John O'Grady announcing his retirement at the end of the season highlight Around the WIAC

 University of Wisconsin-River Falls football head coach John O’Grady will retire at the end of the 2010 season. O’Grady, 56, informed the Falcons after Monday’s practice at Ramer Field.

“Most of my adult life, including four years as a player, five years as a volunteer coach and of course 22 seasons as the head coach has been spent at this University,” said O’Grady in a prepared statement.

The Falcons open the season on Thursday at Ohio Northern. Kick off is set for 3 p.m. (ET) at Dial-Roberson Stadium..

 UW-Stout will open the 2010 season under first year head coach Clayt Birmingham when they travel to Black Hills State University (0-1, 0-0) in Spearfish, S. D., Friday, Sept. 3 with a 6 p.m. kickoff. This is the opener for the Blue Devils, but the second for the NAIA-affiliated Yellow Jackets. In July, Black Hills State was notified that the school’s application to NCAA Division II was accepted by the NCAA membership committee.

 Later today I’ll debut Voice’s Weekly WIAC football picks here on Voice’s Eye On Football Blog

 Teams from the WIAC will be playing 10 non-conference games vs. teams ranked in the NCAA Division III and NAIA Preseason Top 25 Rankings

UWW Quarterback Club will meetThursday (9/2) evening at Saxe's

Finally, it is football time for the UW-Whitewater football team. The UWW Quarterback Club kicks off 2010 with the first QB Club meeting of the season on Thursday evening (9/2). QB Club meetings will be held again this season at Saxe's Lonestar Inn.

The Hawks face Adrian College (Michigan) Saturday in the season opener at Perkins Stadium. The 12-Noon game has been designated Welcome Back Students Day. Seniors from last year's NCAA Division III national championship team return to the Perk for a special pregame ceremony to hoist the 2010 National Championship banner for the second time in three years.

See you at Saxes on Thursday evening. Cocktails at 6 and dinner at 7. Go Warhawks!!!!

Voice's Blog Poll results indicate fans strongly disapprove of WIAC teams playing in-conference/non-conference games beginning in 2011

A WIAC memorandum in June/2009 indicated that a feasability study would be conducted on restricting WIAC teams to no more than one trip during the regular-season outside of an established regional perimeter. Another portion of the “cost-cutting” memorandum said the WIAC is exploring the feasibility of scheduling one additional WIAC football team as a nonconference game beginning with the 2011 season.

How do WIAC fans think about the proposed restrictions?

A voiceseyeonfootball.blogspot.com/ poll over the past week shows those that responded are overwhelmingly against the plan.

80% of the poll's respondents strongly disapprove of the plan.
15% lean towards disapproval
Just 1 vote indicted strongly approving the plan
There were 0 votes for leaning towards approval and no feeling either way.

I'll blog more on the issue as the 2010 season goes on.

A new look for the south end of Perkins Stadium

It is football time at Perkins Stadium. The UW-Whitewater football team will open the season Saturday with a non-conference game vs. Division III Adrian College (Michigan).

Prior to Saturday's 12-Noon kickoff a special pregame ceremony will be held. For the second time in three years, the UW-Whitewater football program will hoist its NCAA Division III Football Championship flag on the south end of Perkins Stadium.

In the adjacent photo, notice the gigantic Warhawk Football championship banner that runs the entire length of the locker room building overlooking the south end of the Perk.

It went up last week and it is very impressive!

Warhawks begin focus on week-one opponent, Adrian College

An energized UW-Whitewater football team has begun its preparation for Saturday's season opener at Perkins Stadium vs. Adrian College (Michigan).

"This will be a very good test," UWW head coach Lance Leipold indicated on Monday night's KOOL 106.5 Coaches Show. "To be able to play a Division III opponent like them (Adrian) is going to be a very good nonconference test for us."

"They will definitely be an unknown for us," Leipold said. "Unknown because they are a team we have never played. Unknown because we have been unable to exchange tape with them. Adrian also has a first year head coach, Jim Deere who was promoted from his Adrian defensive coordinator position."

Saturday's Welcome Back Students Day Game vs. Adrian will include a pregame ceremony honoring UW-Whitewater's 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship team with the hoisting of a second D III championship flag in the past three years.

Kickoff Saturday at the Perk is set for 12-Noon.

Two of UWW's non-conference opponents open seasons tonight

Two of UW-Whitewater's three non-conference opponents will open there schedule tonight (Saturday).

Week-two opponent, Dakota State University hosts Midland Lutheran College tonight in the season opener for both teams. Midland Lutheran was a non-conference opponent of UW-Whitewater last year.

Week-three opponent, Campbellsville University opens its season tonight. The Tigers will welcome Mid-South Conference East Division foe Kentucky Christian University at 7 p.m. for the first-ever night game on synthetic turf at HIG Field and Finley Stadium.

Check out Voice's Eye on Football Blog for game recaps later tonight.

Warhawks shift focus to week-one opponent Adrian College

The curtain came down Friday morning for the UW-Whitewater football team's 2010 training camp. Camp ended with a two hour scrimmage that included plenty of repetitions for players looking to earn a roster spot for the regular season.

For the past several years, the WIAC has mandated a 100 player roster limit. Whitewater opened the preseason with 131 on its training camp roster.

”It is a difficult task,” Warhawk head coach Lance Leipold said following Friday's scrimmage. “At this point I believe we have the most players still in camp in my four years here. There are some interesting dilemmas that we have to go through and discuss this weekend and that is unfortunate."

If you have followed Warhawk football closely over the past few years you probably aware that senior leadership is critical for a team's success. After the rest of the squad had departed for the locker room Friday morning, Leipold and the seniors talked about the mission ahead.

"You know, they (seniors) have given so much to this program, and there time,” Leipold said. “As we all know those years can go very fast,” Leipold said. “I just wanted to make sure understood it as we break camp and head into week-one.”

The Warhawks host Adrian College (Mich) in the season opener next Saturday. It is Welcome Back Students Day at Perkins Stadium and a pregame ceremony will be conducted to hoist the 2009 NCAA Division III championship flag. Kickoff is set for 12-Noon.