S136 Meet the Champ

Meet the Rockne D2 Champion for S136!

Northern Michigan University (GLIAC) 19-0 Coach: Spthibodeau

Victory over Texas A&M-Commerce 34-30

The score was 24-17 at the half and TAMC was making it's way in the air, NMU was gashing them on the ground. Penalties struck in the second half as NMU racked up 5 and allowed Texas to control the clock for 38 minutes. The final verdict? Texas A&M knocks NMU out of the quarterfinals 40-29.

That was the beginning of Northern Michigan's dry spell after winning 8 National Championships in 9 seasons. It would be only fitting that they get a rematch versus Texas on the biggest stage three years later...

Northern Michigan goes back to RB Bonilla who gets stuffed on 3 runs for only 3 yards. They have to go back to the air against a tough TAMC blitz that continues to put pressure. 9 plays and 62 yards later, it was the back-up QB Hudson who completes the pass to freshman WR James Anderson for a 9 yard touchdown!

Northern Michigan puts the pedal down 34-30 with 3:34 left to play. On the next drive, Texas A&M-Commerce is not able to convert on 4th down! Game over, Northern Michigan crowd goes crazy!

An amazing return to the throne and while Spthibodeau was also nominated as a coach of the year candidate, he will add this trophy to his collection of 13 National Championships.

After the COY awards, I was fortunate enough to schedule a time to learn more about the reigning champion!

Akua29 "Thanks Champ for letting me have a sit down and interview you." Spthibodeau "Of course, it’s my pleasure. I’m a big fan of your site and articles."

Akua29 "So before we get into the epic rise of Northern Michigan, let's take a minute to get to know more about you. Tell us a little bit about yourself and where your from?" Spthibodeau "Sure. I’m originally from Upper Michigan, but now I reside in Appleton, WI (Yes I am a Packer fan and Yes I was severely upset when Aaron Rodgers got hurt). I graduated NMU in 1997, completing the 5 year + 3 Summer School session plan to obtain my Bachelor of Science with a Major in Marketing. I am newly married (second) and have two wonderful girls ages 12 and 10. I am currently working as a Marketing Director for an environmental company (Veolia), headquartered in Paris, France.

Akua29 "Packers fan eh? So how does one go about choosing the perfect cheesehead hat?"

Spthibodeau "I stay away from that “cheezy stuff”, but there is a ton of it all around Lambeau on gameday."

Akua29 "Who is your favorite Green Packer of all time?"

Spthibodeau "I guess Brett Farve since he was really the guy that turned the franchise around. Loved how we played, never missed a game, tough as nails and had the attitude. We’ve been spoiled in Green Bay with great quarterbacks."

Akua29 "I have Jordy Nelson on my fantasy football team. With Brett Hundley at the helm, should I trade him?

Spthibodeau "I guess I would wait a few weeks, but I think his value will be lower than it is today. Brett Hundley is terrible and the Packers tried to become a running team over one week. That got us nowhere this past weekend." Akua29 "Lambeau Field sounds like an amazing environment to watch a game in. Do you ever get to go to the games and can you describe what it's like on a game day?"

Spthibodeau "If you ever get a chance you have to go. Being that I live 30 minutes from the stadium, I try to get up to a game 3-4 times a season. This year has been different and now with Rogers hurt, I think I’ll stick to the couch or bar to watch games. "

"Game day is electric. The energy starts early morning, when the tailgating begins. The smell of grilling food all around, cold beer in your hand, music in the background with probably 80,000 people all having fun. It is one of a kind."

Akua29 "You mentioned that you went to school at NMU, was your plan when you joined GD to coach at your Alma Mater?"

Spthibodeau "I don’t think so. I was coaching Wisconsin LaCrosse for three seasons, when others in the conference wanted to jump up. GLIAC was open, and so was NMU. It just worked. " Akua29 "Does being familiar with NMU and their competition, make the rivalries in GD you have had with Indianapolis, Ferris St and Saginaw Valley St feel more real?"

Spthibodeau "Not sure. I do take pride in coaching NMU for the sake of being an Alum, but in the end, I always come back to the fact that this is not real life, this is a game, run on an engine with flaws. How else could teams run their entire offense around running out of shotgun or defending shotgun with a 4-3 defense. "

Akua29 "how you came up with your very unique screen name "Spthibodeau"?"

Spthibodeau "Ha! Easy. Since I spent so much time educating myself in marketing, I figured, I would take the first letter of my first name, my middle initial and combine that with my last name. It was magic the first time I did it!"

Akua29 "What do you do to help support your WIS GD addicition?"

Spthibodeau "Statistics. I am a numbers guy inside. I tend to analyze data quite a bit when I am lying in bed at home or on the road in a hotel, while using my ipad."

Akua29 "That could be challenging in terms of playing GD. Do you find recruiting or game planning more of a challenge when you are away on business?"

Spthibodeau "Recruiting hands down. Most the regular season I am on cruise control and perform little to no changes. Recruiting requires me to focus every few hours during the cycles. This is evident by my past few recruiting classes. There has even been times that I forgot to recruit the first 1-2 cycles. That makes the whole process that much more difficult."

Akua29 "You mentioned your headquarters for business in Paris France. Do you ever get to fly out there for a meeting on the companies dime?"

Spthibodeau "I had the pleasure of going twice this year. Once in March and another time in late June (one week before my wedding). It was a blast. I met a bunch of great people, ate great food and the scenery wasn’t too bad either."

Akua29 "What are some hobbies that we may find Spthibodeau doing when not playing GD?"

Spthibodeau "It’s tough to find hobbies these days. I am a father of two little girls, and travel a lot, so free time tends to be focused on what they like to do. I guess, if I had time, it would be drinking beer, watching NFL, playing golf, xbox, tennis and gambling."

Akua29 "Ok, so you obviously deserve to have a break every now and then. Let's say you get a day to yourself at a resort that offers a man cave experience and a day of golfing, which one would you choose first?"

Spthibodeau "Golf for no other reason than I think I would get bored at the man cave for too long."

Akua29 "You get to choose any sports athlete to hang out with for the day, which one would you choose?"

Spthibodeau "That’s a tough question. Without consulting with my wife, it would be Anastasia Ashley - - - If surfing is a sport."

Akua29 "After 18 holes, you get to sit back and watch your favorite NFL game. It features the Packers (w/ Rogers) vs which team?"

Spthibodeau "Probably the Cowboys as we’ve seem to have their number lately. Growing up, the 90s were tough for Packer fans during the Cowboy era, so they deserve all the close calls and losing close games."

Akua29 "The bartender comes up during the game, what beer are you drinking?"

Spthibodeau "Michelob Ultra"

Akua29 "Packers won and now you head back to the man cave and you and the celebrity get 2 hours to veg out and compete on a favorite X-box game. Are you going military blow stuff up, in your face mortal combat style or a smack talking sports game?"

Spthibodeau "Tough question, since someone is with me. I am not sure I would want to be playing video games if I had 2 hours with Anastasia. If I were alone I would be playing Fallout 3, but she would be with me, probably some sports game, whether that’s Madden or NBA2K?"

Akua29 "To top the night off, you're given $5000 to head to the casino, and you can choose 1 game to play until you're out of money or you drop. Which game do you end the night on?"

Spthibodeau "I had free money, I’d waste it on high stakes slots."

Akua29 "Now that sounds like a championship game plan!"

"Let's move on to the game, how did you learn about Gridiron Dynasty?"

Spthibodeau "I originally learned through a friend that was playing Hardball Dynasty, where I tried one season. After 10 years past or so, I had another friend tell me about Gridiron Dynasty, so I figured I’d give it a try. The first 8 seasons were completely useless as I overthought the game."

Akua29 "What was it that you were doing and what changed after that 8th season?"

Spthibodeau "I was still the 8 year newbie playing all the top teams in non-conference. My vision never improved. Once I started opening up my vision, I saw better talent and with the help of a friend took steps to take NMU to where it is today." Akua29 "Vision does play a huge role in team building. What coaches have either mentored your or made a difference in your coaching career?"

Spthibodeau "OMCS for sure. His run in Indianapolis was impressive and I remember being frustrated with NMU and about to walk away when he reached out via site mail and we discussed strategies."

Akua29 "That's amazing that a conference rival offered to help you improve! How was the passing of the torch handled when you eventually passed Indianapolis and started your NC run?"

Spthibodeau "The passing was done with respect and we still discuss strategies. To be open, there is a lot of collaboration in GLIAC. I’ve shared my Manifesto with the current owner of Ferris for example and other current and former coaches in D2."

Akua29 "Besides vision, if you had to nail it down to one game changer that turned your game around, what would it be?"

Spthibodeau "#1 is recruit potential. I have not taken anything but high growth recruits in over 15 recruiting months. Not a single one."

Akua29 "I have to say that with as good of classes as you land and to get all high potential, that is an amazing job. Are you suggesting that if talent is not available to you locally that offers high potential, then you are willing to battle long distance to obtain it?"

Spthibodeau "I’m not sure about battling. There’s plenty of talent at times that you wouldn’t need to battle. This becomes really apparent when your vision opens up and you see recruits others can’t." "I’ll throw a second one in there because it’s equally important and that’s statistics. A SIM AI runs statistically consistent play selection meaning it doesn’t change much if any from game to game if you analyze the plays over multiple games. Unfortunately the same is true for humans. Most coaches are predictable and the tough ones play 50/50. It’s easy to play someone that is 100/0 or 0/100 and then predictably flips each quarter or half to 0/100 or 100/0."

Akua29 "So true, we all have our comfort zones and sometimes it's trust to get out of that routine. What coaches have you struggled the most with when trying to scout and predict what they will do?"

Spthibodeau "Honestly? None. With the game analyzer and excel pivot tables and charts it’s amazing what you can see and do. It really comes down to time to import and analyze the data."

Akua29 "You spent the past 36 seasons with Northern Michigan in a very dominant conference known for sending a team to the National Champion 24 times in the last 29 seasons. What was it like building a team from scratch in a conference this dominant?"

Spthibodeau "It was tough to be honest. When OMCS was on his run with Indianapolis, I just figured those games for losses. That made keeping my vision high harder. Slowly I gained traction and through analyzing data I gained some insights and targeted tendencies in key games. I had to sell out at times to take risks, which in the end worked out well."

Akua29 "Do you have any stories that you can remember and would be open to sharing, when took a risk in game planning that cost you dearly?"

Spthibodeau "Sure. The national championship two seasons ago, against Cheney. I get the lead with less than 2 minutes or something like that in the game and Cheyney marches down the field and scores through the air. I’m in a run defense at this time due to taking a risk of seeing if a human would truly follow their tendencies when losing late in an important game. It didn’t work and it cost me the national championship. Sometimes the obvious solution is probably the best." Akua29 "That's a long time with one program, who would you consider your toughest rivals during that time?"

Spthibodeau "Well again, OMCS in my conference. I’ve had ups and downs with OJPICK at Saginaw and Loverboy at Ferris. Outside of GLIAC I’d have to say FLADAVE at Saint Joes. We’ve met a few times in the national championship and GAR67 at West Chester early in my career."

Akua29 "Changes this season, a lot of accomplished coaches have joined Rockne and will start to emerge in a few seasons. Fla_dave makes his return this season to Saint Joseph and no doubt you two have clashed many times. Omcs is doing a great job over at Hillsdale on his rebuild that looks very promising and West Chester is consistently in the NC chat. Do you feel there is another historic NC run iin the makings for NMU?" Spthibodeau "I don’t know. Some of the recent recruiting classes I’ve had might come back to hurt me, but if the other coaches all continue to take average growth and “reached your potential” guys, perhaps. In the end, NMU should field a team that competes for the foreseeable future."

Akua29 "Having played you a few times, I have to say you are one of the better coaches to lose too. You are a very gracious winner and often send motivating words to coaches afterwards. Have you always been open to bringing people up when they lose?" Spthibodeau "Thank you. I appreciate that. I think it’s important to remember that the other coach’s season just ended and not the way they wanted. This has happened to me many times and I think having that other coach say something helps alleviate some frustrations. Maybe not immediately but certainly later." Akua29 "Are there any teams under the radar that you have been watching and feel we will see them make a run in the near future" Spthibodeau "I’ll leave that to the press and coaches polls. HAHAHA."

Akua29 "Let's wrap up this interview with a few outro questions."

"What's your favorite movie of all time?" Spthibodeau "Shawshank Redemption. Great movie!" Akua29 "Favorite music group?" Spthibodeau "I really don't have one. I tend to listen to all types of music." Akua29 "Bucket list, #1 thing you would still like to do in your lifetime?" Spthibodeau "I guess, this would be to buy a cottage on a lake and spend summer evenings relaxing on the water!" Akua29 "Thanks for being a great sport and taking the time to do this. Your a great competitor and congrats on your well deserved National Championship!" Spthibodeau "It's my pleasure and thanks again for your time and commitment to Rockne D2." "Thanks for doing this!"