The Crum world, the craziest, nuttiest, rockinest world in HD, is ready to say goodbye to the 70's decade. This is the final world to leave the 70's behind, sort of like when Voyager passed Pluto and headed into the great unknown. Gone will be disco, bell bottoms, The Eagles, pet rocks, Linda Ronstadt, tight corduroys, The Towering Inferno, Charlie Finley's Swingin' A's, lava lamps, the original Not Ready For Primetime Players, and the AMC Pacer... and hello 80's, MTV, the Big East, Prince and the Revolution, American Gigolo, the Go-Go's, Jordache jeans, Bo Derek, HBO's Not Necessarily The News, gypsy moth caterpillars eating every deciduous leaf in New England, The Aries K-car...

I had a fun 70's run.
5 years at Merrimack with 3 NT's.
5 years at Holy Cross with 2 NT's.
0-5 in all NT games.

2 first team All-America players... Marino with the Warriors, Mireles with the Crusaders.
I never was ranked, and i don't think i ever even received votes.

Had some great conference mates too...
in the N-10, ppk, duke, therewas, and mambrose.
in the Patriot, psimon, redwolf and wvufan.

worked out great deals with sponsors and boosters... got William Shatner to buy seasons tickets at both schools, had Charlize Theron as commissioner of the N-10, and then worked out a deal to get her to run the Patriot. Wahlberg and Ric Ocasek are regulars at Holy Cross games, in fact The Cars typically play at both Latenight Madness and Senior Night each season.

My loyal sponsors help promote my teams and help do charitable work... tip of the hat to Table Talk Pies and Polar Bottling of Worcester, B&M Baked Beans of Portland Maine, and the Worcester Elks Club and local VFW Posts... really, i couldnt do it without them. Also, kudos to ppk for giving me the idea for this post.

Good luck recruiting to all in Crum, and see you next "decade".

The 60s closed with big expectations in Maryville, Tennessee. The Scots had made it four rounds deep in the NT nine times that decade, had advanced to five national championship games, and had finished the decade with a 103-2 record over the last three years. After opening the 70s with two championships in the first three years (making it four titles in six years from '67 to '72), Scots fans were crowing about having supplanted Delaware Valley--winners of six titles from '56 to '64--at the top of the D3 food chain. 

But then the troubles came. Three straight years, the Scots failed to make it out of the Sweet Sixteen. In '75, they racked up eight losses--most since '58--and failed to win the Ohio Conference Tournament for just the second time in eighteen years. Maryville was still a consistent fixture in the national tournament, but not in the later rounds. The Scots no longer struck fear into the hearts of opponents, and it looked like there was a new sheriff in town in the form of bdr127's Ursinus Bears, winners of three national titles in four years in the mid-70s. It was hard to talk about firing a coach who had led the Scots to such greatness in the early part of the decade, but many residents feared that coach tarvolon was losing his edge. JC Campion had been a steady fixture next to the head coach on the bench. Maybe it was time for tarv to step down and let JC take over. Maybe the hunger of a first time head coach would bring D3 greatness back to East Tennessee. There were even rumors that the head coach was having doubts of his own.

But in '77, despite just five upperclassmen on the roster, Maryville roared back. Led by 22 PPG from senior guard Michael Otwell and another 19 from junior Allen Hick, the Scots raced through the regular season with a 26-0 mark and didn't stop until they had won the conference tournament and the national championship. The Scots struggled the following year after graduating four seniors, but in '79, they were back. Or at least, the fans thought they were back after opening the season 25-0. Accusations of a weak schedule didn't bother them--they had won all their games. When they were upended by Baldwin-Wallace in the finale, it was a fluke. But when they fell again to Fisk in the conference championship and checked in to the NT as a 2-seed, stuck in a region with consensus #1 Delaware Valley and nouveua power Ursinus, dreams of a Final Four looked farther away than ever. A four-point escape against the Bears in the Sweet Sixteen brought Maryville to their realistic ceiling--an Elite Eight matchup against the Aggies from Delaware Valley.

But the Elite Eight saw Maryville's guards handle the best press in the country better than their fans could have dreamed, and they advanced to face the only remaining 1-seed: the Fairleigh Dickinson Devils. But while FDUM's press gave Maryville fits and their offense scorched the Scots to the tune of 53% from the floor, the Devils couldn't make their free throws. A 12/28 performance from the stripe kept the Scots in it, and a four-point play from Charles Dawkins in the final minute sealed a three-point win. Maryville would advance to the national title to face the new #1: DePauw. For the third straight game, the opponent was favored, but the free throw voodoo held again--DePauw shot just 46% from the line, and Maryville again escaped, this time 59-57, finishing off the decade with a national title in each of their four Final Four appearances. 

Rumors around town are that JC Campion is still angling for the head coaching job. Who knows? Maybe when the 80s come to a close, he'll find himself in the big chair. But for now, the dissatisfied whispers have quieted down. Maryville has finished the 70s where they finished the 60s: on top.         

[I'm glad this thread was about Crum--my stories about other worlds aren't nearly so fun :) ]