I've been fortunate to have interviewed players and coaches in the NAIA for 5 seasons now and it never ceases to amaze me how unpretentious they all are.   But beside the humility, there is an underlying toughness and a love of the game they all have.  That description aptly fits once again, this time with VSN's 1st Team All-American defensive lineman; Seth Styskal of the Doane College Tigers. 

When you try to picture the top NAIA football head coaches, you instinctively think of the Van Diests, the Donleys, the Troths and the Wilcoxes; men who've been head coaches for, in some case, decades and had success almost every season.  They're established and known quantities, coaches who excel in getting maximum effort from 100 or so players week after week.  But, there's a new gun in town now and he's got a posse with him. 

1) There are good defenses, excellent defenses and then there are defenses that win championships.  Carroll has one of those nearly every year and 2008 was no different.  Koeppen, Lamp, Day, PF (who missed the game due to injury) and did anyone else notice that lick Zack Richardson laid on Lorenzo Brown down inside the 15 early on?  No, don't blame this loss on the Saint defense.  Throw out the one blocked punt (special teams), the fumble return for a score (offense) and the game is 10-7 and anything can happen late.