UW-Whitewater's newest assistant football coach, Josh Gehring, brings cool confidence and a great offensive football resume to Whitewater as its new quarterback's and wide reciever's coach and pass game coordinator.

Gehring tells Warhawkfootball.com that he has been made to feel right at home in Whitewater.

"I'll tell you, The staff has been outstanding," Coach Gehring tell's Tom Pattison. "My wife and I are really excited because this (UW-Whitewater) is a great place to be."

Gehring, his wife Jennifer, and their two year old daughter Jersey are living in Whitewater.

"Once I got on board, Coach Dinkel and I quickly realized that the offense I ran at Morningside and the offense here in Whitewater are so similar that it simply comes down to symatics," Gehring explains. "We both agree that we are philosophically and completely on the same page.

Gehring is coming off a remarkable three-year stint at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.

Gehring helped guide Morningside, an NAIA school, into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics playoffs in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The Mustangs went from averaging 24 points per game to 36.1 (2007), to 48 (2008) and finally 45.1 (2009). Morningside averaged over 400 yards per game during his three years as the school's offensive coordinator, with MC's quarterbacks completing more than 60% of their passes all three seasons. After the 2009 season he was named the American Football Coaches Association NAIA Assistant Coach of the Year.

Lance Leipold, Dinkel, Gehring and the remainder of the coaching staff have been busy preparing for the player's return to campus on August 14th, with the first practice set for Sunday, August 15th.

Lane Olson is primed and ready to help lead the UW-Whitewater defense in 2010. The senior isn't hard to spot out on the field. The 5-10, 210 lb outside linebacker out of Racine Horlick is a run-away freight train on Brian Borland's defense.

(In the adjacent photo, Olson (17) makes a "decleating" tackle on UW-La Crosse tailback Lee Lauters in UWW's 58-21 WIAC title clinching victory last November in La Crosse - photo courtesy of Daryl Tessman)

Olson was selected as one of four team captains at the end of spring practice. For Olson, it is all about leadership from day-one of preseason practice.

"I just want to keep everybody on the same page, make sure they got their head right, make sure nobody is over-cocky." Olson tells me that the key entering training camp is for everybody to "be on the same page, have the same goals and the same "wants," stay as a family, and to improve to be an even better team than last year's.

The Hawks return to campus on Saturday, August 14th with the first practice of the preseason set for Sunday, August 15th.

"Despite losing a number of seniors we will enter the season with plenty of talent" Olson tells Warhawkfootball.com.

Even though the Hawks captured a second Division III National Championship last December, Olson says the big goal of the 2010 Warhawks is to IMPROVE on last year's accomplishments.

"We had a great group of players that stayed on campus over the summer working hard to improve," Olson said. "Everybody is hungry to get back to where we were last year and raise the bar even more."

The key to UW-Whitewater's current five year run of conference championships, with each season ending by playing Mount Union, has been both seniors and underclassmen stepping up the following season.

"We have a great group of young players who have worked hard to get more playing time each season," Olson tells Warhawkfootbal.com. "I'm excited to see what they can do.

Olson is joined by wide receiver, Aaron Rusch, offensive lineman Mark Gawronski, and defensive end Jon Baldwin as Warhawk team captains for 2010.

Hi everybody, Tom "Voice" Pattison here to announce a new "companion Website" to Warhawkfootball.com.

voiceseyeonfootball.blogspot.com is now online to give Warhawk football fans the opportunity to voice comments on a team that has captured five consecutive WIAC football championship, five straight trips to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl NCAA Division III National Championship game vs. Mount Union College, in the process capturing the 2007 & 2009 Division III Title.

To comment on Voice's commentary all you have to do is publish your throughts in the comment box immediately below Voice's commentary post.

Make voiceseyeonfootball.blogspot.com and Warhawkfootball.com daily stops during your internet browsing.

The 2010 Warhawk football team reports for preseason practice on Saturday, August 14th. The first practice is set for Sunday, August 15th.

The Jeff Schebler era is over. NCAA’s all-time placekicker (all divisions) kicked his 75th, and final, career field goal late in last December’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. The 44 yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter sealed Whitewater’s 38-28 NCAA Division IIII National Championship victory, the second in three years for the Warhawks.

While the 75 career field goals is an eye-popping statistic, it was the Davenport, Iowa native’s consistency.

As a freshman Schebler set a new school record with 14 field goals. As a sophomore “Schebs” upped the school field goal record to 20 on the way to the 2007 NCAA Division III Championship. Scheb’s set both a school and Division III record with 21 field goals in 2008. On the way to last year’s Division III title, Schebler only attempted 18 field goals – making 14.

For his career, Schebler was an astounding 75 for 95 in field goal attempts – a 79 percent clip.

(In the adjacent photo Jeff Schebler lines up his final college field goal, a 44 yarder with 26 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter sealing Whitewater’s 38-28 NCAA Division IIII National Championship victory over Mount Union - photo is courtesy of Gerry Erdman)

Schebler is just one of several outstanding placekickers in recent history for the Warhawks. The Hawks boast 4 out the top 10 field goal kickers in WIAC football history.

Schebler is No. 1. No. 6 on the WIAC list is Bryan Mader who kicked 30 field goals for the Warhawks in a career that spanned the years 1994-97. Chad Wurth’s 27 field goals (2000-2003) ranks ninth on the list. Micheal Chaulk rounds out the Top 10 with 26 field goals from 2002 to 2005.

A look at the above list confirms the constancy of Warhawk field goal kickers – a major reason for UWW’s offensive success on an annual basis.

I’ll have a story at who may replace Schebler as the Hawk’s field goal kicker in 2010. The story will be one of a series detailing each position battle as we get closer to players opening training camp on August 15th.

In football, a team that wins the turnover battle usually wins the game. Turnover margin is a good indicator of successful teams. Every possession counts and with a limited amount of chances in a football game keeping possession of the ball is critical.

A look at the statistics shows why UW-Whitewater has put together an incredible 70 & 5 record over the past five years. The Warhawks have led the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in turnover margin in each of the past eight seasons.

UW-Whitewater has a remarkable plus-153 turnover margin over the past eight seasons.

A major reason for the Warhawks run of five consecutive WIAC championships and end of the season meeting with Mount Union College in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl has been winning the turnover margin on a weekly basis. UW-Whitewater possesses a staggering plus-103 turnover margin over the current five year span.

While the Warhawks have been outstanding during the regular season, they have been even better once they have reached the Division III Playoffs over the past five years. A primary case-in-point has been UW-Whitewater’s two postseason wins over Linfield College.

(In the adjacent photo, the Warhawk defense comes up with one of four forced turnover's in UWW's second round playoff victory over Illinois Wesleyan - photo courtesy of Jeff Seisser, Daily Jefferson County Union)

In last season’s Division III semifinal win over Linfield the Hawks intercepted two passes in it’s 4th quarter come-from-behind victory. Zach Christopherson intercepted an Aaron Boehme pass to set up a Jeff Schebler field goal to give Whitewater 1 10-0 lead early in the second quarter at Perkins Stadium. Kyle Supianoski’s interception late in the fourth quarter ended Linfield’s bid to upset the Warhawks

In 2005’s 44-41 Warhawk win at Linfield the Hawks won the turnover battle keyed by AJ Raeble’s 34 yard interception for a touchdown to give the Warhawks a 17-13 lead midway through the second quarter against the defending National Champions and No. 1 ranked team in the country.

One aspect of UWW’s annual turnover margin numbers are the consistency year in and year out. In the turnovers per game category Whitewater has: (2009) 1.27, (2008) 0.87, (2007) 1.80, (2006) 1.33, (2005) 1.60, (2004) 1.60, (2003) 1.90, (2002) 1.50.

The 2007 NCAA Division III National Champion’s picked off 34 passes and recovered 19 fumbles on the way to the school’s first national title.

The 2009 National Champions picked off 32 passes while recovering 21 fumbles last December’s Stagg Bowl win.

Turnover margin isn’t JUST a defensive number. To end a game with a “plus” turnover margin the offense must take care of the ball game in and game out.

The past couple of seasons Warhawk football fans became well aware of the quote – “big play” players. Levell Coppage, Aaron Rusch, Jeff Schebler, and Jeff Donovan are just some of the players that seemingly were part of a “Warhawk win headline” on a weekly basis.

One Warhawk that has run “under the radar” the past two seasons has been Aaron Samplawski. A junior this season, Aaron has quietly become one of the top kick return specialists in UW-Whitewater football history.

The 5-8, 180 lb junior from Horicon enters 2010 in 3rd place on UW-Whitewater’s all-time kick return list .

To date in his career, Samplawski has 37 kick-off returns for 953 yards and a 25.75 yard per return average.

His 953 kick return yards in 2008 is the third most in school history.

Aaron enters 2010 in trailing only Joe Gerlach (1979-82) and Neil Mrkvicka (2004—07) in career kick-return yardage.

Samplawski needs only 14 yards to move past Mrkvicka into 2nd place all-time and 114 yards to become Whitewater’s all-time kickoff yardage leader.

His 25.75 yard per return career average is No. 1 in school history.

Despite playing only nine games last year do to an early season injury, and 12 of a possible 15 games in 2008, Aaron enters his junior season just 80 yards from breaking into the WIAC Career Kick-Return Top 10 list.

(Editor’s note: Portions of the following story were published in the Friday, July 23rd edition of the Janesville Gazette)

UW-Whitewater’s Perkins Stadium will be rocking with football action for the defending NCAA Division III National Champion Warhawk football team in six weeks. Mother Nature did some rocking of her own early Thursday evening in the Whitewater area.

Copious amounts of rain and a number of funnel clouds occurred in the Whitewater-Fort Atkinson region Thursday evening.

Thursday’s line of storms produced hours of tornado warnings and watches stretching from the afternoon into the evening and National Weather Service meteorologist Ashley Sears said, another round is possible Friday night.

Reports came from the area between Whitewater and Edgerton and from Whitewater into the Jefferson County area along the county line, Sears said..”

The National Weather Service confirmed that tornado touchdown was reported near Edgerton between 6 and 6:30 p.m., just west of Whitewater along Rock County Highway N.. Funnel clouds were also reported between Palmyra and Muskego, but there were no immediate reports of property damage or injuries.

In the adjacent photo by Warhawkfootball.com’s Tom Pattison, the funnel cloud that was reported on the ground just a few minutes earlier, passes just north of Whitewater within a mile of Perkins Stadium.

A storm survey team will assess the areas on Friday, Sears said

To honor the distinguished group of college football players who stand out for the positive influence they have in their communities, Allstate Insurance Company and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) announced the 112 student-athletes nominated for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®. It is the most ever in the 19-year history of the award.

UW-Whitewater senior wide receiver and punt return specialist Aaron Rusch is among the 112 nominated for the 2010 award.

In the areas of giving back and volunteerism, the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® represents the "best of the best" among more than 50,000 student-athletes participating in the sport at all four-year institutions. The total eclipses the 106 nominees achieved last season, demonstrating the continued growth of a platform that is widely recognized as the most prestigious community service award in college football.

"For the third straight year, the AFCA is pleased to partner with Allstate in highlighting football student-athletes who have achieved outstanding success, both on and off the football," said Grant Teaff, AFCA Executive Director. "From the record total of nominees that were submitted from colleges and universities around the country, it is apparent that collegiate football is producing some of the best and brightest that our country has to offer."

ESPN.com will launch a customized Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® web site featuring profiles and images of the final 22 award recipients, as well as unique and interactive content for college football fans. For the first time in the program's history, fans will be able to vote for a Team Captain on ESPN.com.

(Editor's note: The UW-Whitewater football team will have TEN recruits instead of the previously reported 9 recruits participating in Saturday's WFCA All-Star Football Games in Oshkosh. The following story includes Jake Schall of Slinger)

UW-Whitewater will be well-represented at Saturday’s Wisconsin Football Association’s High School All-Star games.

The Warhawks will have ten 2010 recruits participating in Saturday’s event at Titan Stadium on the UW-Oshkosh campus. Again this year there will be two games between squads from the north and south areas of the state.

Eight future Warhawks will participate in Saturday night’s Division 1-3 game.

On the South (Div 1-3) roster are: Ian McKechnie (5’10 175 wide receiver and defensive back – New Berlin Eisenhower), Nate Angles (6’0 175 defensive back – Waukesha West), Brad Slomkowski (5’11 195 defensive back – Kenosha Bradford), Bryan Spakowicz (6’0 205 linebacker – Pewaukee), Joe Cychner (6’0 285 defensive tackle – Lake Geneva Badger), Jake Schall, (6’2, 270 Defensive Lineman – Slinger).

The Warhawks will have three recruits playing for the North (Div 1-3) squad Saturday evening in Oshkosh. Joe Hackbarth (6’1 267 offensive tackle – Fond du Lac), Kevin Richert (6’3 228 defensive end – Bay Port) and Brandon Zolp (5’11 168 defensive back – Kewaskum).

One future Warhawk, Andy Schmidt (6’5 240 offensive tackle – St. Francis) will be participating in the Division 4-7 All-Star Game.

The Division 4-7 game will take place at 2 pm while the Division 1-3 game will kick off at 7 pm. Once again, games will be played on Keller Field at Titan Stadium at UW-Oshkosh.

Proceeds from the annual All-Star games are donated by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

The UW-Whitewater football program has a new assistant coach.

Warhawkfootball.com has learned that Josh Gehring will be the new quarterback’s and wide receiver’s coach and pass game coordinator for the Warhawks.

Gehring arrives in Whitewater after serving as Lambuth College’s (Tenn) offensive coordinator and quarterback’s coach this past spring.

Gehring has been an assistant coach for 11 years, with the last three at Morningside College (NAIA) in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Mustangs were the fourth highest scoring team in the nation in 2009 when they averaged 45.1 points per game and was named the American Football Coaches Association’s 2009 NAIA Assistant Coach of the Year. The Morningside offense led the nation in 2008 at 48 points per game while breadking 32 school records. Prior to coaching at Morningside, Gehring was the defensive coordinator at Concordia University (Illinois).

Prior to coaching at Morningside, Gehring was the defensive coordinator at Concordia University (Nebraska). He has also served as an assistant at Missouri State, Western Kentucky, Manchester College, Ottawa University and Rock Bridge High School in Missouri. He is a native of Mounds, OK, and a 1999 graduate of Ottawa University. He received a master’s degree in sports administration from Ball State."