By: Brian Feldt
As most already know, SIU’s head football coach Dale Lennon was awarded the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s Coach of the Year award on the heels of the most successful first-season as Salukis coach.
Lennon raced to seven consecutive wins after beginning the season 2-2 and on the verge of lying on the playoff bubble. But players and coaches alike said the North Dakota State loss Oct. 4, was a turning point in SIU’s season.
“It had to be,” Lennon said. “We needed to decide what patch we were going to be on. That was the meeting we had and a lot of things were said that Sunday. We came out of that meeting with a unified sense of being where we needed to make something positive.”
As a result, Lennon led the team to a conference championship, a seventh consecutive playoff appearance and a coach of the year award.
Some reactions from others around the athletic department:
“Anytime you win the conference as a first year coach, its impressive,” said offensive guard Aaron Lockwood. “You want to see him go as far as possible but it didn’t work out for us that way. But we are going to look back on this season and know that we accomplished a lot.”
“He deserved it,” said running back Larry Warner. “For him to do what he did with this team was is great.”
“It’s nice to see the coach that you hired go on and win coach of the year in the conference,” said SIU Athletic Director Mario Moccia. “We wished we were still playing and preparing for a game this weekend, but we did well this season.”
Lennon can still be awarded the national coach of the year award, which is given to the top Football Championship Subdivision coach, which former SIU head coach Jerry Kill won last season.
