0 a 0 a The coach here has a doctorate. Slippery Rock is like that. Dr. George Mihalikhas aDoctor- ate of Education and has remained a full-time professor for all 26 years he's been the head coach. One hour before a game against Kutzdown one recent late Septem- ber day, he chatted and joked with two reporters visiting from Michi- gan aboutthe power of the Slippery Rock name. Legend has itchatctheborough of Slippery Rock got its oame from a group of colonial soldiers who were heing pursued hy Seneca Native Americans. The soldiers came upon a creek and were able to cross hecause they wore heavy boots. The Native Americans, wearing moccasins, slipped on the rocks in the creek bed. They called the place Wechachochapohka - literally a 'slippery rock.' The power of that name has taken Slippery Rock around the nation. Most recently, Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon invited Mihalik and other Slippery Rock ambassadors to Michigan Stadium to be recognized during a game. Mihalik posed for pictures, was invited to parties and hounded for autographs. "We walked up through the stu- dent section," Mihalik said. "I know what a rock star feels like. I know what a celebrity feels like. "Too often, the big guy is too enthralled with just who they are and what they are, who cares about any little person. And Michigan is not that way. They've embraced Slippery Rock University and we really appreciate the fact that they announce our scores, and we just wish everyscore couldbe awinning score." As game time approached, he got upto leave, but notwithout say- ing something that likely has never been said in a big-time football sta- dium before. "Here's the thing," Mihalik said with a laugh. "You guys have any play suggestions, I don't have a problem with it. Just give them to me before the game and not after. Alright?" The unlikely marriage between Slippery Rock and Michigan began in 1959 when Steve Filipiak, Michi- gan's public address announcer, saw the funny name on the wire service ticker. Wanting to inject life into a boring game, Filipiak read the score. The fans loved it. "It got a humorous reaction from people because a lot of people didn't even believe there was such a place," said Art Parker, who worked in the control room that day, as he has for 425 consecutive Michigan games. The scores became a regular occurrence. The wire ticker even- tually was replaced by the tele- phone, and that required Parker to call each day to people like John Carpenter, Slippery Rock's sports information director, for scores. On his first day, Carpenter had never heard of the tradition, and puzzled, he asked the inquisitor from Michi- gan why he wanted the score,, As Carpenter related to the Chi- cago Tribune in 198S, "I said, 'Why do youpeople want to know what the Slippery Rock score is?' And he said, 'If you hold on a minute, I'll tell you.' The guy held the phone near the public address announcer, and then I heard, 'Here's the score you've all been waiting for: Slip- pery Rock 27, Waynesburg 7.' And the place went berserk." In 1979, Michigan Athletic Director Don Canham invited The Rock to play a game in Michigan Stadium, something Slippery Rock officials are hopeful will happen again. Slippery Rock optimistically expected 15,000 people to show up for its game against Ship- pensburg. Instead, four times that number, 61,143, attended, a Division-I record. Canham gave the team sneakers and cleats. Bo Schembechler addressed the team, according to Mihalik. They played in the Big House again in 1981. Bob McComas, Slippery Rock's current sports information direc- tor, remembers being unimpressed with Michigan Stadium's sunken design. That is, until he walked down the tunnel "We see this light toward the end," McComas said. "The whole group stopped breathing. You look up and go, 'Wow.' "You would've thought we were big-time dignitaries. We're just some Division II school from Penn- sylvania." Yet for a few years, Slippery Rock grew evasive, and Parker struggled to get the scores relayed during games. He theorized that Slippery Rock felt like it was being mocked. But that feelingsoon passed. Nowadays, the Slippery Rock scores appear around the nation, from Michigan to Texas. When McComas fails to text the score in, Michigan fans grow irate. McCom- cas recalls one instance when the Michigan radio station called him, saying its callers were demanding the score of the Slippery Rock game. "They think it's a joke that Michigan and Texas announce the scores," McComas said. "But it's amazing. They want to know. The people want to know." The lockerroomhere iscramped, with lockers in the middle of the room to maximize space. Before the game against sutztown, the members of the Slippery Rock foot- ball stepped away from their rick- ety stools and small lockers. They gathered in the middle of thelocker room and said the Lord's Prayer. Most here don't have a scholar- ship. Slippery Rock only awards 18, half as many as the teams in its con- ference. "If you want to play football, they're going to come here," said Ronald Steele, the equipment man- ager who also serves on the town At this point, Michigan fans probably feel like Nathan Scheelhaase has been playing college football for a decade. But the redshirt junior Illinois quarterback is in just his third season as the starter, with another one on tap next year. A two-time captain, Scheelhaase has had plenty of success as a dual-threat gunslinger for the Fighting Illini. But the wins haven't been plen- tiful, which led to a coaching change after last season. Former coach Ron Zook was replaced by Tim Beckman, for- merly of Toledo, who has led Illinois to a disappointing 2-4 heading into this week's matchup against Michigan. At Big Ten Media Days in July, the Daily sat down with Scheel- haase to discuss his new coach, as well as the quarterback's memo- ries of going up against the Wol- verines. The Michigan Daily: How has the transition to Coach Beckman's system gone so far? Were you apprehensive at all about having to go through such a big change, and did you try and help the team stay focused through it all? Nathan Scheelhaase: Once Coach Beckman got in, we all got comfortable with him in pretty rapid fashion. It was easy to make that transition. But those are some of the things that you worry about, and there's no question that you do. I think he understood that he had made a transition before, and knew what it took to really get around to us, and to not only know us as players on the field but as men off it. He did a great job. I didn't have anything to do with that, that was all him gaining that respect in a great fashion. TMD: What's the biggest dif- ference between Coach Zook and Coach Beckman that you've seen so far? NS: I think just the competitive nature Coach Beckman has. He makes everything a competition, from offensive and defensive GPA, to spring practices, to strength competitions in the summer. It's always a competition. That's defi- nitely been really exciting for all of us, because it tells us just that german, that's going to make the rteam confident in turn. TMD: How different is the offense going to look this season? NS: Pretty different. It's not going to look like anything we've Fn"done the past two years. It's going to go at a faster pace. We expect the ball to get to all areas of the field at any given time. And that's something that really makes us more ofa dangerous offense, puts the defense on its heels. It's some- thing that as players you feel good about, because I think there were times last year, having A.J. (Jen- kins), as good a player as he was, we keyed on him a little too much, and the defense knew that wher- ever he was, that's where the ball was going to go. This year, I think we're becoming more diverse in how we're spreading the ball around a little more. TMD: You've been playing for quite a while now. Was there a L$ moment when it sort of clicked for you, when you became fully com- fortable? NS: There's a certain point when it doesn't matter what offense you're running, you kind of have a grasp of things. I think it happened somewhere probably freshman year when we played Michigan in that high-scoring game. It was one of those games when I felt like I had complete . control. I knew what I was look- ing for, I knew where I was going j with the ball. Just saw things from tba different lens. TMD: Speaking of that game against Michigan in 2010, now that you've had a couple years to tEry reflect on it, just how crazy was it, to have a score like 67-65? NS: Honestly, it'll probably feel a lot better to look back on if MAsISSA MCCAIN/a y we find a way to beat Michigan Junior quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase is 0-2 atainsyMichitan in his career, osint a thriller in 2010 and atais last season. at some point in my career. They competitive nature is something coaching change or not? snubbed us that year, they got that can't shock you during the NS: I think the biggest thing after us last year. season, when you face somebody that helps those teams, they know But you look back at that game, trying to stop you from reaching " (Beckman.) who they have to rally around. and you know it's definitely one your goal.That's something we'v e Just having that confidence in a for the record books, that you'll all grown accustomed to this off- makes triggerman helps out a whole lotloook back and watch with your season. I think. If you look at everybody kids. Maybe after we score that TMD: When going through a everything a that's playing football right now, last touchdown in the third over- transition like that, it probably competition." that's watched football over the time, I'll find a way to make the helps to have a returning start- years, they know that quarterback DVD stop running or something er at quarterback, like yourself. _______ is a very demanding position, and like that so I don't have to watch How much does that help a team, if they're confident in their trig- until the end. TheBlockM - www.TheBlockM.com13 6 1 FootballSaturday - October 13, 2012