Jan. 28, 2015 By Justin St. Peter E R

How do you replace the fastest coach to reach 100 wins in NCAA history? That is exactly what the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater top officials have to worry about after Lance Leipold left for the University of Buffalo head coaching position last month.

Whoever wins the job will have huge shoes to fill after Leipold’s 109-6 coaching record, winning the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Coach of the Year award six times and winning six national championships in eight years.

The university announced on Jan. 16 that it had narrowed the candidate list to five. In that same press release, it listed an hour long forum meeting time open to all members of the public to hear a 15 minute speech from the candidates and then ask any questions they wanted that were not family-related.

Everyone who attended was then asked to rank the candidates on a 1-10 grading scale and write down any strengths or weaknesses below on small grading sheets. The university would then collect and use these sheets to help in the hiring
process.

Rob Erickson

• Four year starter at defensive back for UW-Platteville 1996-99

• Defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach for UW-Stevens Point 2003-04

• Defensive coordinator, admissions counselor, event supervision for Aurora University 2005-07

• Defensive coordinator, assistant head coach for UW-Platteville 2008-present

Erickson believes his best quality for coaching is being able to unify his team around one goal. He also believes that he is ready for the job, but that it will take time for the team to adjust to him.

“We got to take a day to day approach and it’s just going to take time for everyone to understand what I am about, but we will move forward,” Erickson said. “It doesn’t scare me. This will never be about me. This is going to be about the team, their play on Saturday.”

He said that his plan is to talk to current UW-Whitewater assistants, but he has some people in mind for coaching jobs.

“There’s quality people here, let’s not just start bringing in people who don’t know the plan,” Erickson said. “I’ve reach out to coaches already, I don’t want to name their names.”

Dean Paul

• Four years as running back for Mount Union College 1987-1990

• Defensive coordinator for the College of Wooster 1995-98

• Special teams coordinator/running backs coach at Fordham University 1998-99

• Head football coach of Thomas More College (40-12) 1999-2003

• Head football coach at Ohio Northern University (75-37) 2003-present

Kevin Bullis

• Defensive coordinator at Gustavus Adolphus College 1993-95

• Defensive coordinator at UW-River Falls 1995-2007

• Assistant head football coach at UW-River Falls 2004-07

• Defensive run coordinator and special teams coordinator at UW-Whitewater 2008-present

• Interim head football coach at UW-Whitewater present

David Taynor

• Urbana University center 1994-99

• Offensive coordinator/offensive line/TE coach at Culver-Stockton College (Missouri) 2001-04

• Offensive line coach at UW-Stevens Point 2004

• Defensive coordinator at UW-Stevens Point 2005

• Offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Tiffin University (Ohio) 2006-08

• Head football coach at Urbana University  (Ohio) 2008-present

Erik Raeburn

• Offensive coordinator/offensive line coach 1993-99

• Head football coach Coe College  (Iowa) (57-26) 2000-08

• Gold medal winning offensive line coach for USA Football summer 2011

• Head football coach Wabash University (Indiana) (66-12) 2008-present