TERRE HAUTE —
With close to six decades of combined NCAA football coaching experience, new Indiana State head coach Mike Sanford and his defensive coordinator and associate head coach, Brian Cabral, foresee a smooth transition from the previous coaching staff.
Cabral had spent the past 24 years at the University of Colorado. The former Chicago Bear linebacker spent most of the time as linebackers coach while spending time as an associate head coach. He worked under five different head coaches, so he has a good understanding of the transition process.
“I want to pick up where [coach Trent Miles’ staff] left off. That’s going to be the trick, to pick up where they left off,” Cabral said. “To see where [the players] are, what they know. Try not to upset things a great deal. It’s going to be interesting to be able to blend where they are and what they know and what they can do, with how to move them forward.”
Cabral inherits a defense that ranked fifth in the Football Championship Subdivision rankings in yards allowed. But the Sycamores will graduate 2012 All-American cornerback Johnny Towalid and 2011 All-American defensive end Ben Obaseki.
“The program is in a very good place right now,” Cabral said. “We feel like we have great responsibility to these guys to take them a step farther. Everything you want in a team, they’re there. … It’s up to us to help them take that next step.”
Sanford is thrilled to have Cabral on board.
“I’m very excited to have Brian Cabral, No. 1 because of what type of person he is,” Sanford said. “He’s great with relationships with players and having the ability to get the most out of players. His background of some NFL experience, being part of that Chicago Bear defense with Buddy Ryan and he played on a national championship team at CU.
“I’m excited about what he’s going to bring. Also the knowledge and wisdom and the ability to get players to play hard, that’s a lot about what defense is.”
Sanford said that Cabral was one of the first couple people he called after being hired by Indiana State — the first being running back Shakir Bell, who had said he was mulling the possibility of leaving school a year early for the NFL.
“To me, that was priority No. 1, to recruit the players that are here,” Sanford said. “He’s arguably the best running back in FCS football. I wanted to make sure he was coming back.”
With that taken care of, Sanford turned his attention to recruiting — both a coaching staff and some new players. He said he recently completed his staff and hopes to announce a recruiting class of more than 20 players on Wednesday in Hulman Center prior to the men’s basketball game.
The focus of his recruiting will be on wide receiver and linebacker, said Sanford, who was also happy to gain commitments from several players that the previous coaching staff had offered scholarships to.
The next piece of business will be preparing for spring football, a crucial time for a program transitioning coaching staffs.
Sanford will serve as offensive coordinator to start out. He spent time in that role at Utah under Ohio State coach Urban Meyer.
“I want to move toward a more spread offense, but I want to take advantage of the talent we have,” Sanford said. “We’ve got fullbacks and other guys that give us the capability to line up in some pro-type sets and run the football at people. We can also run the football out of spread sets. We want to create opportunities to set up for wide receivers to make some plays. That’s going to open up things for Shakir.”
Sanford helped Alex Smith develop into a 2004 Heisman Trophy candidate. So what does he think of the Sycamores’ talent at that significant position?
“Mike Perish did a really good job last year. They won seven games last year with him at quarterback. That said, the QB position’s going to be wide open,” Sanford said. “Robert Tonyan is a really good young player who redshirted last year. I think there’s going to be a really good competition with those two this spring.”
Sanford said the spring schedule, which will begin in about six weeks, will be about mastering new terminology so that the Sycamores can avoid haphazard mistakes that can derail an offense.
“That’s a huge thing in the first year is to be efficient, understand the system and understand the snap count,” Sanford said. “Not have mistakes before the ball is snapped. We’re going to want to do some things with tempo offense. We’ll want to get that in this spring, having a system where you can huddle and go no-huddle.”
While Sanford is new to the FCS football scene, he got a glimpse when watching Missouri Valley Football Conference foe North Dakota State take the national title a couple days after he was hired.
“When I watched that, one thing I noticed was they ended up 14-1, and the one loss was to Indiana State. That shows we have the capability to play at that level. As long as we approach it like we still have work to do, we have players hungry to get there,” Sanford said.
College
New ISU football staff sees smooth transition
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DeNato proves IU can pitch too
Joey DeNato dispelled the notion that College World Series newcomer Indiana is all about offense.
The junior left-hander threw a four-hitter and the Hoosiers looked mighty comfortable at TD Ameritrade Park while beating Louisville 2-0 on Saturday night. -
Etherington, Moore happy to be with ISU basketball
Not even two weeks into their college experience, Indiana State freshmen men’s basketball players Alex Etherington and Demetrius Moore stood sentinel as 115 kids ran around them collecting basketballs and getting autographs at the Greg Lansing Basketball Camp on Thursday.
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ISU's Johnson invited to World University Games
Indiana State senior Felisha Johnson will be traveling the world this summer after being named to represent the United States in the women’s shot put at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Close, but no cigar, theme for ISU sports in 2012-13
When I covered my first event of Indiana State’s 2012-13 season — ISU’s opening football game at Indiana — I was the first one in the press box at IU’s Memorial Stadium. I’m never the first one in the press box.
Maybe the prospect of ISU’s season had me so pumped that I decided to get it started close to three hours early? (Or more truthfully, maybe I was over-vigilent about predicted traffic horrors on the Indiana 46 bypass that never came to pass.) -
Q&A: ISU football coach Mike Sanford ready for fall
It’s hard to believe, but Mike Sanford has already been Indiana State’s football coach for six months.
Time flies, but Sanford’s task of preparing for his first season in charge of the Sycamores comes with few breaks. -
Rex streak ends at 7
The Terre Haute Rex table setters — Kyle Kempf and Tyler Wampler — had three of the team’s eight hits Friday at Bob Warn Field, but the Rex offense found itself in a big early deficit for the first time this season.
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Manaea’s selection puts ISU in spotlight
Once the stress and hang-wringing over where Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea might get drafted was over, the angst subsided and was replaced with a happier emotion. Pride.
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ISU’s Hope places 13th in NCAA pole vault
Indiana State senior Nicole Hope concluded her final competition of the 2013 outdoor season on Friday as she tied for 13th in the women’s pole vault at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
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Metro roundup: Former Sycamores take talents to CFL
Former Indiana State players Johnny Towalid and Justin Hilton were signed by teams in the Canadian Football League this week.
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Exit Minnesota, enter Oregon State on 2016 football schedule
When the Big Ten Conference implemented a nine-game football schedule starting in 2016 and discouraged members from playing Football Championship Subdivision teams, there was one game on Indiana State’s future schedule that was likely on borrowed time.
ISU’s scheduled game at Minnesota in 2016. -
METRO ROUNDUP: Swift reaches finals of NCAA Championships in 110-meter hurdles
Indiana State junior Greggmar Swift will be among the top eight in the NCAA in the 110-meter hurdles after qualifying for Saturday’s finals on Thursday.
Swift ran a time of 13.51 seconds to take third in his heat. He’ll run in either lane 1 or lane 8 on Saturday.
“I got out pretty good and then I hurdled three or four when I got bumped and it threw me off my rhythm,” said Swift, a native of Barbados. “I tried to get back my rhythm … but I held on for the third place.” -
ISU's Manaea selected 34th overall by Royals
Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea selected 34th overall by the Kansas City Royals.
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Sycamores ready for more NCAA track success
Five of the six Indiana State athletes in Eugene, Ore., already have had some memorable track and field careers for the Sycamores.
But they’ll go ahead and try to add to their list of accomplishments in the NCAA outdoor championships this weekend.
Dustin Betz has been a scorer and key piece of eight Missouri Valley Conference championship teams between track and cross country. He’ll compete today in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as the Sycamores’ second best in the event behind Jordan Fife. -
Mike Lucas joins ISU football staff
What traits do head football coaches seek out when they hire position coaches?
Indiana State football coach Mike Sanford provided insight into that question as he hired former Southeast Louisiana head coach Mike Lucas to his staff Tuesday. Lucas will be the Sycamores’ defensive line coach.
“You have to look at your staff and see what you need. I felt like in this particular case, I wanted an experienced defensive line coach. I feel like we have a mixture of experience and youth and I want to keep that going,” Sanford said. -
TODD GOLDEN: MVC Tourney can be ISU success story if work is done
Prior to last week’s Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament at Illinois State’s Duffy Bass Field, fear and loathing prevailed in some corners of the conference.
It seemed that Missouri State, Creighton, and most notably, Wichita State, had a monopoly on the season-ending tournament since the Coolidge Administration. (It had actually been since 1998.) How could the tournament make it without playing in one of the three aforementioned universities’ big venues? - COLLEGE REPORT: Wabash College All-American relay team has TH flavor
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Six Sycamores heading to NCAA Track and Field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman punched their tickets Friday to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore. Two more got the job done Saturday on the campus of UNC Greensoboro in the East Preliminary.
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Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
Indiana State’s baseball was out of pitching, and after a loss to Wichita State on Thursday, the Sycamores were out of second-chances too at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament. What the Sycamores weren’t out of was heart, guts and clutch performances from some unlikely sources. But in the end, Friday’s elimination game rematch against the Shockers was a sampling of ISU’s season overall — the Sycamores were out of luck.
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Metro Sports: Chalk up No. 5 for Liz Evans
Senior Liz Evans capped the top career in Rose-Hulman athletics history with her fifth national championship and eighth All-American award at Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday.
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Four Indiana State athletes advance to NCAA outdoor track and field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman have punched their tickets to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore., with their Friday efforts in the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary at Aggie Stadium on the campus of North Carolina A&T.
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Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch
Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent. -
Indiana State baseball now one win from MVC Championship
Indiana State’s Wednesday morning wish list probably read something like this: a dominant complete game effort from starting pitcher Devin Moore, near-immaculate defense to support him, and a steady diet of clutch situational hitting from lineup spots one to nine.
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Terre Haute's Mascari running 10,000 meters for chance to get to Hayward Field
Indiana State freshman and Terre Haute North graduate John Mascari is among the enormous group of Sycamores competing this weekend at the NCAA East Preliminary. The top 48 NCAA track and field competitors in each event on this half of the United States are narrowed down to 12 who will compete at the NCAA meet at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
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Manaea's shoulder causing him latest pain
Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea has battled through so many aches and pains during the 2013 season that it can be hard to discern the serious pain from the pain he pitches through.
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ISU's Negele answers call in big way in wake of Manaea injury
When Indiana State starting pitcher Sean Manaea slumped on the mound in obvious pain after he took his warm-up pitches, red flags raised for ISU’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament hopes.
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ISU baseball hoping Manaea can get its MVC Tournament moving in right direction
Indiana State’s baseball team has been waiting all season for its stars to align.
But this is the 2013 Sycamores, after all, and after a season in which seemingly little has gone right, it appears its stars will remain crossed at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. -
ISU track sending record 22 to postseason
On the heels of their thrilling double victory at the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships both the Indiana State men and women moved up in the national rankings which were released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
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ISU's athletic treasure trove
Think of every championship that Indiana State has won in each of its sports, past and present. Think of every tournament — postseason or regular season — which the Sycamores have claimed as their own.
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Ort sets ISU RBI record in 16-7 win
Robby Ort celebrated his Indiana State baseball Senior Day on Saturday by becoming the Sycamores’ all-time leader in RBIs as ISU ended its regular season with a 16-7 win over Bradley at Bob Warn Field.
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Bradley ends 16-game MVC losing streak against ISU
Momentum was the only thing riding on Indiana State’s baseball game against Bradley on Friday. With a five-game winning streak going, ISU wanted to keep the good vibes going into next week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
ISU couldn’t do it. - More College Headlines
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