach Leipold played quarterback for the Warhawks from 1983-86 and remains one of the school's all-time leaders in several categories. In a game against River Falls in 1985, he passed for 494 yards.
After serving as a graduate assistant for the Badgers, Leipold coached at several other schools before returning to Whitewater in 2007. In three years, he's amassed a 42-3 record with a pair of national titles. (The Warhawks lost in the title game in 2008.) In January, the American Football Coaches Association named him the Division III Coach of the Year.
Leipold shared a few minutes with IWS recently to talk about how things are looking heading into the 2010 season.
Q: Most coaches don't talk about the kicker position when discussing offseason losses, but your team is losing a good one in all-time collegiate scoring leader Jeff Schebler. Talk about what it has meant to have such a reliable kicker these last few years.
A: Losing Jeff will leave a void in our program—his level of consistency is something I'm sure we took for granted and something that we'll have to address, whether with someone already on campus or someone brought in through recruiting. It's a position of priority.
Q: For other teams, beating Whitewater can make their season. How do you keep your guys on top of their game mentally all year long?
A: It goes back to our approach of a day-by-day mentality. Our guys understand that we're going to get every other program's best shot and serve as a measuring stick for those teams. When questions like this are asked, I go back to the great job our assistants do of taking it a day at a time with the players and keeping our focus on the short term. The other thing that's been equally important is that I don't think there's a person in our program who doesn't have the greatest of respect for the other teams in our league. We all still respect just how competitive the [WIAC] is and how quickly playoff appearances— let alone deep runs into the playoffs—can get taken away.
Q: Your team had an opportunity these last few months to enjoy the national title. What was the highlight of the celebration for you?
A: Probably getting a chance to go to the Governor's residence. Those things reach beyond football and athletics for our players. Their hard work gives them a chance to meet someone as powerful as the Governor of our State. And even though I was not there in person, I think it was a great opportunity for our guys to get recognized at the University of Wisconsin basketball game and get a standing ovation in front of a crowd that's larger than any crowd we play in front of.
Q: Comment on cornerback Troney Shumpert's and Jeff Schebler's attempts to play at the next level.
A: Troney had a chance to test out in front of a number of scouts, and Jeff got to work out in Madison. Where it will go, I don't know. Our guys have worked extremely hard. It's a difficult step. Just to have these opportunities has shown what great careers they've had.
Q: Name a couple of guys in your program that you expect to take steps forward in 2010.
A: Defensively, the first guy to come to mind is our outside linebacker, Lane Olson. I thought he had an outstanding year and an outstanding fourth quarter for us when we needed him. He's a very explosive player. And also defensive end Jon Baldwin, who's going into his third year as a starter.
Q: Football is a long season and demanding of a lot of your time. What do you do to get away from it and re-energize every now and then?
A: (Laughs) It's an area I need to improve on. I have a young family, so it's water parks in Wisconsin Dells or returning to my wife's folks in Omaha, Nebraska. We like to travel when we can. I'm looking forward to that coming up in the spring, and also maybe a little time just for my wife and me because she sacrifices a lot. Like you said, with the length of our season, then we go straight to recruiting, then spring practice and fundraising, camp and then another season.
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