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The NAIA football world got shaken up last week with the announcement of Kalen De Boer. De Boer resigned his position of head coach at the University of Sioux Falls resignation to become offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois University. What is USF losing? De Boer, in his five seasons at USF, had a record of 67-3 including going 15-0 last season, won three national titles and four consecutive GPAC championships, but who's counting? Oh, and De Boer was also named the AFCA-NAIA coach of the year for 2009. The USF community will obviously mourn the loss of De Boer to SIU, but what program wouldn't? Over the last five seasons USF has had the best winning percentage in the NAIA. Some think that De Boer's resignation will completely change the complexion of the NAIA and GPAC, I disagree. De Boer had one of the top programs in the country, he was the best coach in the country, but he also arguably has the best athletes in the country. Nine Cougars were named All-American by College Fanz Network this year. One of USF's 15 wins last season came over NCAA division I-AA, University of North Dakota. USF will move to NCAA division II in 2011, meaning the NAIA will still have to worry about the Cougars, for the time being. Having a good coach is extremely important but USF, just like its players, will have someone else step up and fill the coaching role well. Currently USF has named its offensive coordinator from last year, Ryan Grubb, to the interim head coaching role, his name will be included in the pool of candidates for the final job. Even with the loss of De Boer, USF still found a way to recruit another talented class. Many of the USF recruits are junior college transfers, but one newcomer for the Cougars is coming from Wake Forest University. Yes, the Wake Forest. Eric Berry was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2006. Looking at the GPAC, there are two teams and now three that are establishing themselves as top tier, USF, Morningside and Hastings. The teams that will be most affected by this change, I believe, are these top three teams. Good coaching can get you a win in a close game, bad coaching can cost a team a game, but your team has to be competitive enough to make the game close. USF and Morningside, I expect Morningside to win next year. I predict Morningside to be the conference champion next year, even with its losses from graduation. They finished 7th in the NAIA postseason poll. Hastings traditionally plays USF strong and next year may be a good opportunity to get a win. I still expect USF to win. Hastings loses too many key guys from last seasons team. It will be close but again the edge goes to USF. Morningside will not play Hastings next year due to scheduling rotations. HC will add Northwestern. It will be interesting to see how the GPAC coaches will mold their teams in spring ball and in preseason camp. We could see a changing of the guard in the GPAC next season, maybe even HCs first conference title since 1999. Either way, next fall's GPAC football season should be competitive again and possibly history in the making.
