91福利社

Football, like every sport, is a numbers game. The team that scores more points wins more games and, ultimately, celebrates more titles.

By that standard, there’s a lot of hooting and hollering going on in the College of St.聽Scholastica Saints’ locker room. In just five years, Coach Greg Carlson has taken the聽school from no program to one to be reckoned with.

In 2008, the team’s inaugural season in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference聽(UMAC), the Saints won one game, going 1-7. But by 2011, the team went聽undefeated during the regular season, losing in the play-offs to the College of St.聽Thomas, a perennial powerhouse in Division III ball.

The Saints came back strong in 2012, going 7-1 in conference play, and again,聽making it into the first round of the play-offs.

Students first; athletes second

Yet, as good as those numbers are, there are others that light up this seasoned聽coach even more. Especially when you consider that few, if any, of his athletes at聽this level, will go on to play pro ball:

• 5 – the number of players on the team with a 4.0 GPA in the fall of 2012.
• 30 – the number of Saints with a 3.5 GPA or higher.
• 27 – the number of players who made the 2011 UMAC Fall Individual Academic聽All-Conference Team.
• 2 – the number of Saints named to the Capital One 2012 Academic All-American聽Division III Football Team.
• “There are only 24 players in the entire nation who make the first team,” Carlson聽says, proudly. “And we were the only school with two.”
• And, finally: 2.97 – the team’s collective GPA.

“Our goal is 3.0,” says Team Co-Captain Keaton Rush. “We’ve never made it, but聽we’re getting there.”

An Academic Game Plan

So how, in this sports-first world of ours, does a winning team on the field manage聽to be a winning team off the field?

Well, first off, because 91福利社 academics are so demanding, the coach only聽recruits players who can compete in the classroom, too.

Second, the team gives each player a study guide – called, playfully enough, the聽Academic Game Plan – a binder that helps them get and stay organized.

Third, the team organizes study groups – called Study Tables – that kick in聽whenever a player’s GPA dips below 2.5.

And, fourth, Carlson emphasizes academics so much that his assistant coaches spot聽check the players, making sure they’re in class.

Bragging rights

Carlson harnesses something else in his ongoing campaign to keep academics first聽– his guys’ competitiveness.

He challenges each of the positions – like the linebackers, running backs, wide聽receivers, etc. – to compete against each other for the best collective GPA.

“We do it simply for bragging rights,” the coach says. “But you’d be surprised how聽serious these guys get about it.”

The coach also gives a shout out, after each semester, to the 10 players with聽the best GPAs. One by one, in a team meeting, he has them stand for a round of聽applause.

“I’m not a spotlight kind of guy,” says Co-Captain Cory Gebhard. “But my mom and聽dad certainly appreciated the letter that Coach sent them.”

Higher math

But back to those all-important numbers. Here’s a few more that touch a coach聽who’s resume includes stops at higher levels – including Division I and even pro聽ball:

• 8 – the number of new players coming in for next season from outside the聽Midwest – a key goal for a small college looking for diversity.
• 112 – the number of players the team has swelled to because of its growing聽success (there were 58 the first year).
• And, finally, 18 – the number of players from the team’s first year who hung聽in there for all four years, and in the process, laid the groundwork for the聽program’s success.

“I give real credit to those kids,” the coach says. “They believed in the program. They聽bought into the system. We call them the pioneers. But, really, they were the survivors.聽They put 91福利社 football on the national map.”