TERRE HAUTE — As Rose-Hulman’s starting middle linebacker, junior Andrew Couch is adept at dishing out and absorbing the numerous violent collisions inherent to the game of college football.
But Couch’s time navigating around the gridiron must seem like a piece of cake to him compared to his time serving as one of the few, the proud … yes, I’m talking about the U.S. Marines.
“Joined the Marine Corps right out of high school … wanted to serve my country and all that,” Couch said prior to a Rose football practice last week.
During his six-year commitment with the Marines, he certainly got to see the world with deployments to such “exotic” locales as Djibouti and the Republic of Georgia.
Rose football coach Steve Englehart described it best when discussing Couch, who will turn 25 years old later this season, saying “he’s had an interesting journey to say the least.”
Couch’s specialty in the Marines was electro-optical ordinance repair. “Basically fix anything with a lens and a wire,” Couch said.
In 2006, Couch was deployed to Djibouti, located just above Somalia. While there he was involved in training exercises and protection of the U.S. base.
“Real small country, not real wealthy,” Couch noted. “Get a lot of like goatherders … people coming up from Somalia. They don’t really know where they’re at. They see the lights of the base and think it’s downtown Djibouti. They’re out there walking in the sun two or three days from Somalia. Kind of interesting out there.
“Spent a month in the Republic of Georgia, cross-training with the Georgian military.” He pointed out that particular deployment was prior to the unrest which happened there the last couple of years.
During the fifth year of his six-year commitment, he returned to school. Couch enrolled at Citrus Junior College in his hometown of Glendora, Calif., where he played football the past two seasons.
Even the process of how Couch ended up at Rose-Hulman was atypical.
“A lot of people ask me how I ended up out here,” Couch said. “Basically I was looking for a good school. I wanted my degree to mean something. I didn’t want to go to just some school that’s not really known. [Rose] had Division III football. I wanted to keep playing football and I had eligibility. I applied online, got in and here I am.
“I didn’t even come visit Terre Haute before I came out here. But I wasn’t too worried … you don’t get to visit Djibouti before you go out there, you don’t get to visit Georgia right? So I’m still in the United States, it can’t be that bad.
“Some of the guys here think Terre Haute is horrible. I always tell them it could be so much worse,” he laughed. “Overall, I really like it here. Yeah.”
Englehart agreed it was atypical how Couch matriculated to Rose-Hulman.
“[Couch] kind of fell in my lap,” Englehart stated. “We typically don’t recruit junior college transfers. Usually [athletes] are at junior colleges for one of two things. They want to go there to prepare themselves to get a scholarship to play Division I, or they didn’t have the grades. In his case, that wasn’t the case.
“He e-mailed me, said he was interested and wanted to look at engineering. So we created a dialogue through e-mail last November and December, then started through the recruiting process over the phone. He never even came here on a visit. He knew he wanted engineering, to go to the best engineering school and have a chance to play football.”
Couch, listed at 5-foot-7, 215 pounds, played fullback in high school and at Citrus College. But he was quickly switched to middle linebacker upon arriving at Rose.
“Still learning, trying to get better every day,” Couch added. “Trying to learn the speed of the game. It’s going pretty well, but still a long way to go I think.”
“He hadn’t played defense since high school … and high school for him was seven years ago,” Englehart laughed. “He’s done a really nice job. Obviously, it’s been a learning curve for him … trying to adapt to playing defense and running more than what a fullback normally does.”
Statistically, Couch is indeed doing a nice job, currently ranked third with the Engineers in number of tackles.
Couch feels his age difference from his teammates has not been a factor.
“It’s not like they see me as an old man,” Couch noted. “Sometimes they ask my opinion on things because I tend to see things a little differently … course, being older and having some more world experience. It’s cool to help them out where I can.”
Couch, despite his worldly experiences, is currently living on campus. He rooms with a student near his age that served in the South Korean Army for two years.
“Me and him always talk about how some of the freshmen … they’re just younger,” Couch grinned.
“He’s fit in right away,” Englehart said. “One big thing about him is he’s been through a lot. The guys can look at him and see he’s been through a lot and obviously respect what he’s done.
“Through all that, he’s able to have so much more influence on some of our younger kids. We were able to see that right away during camp. He was hanging out with some of the freshmen and you could tell he was taking them under his wing. He was kind of ‘I’m been through the ropes before, let me show you young bucks’.
Couch has recently switched his major to electrical engineering.
“It kind of fits in with what I’m doing in the Marine Corps,” he explained. “My personal goal is to be a pilot in the Marine Corps.”
Rose-Hulman
Rose-Hulman linebacker also a U.S. Marine
- Rose-Hulman
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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Rose, The Woods post weekend victories
Rose-Hulman relied on a balanced scoring attack and a strong defensive effort to earn a 55-44 women’s basketball victory Saturday over Mount St. Joseph.
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Bluffton nips Rose-Hulman men
Bluffton placed three players in double figures to capture a tightly contested 62-56 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball victory over visiting Rose-Hulman on Saturday.
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HCAC title still a possibility for Rose
A 60-46 loss at Transylvania on Saturday did not help Rose-Hulman’s chances, but coach Jim Shaw’s Engineers are still in their best position to capture a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball championship and earn an NCAA Division III tournament bid in several years.
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Rose drops pair to Transylvania
Transylvania withstood a second half charge by Rose-Hulman to earn a 60-46 men’s basketball victory in a battle of Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference co-leaders Saturday.
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Rose’s win streak snapped
Alisa Dickerson had a strong second half of women’s college basketball Wednesday in Hulbert Arena, but the Rose-Hulman senior could not get two shots to fall in the final 13 seconds of overtime.
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Rose men edge Anderson
Rose-Hulman successfully defended two shots in the final five seconds by Anderson University to earn a 71-70 men’s basketball victory Wednesday night.
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Rose wins twinbill
Playing an afternoon doubleheader inside Hulbert Arena, the Rose women routed Mount St. Joseph 71-40 to post their largest margin of victory since the 2006-07 season when the female Engineers defeated St. Mary-of-the-Woods by 41.
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Ploof has big 2nd half for Rose women
Rose-Hulman sophomore Kelsey Ploof scored 16 second half points, including the last three points of the game, to help the Engineers top Earlham 49-47 in women’s basketball Wednesday in Hulbert Arena.
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Rose-Hulman dominates Earlham in conference
Rose-Hulman relied on a strong defensive effort and a balanced scoring attack to top Earlham College 73-43 in men's basketball action on Tuesday night.
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Rose men, women manage sweep
Rose-Hulman’s men’s basketball team improved to 9-2 as it defeated nearby rival DePauw 67-59 on Monday at DePauw.
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Rose-Hulman teams swept at Hanover
Rose-Hulman rallied from a 28-point first-half deficit to close within single digits in the second half, but Hanover College held off the charge to earn a 60-54 men’s basketball victory on Saturday.
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Rose-Hulman sweeps conference doubleheader from Bluffton
For Rose-Hulman basketball fans, the one-hour delay was worth the wait Saturday.
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Rose-Hulman men overpower Manchester; women lose close game
Rose-Hulman relied on a strong defensive effort to top Manchester 59-29 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball Wednesday.
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Rose’s wins traversed generations
Nine-ninety-eight … 999 … 1,000 … 1,001 … 1,002 … and counting.
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Beating the odds: Now cancer free, Prevo avoids surgery
For the Rose-Hulman women’s basketball team, bald is beautiful.
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Wabash takes down Rose-Hulman
Two men’s college basketball teams entered Hulbert Arena undefeated Wednesday night, but only one could leave that way.
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SMWC topples Rose-Hulman
After a sluggish first half for both teams, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College found enough offensive rhythm in the final 20 minutes to outlast host Rose-Hulman 51-41 in the 19th annual Clabber Girl Trophy women’s basketball showdown Tuesday night inside Hulbert Arena.
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Two for the price of one: Rose-Hulman perfect academic, athletic option for Dickerson
Alisa Dickerson had two distinct goals in mind when she was deciding where to play women’s college basketball.
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Rose-Hulman drops Earlham
Rose-Hulman’s football team overcame a slow first half to defeat winless Earlham 21-7 Saturday afternoon to retain the Borders of the Borders Broadsword for the 11th straight year.
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Rose, Kovach have record day in 53-50 victory
Rose-Hulman established three single-game school records and relied on a key defensive play to win a 53-50 victory in an offensive shootout at Anderson on Saturday.
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METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman earns share of HCAC volleyball title
Rose-Hulman earned a share of the first regular-season volleyball conference championship in school history with a three-set win over Defiance College on Saturday.
The Engineers improved to 21-8 overall and established new single-season school records for victories and highest winning percentage by defeating Illinois College in four sets later in the day. -
Defiance stops Rose-Hulman
Held to zero yards of net rushing, Rose-Hulman lost to red-hot Defiance 21-18 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football Saturday afternoon at Cook Stadium.
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Rose-Hulman receives $27.8M in-kind software grant from Siemens
An international company has given Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology a $27.8 million in-kind software grant, the largest in-kind corporate donation in college history.
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Engineers rich in good experience
With some teams, having almost every player back from the previous season is not necessarily a good thing, depending on the talent level of those players.
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Rose second-half rally not enough vs. Bluffton
Bluffton built an early 24-0 lead and held off Rose-Hulman’s second-half charge to post a 31-13 win in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football Saturday afternoon.
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There’s little Kovach can’t do on gridiron
Rose-Hulman junior Kyle Kovach didn’t top 100 yards rushing Saturday like he usually does.
This time, the talented running back from Munster had to “settle” for 85 yards against Mount St. Joseph at Cook Stadium.
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Mount St. Joseph at Rose-Hulman
The matchup — The Rose-Hulman Engineers (2-3 overall, 2-1 HCAC) will play host to the Mount St. Joseph Lions (3-2, 2-2) for a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football matchup today.
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Rose inductees learned sacrifice
Former wide receiver Eric Gappa admits that when he completed his Rose-Hulman football career in 1995 and when he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1996, he wondered if someday he would be inducted into the engineering institute’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
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Franklin speeds away from Rose-Hulman 55-24
Franklin College maintained its undefeated mark in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football on Saturday, defeating Rose-Hulman 55-24 in sunny, warm weather at Cook Stadium.
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Goble has built solid program at Rose-Hulman
Reflecting on the 151⁄2 seasons since her hiring in 1996, which came soon after Rose-Hulman started admitting female students, Brenda Goble thinks she has improved as the only volleyball coach in the engineering institute’s history.
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