Monday, January 27, 2014

In loving memory – Bruce Assily (1977 – 2014)

***(2/4/2014 at 2:09 pm) An update on the services for Bruce Assily.  Bruce's family has requested that flowers or any other items to be sent to Bruce's family home in Honolulu.  I apologize if you have made prior arrangements to send flowers to the service but I didn't receive this information until recently.

Assily Family
868 Ahukini St
Honolulu, HI 96825

Marina Florists are located within a short drive to the Assily family address:  (808) 394-5555 ‎ · marinafloristhonolulu.com

#8 Bruce Assily left us all too soon at the age of 36. A gentle man but a fierce warrior.
This past Friday former Linfield Stand-Out Defense End, Michael Bruce Assily (1996-1999) passed away on Friday, January 24th at the age of 36 in a diving accident off Kaimana Beach in Waikiki.  Apparently Bruce was free diving for fish with a friend at 5 a.m. in preparations of last week’s Pro-Bowl and ran into trouble. Bruce’s friend was able to get him back to the beach after Bruce was in prolonged distress.  Police and medical professionals were on the scene and transported Bruce to a hospital but they were unable to revive him. 

I couldn’t believe this when I first read that one of the best people I’ve ever met was taken from this world way too soon.  This hits so hard for everyone that knows and loves Bruce.  He was a wonderful and joyful man that loved life and could always bring a smile to your face no matter how bad of a day you might be having.  I had the honor of playing side-by-side with Bruce for three seasons (1996-98) at Linfield as Bruce would man that Anchor defensive end position (tight end/heavy side) while he allowed my then skinny self to play on the non-tight end side of the formation.  Bruce was such an incredible football player.  So explosive physically and had an innate understanding for the flow of the game.  He knew when to gamble (“Oh slash, coach?”) and he had the ability to disrupt a play with brute force or could beat you with athleticism.....or do both on the same play.  He was a special football player and it was an honor to play next to him for those 3 years. 


 
(Do yourself a favor and watch the highlight above...Bruce was a gifted football player)

However, Bruce was more than just a football player.  Bruce Assily was a wonderful man who had a deep love of his friends and family.  He never had to try to make people like him.  His fellow teammates, classmates, coaches, and adults would gravitate to him, his huge smile, and outgoing personality.  He made making friends look like the easiest thing in the world.  

My fondest memories of Bruce was the summer of 1998 when Bruce and I worked for Coach Suan at the HHPA facilities.  Coach Suan put us to work painting, pressure washing tennis courts, handing out towels, monitoring the weight room (i.e. working out while a few profs would be on the cardio equipment), mowing, and doing all sorts of odd jobs.  Bruce and I were both flat broke that summer but it was a wonderful time hanging out with Bruce.  He would make fun of my music taste, talk about life, tell jokes (my jokes were never as good as his), he would constantly try to get me to go to church and I would avoid it at all costs (he never gave up on me), joke about who the better defensive end was (Bruce would say it was me and I would say it was him….we both knew it was him), and he would sing his 7-11 Slurpee song while we walked over the 7-11 together.  He made such a positive impact on my life during Linfield and he someone that I will always cherish.  I haven’t seen Bruce in many years but my feelings about Bruce have never changed.  Being friends with Bruce made me a better person.  He showed me how to live life better and I feel a deep sorrow for his family and friends back home that won’t have more time with him.   Rest in Peace my friend…I will never forget you.  STRONGEST LINK! –RC


Below is a letter from Coach Smith regarding Bruce.  During Bruce’s time at Linfield, Coach Smith was the program’s defensive line coach and coached Bruce directly during his time as a Linfield Wildcat.  Coach Smith dealt with some characters during that time (Mitch, Barry, Harter, Jesse Smith, Wild Bill, Dirty, Jesse Allen, Alvarez, Wigs, myself, etc.) but Bruce was the biggest character of them all.  But Bruce and Coach Smith had a close relationship.  For all the joking around, Bruce was a tough competitor and he loved playing for Coach Smith.  Coach Smith could always read our group perfectly and he knew the strength of our defensive line was built upon what #8 could do.  

----------------------

The world is a better place because of Bruce Assilly.  We lost a remarkable man with his passing.   I have never met a bigger personality than Bruce.   Few people can literally fill a room with energy and spirit by themselves.    Bruce Assilly could.   When Bruce touched foot into a building, you knew he had arrived.   You could hear him a mile away with that infectious laugh that he would double over and bubble forth with.   His joy and lust for life infected, and affected, everyone around him.    

Bruce never shut his mouth, he was always talking; and he was flat out hilarious.     One engaged in banter with him at one’s peril, as not only was he incredibly witty, he was relentless.     Even while he was learning to play racquetball, he would lose point wise, but you would come out of the game feeling like Bruce had won.   Bruce was like that, he would talk so much trash, and do it in such a funny positive way, and he could spin anything to his advantage.   We all loved that about Bruce.   His spirit lifted you up.

Bruce was the fastest learner and the most talented football player I have ever coached.  There was nothing he could not do it seemed.   He was a true force of nature on the field, but it was off the field that I will always cherish the most about Bruce.  Before too long, he was one of the best racquetball players on campus.    Things came easy to him physically.   He walked by the wt. room one day, and asked what guys were doing with the bars.  I told him they were doing power cleans.  He asked, “are those hard?   Let me try.”   The guys were maxing and had 275 lbs on.   Bruce walked over and before I could say not too, he tried reverse curling the bar up.   He couldn’t quite do it, and while the guys chuckled around him, he quickly tried again.   With a little more oomph, he completed a 275 hang clean on his first real try.    That was Bruce.

Bruce struggled his freshman year at Linfield.   He made poor choices and really struggled focusing on his class work.   We began to meet weekly and try to get things turned around for him.   He met with Doug Hire several times and I know Doug was a strong mentor for Bruce.    Bruce decided to change his life around at Linfield when he and two close friends began to attend the Potter’s House.   Bruce did a 180 degree turn in his life and began to thrive.   As his faith grew, everything around Bruce seemed to blossom; he was like that.  People flocked to him, and he loved it.

When our daughter was born Bruce came to our house and extemporaneously made up a song about Little Josie and serenaded her on his ukulele.   I can still hear him singing that song in our hallway.   One summer Bruce was did concrete work in our backyard, and he would borrow Nick Forsey’s car, probably without asking, and drive it over.    The backyard was all uneven loose dirt, but Bruce had to have his music, so he would drive Nick’s low rider out back to get close to where he was working.   I warned him to watch where he was driving as he would get it stuck.  His answer was always “c’mon coach!”  (I am not certain Bruce even had a license)  When he inevitably got it high centered, he worked like a dog trying to dig that car out by himself.   Bruce would never ask for help, if he knew it was his deal to fix.   He was a prankster and a trickster at times, but there was one hell of man under that smiling face.   

He played right away for us.   He was so darn talented he could not be kept off the field.  The defensive front he anchored down will always be a special group to me.   Assilly and Carlson on the edge, and Chadwick, Smith, and Harter on the inside was our own version of the “fearsome foursome” and they were the rock of our program through some rough years at Linfield.    Bruce helped form a foundation that the success of the 2000’s was built upon.

Bruce could sing, Bruce could dance, and Bruce could Hit.    He was a tremendously loyal, and someone that was your friend at first meeting.   No one ever seemed to say a bad word about him, and I know even his opponents must have shared a begrudging admiration for him.   It was truly a privilege and honor to coach Bruce and consider him a close friend.  

-Coach Smith


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Stat of the day

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Linfield D.C., Jackson Vaughan, named Coordinator of the Year Finalist by Footballscoop.com

Linfield and defensive coordinator Jackson Vaughan put out another great defense in 2013.
Coming off another highly successful season the honors keep rolling in for the Linfield Wildcats.  After finishing the season at 11-1, reaching the Elite 8 of the Division III playoffs, and securing the #4 ranking in the country, Footballscoop.com has named Linfield defensive coordinator, Jackson Vaughan, as one of their Division III coordinator of the Year finalists for the 2013 season.

Coach Vaughan's 2013 defense had another stellar year as the Wildcats posted up a list of impressive numbers:

- #1 Rush defense in the country (60.3 yards allowed per game (2.0 yards per carry))
- #12 scoring defense in the country (14.1 points allowed per game)
- #12 in total defense (274.7 yards allowed per game)
- #9 in turnovers gained with 33 (13 fumble recoveries, 20 picks)
- #9 in team tackles for loss (110 TTL, 9.2 per game)
- Linfield has the 2nd most stout rush defense across all divisions (FBS to D-III)
- Linfield posted two shutouts on the season (Case Western Reserve and Pacific Lutheran (regular season),
- The defense only allowed 4 rushing touchdowns during the season (the starting unit only allowed 2: one a QB scramble and the other a QB sneak)

Coach Vaughan would be the 1st to tell you that this honor is a reflection of the effort and work of the entire program.  While that is 100% true this honor is so well deserved for a flat-out great coach.  Coach Vaughan has great attention to detail, treats his players and peers with respect, is fair but tough, and can game plan with the best of them.

Along with being the 'Cats defensive coordinator, Coach Vaughan has also built a juggernaut as the head softball coach for Linfield.   Under his direction Linfield Softball has won 10 consecutive Northwest Conference titles (2004 - 2013), advanced to the NCAA Championship game 4 times and won the NCAA titles in 2007 & 2011.

FootballScoop.com: 2013 Division III Coordinator of the Year - Finalists

ADvantage Catdome: From Football to Softball, Coach Jackson Vaughan just keeps winning 

Coach Vaughan teaching Defensive Line Step-and-Strike at the 2009 Linfield Football Camp:

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

14 Years of Northwest Conference Dominance


On December 31st 2009, we review the first full decade of the realignment of the Northwest Conference (The NWC regrouped in 1996 as the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges (NCIC) and then officially named back to the Northwest Conference in 1998). At the beginning of 2012 we took a look at the data to see how that's changed over the two season period.

I decided to once again plug in the this past year's results and add Pacific's four seasons worth of statistics into the mix.   What you see is what you get and that's Linfield continuing to dominate what's considered one of the premiere conferences in Division III.

131 victories since the 2000 season.  Linfield has only lost 5 Northwest conference games over a 14 year span.  The closest team over this period is PLU and for their success they've still taken 28 losses in NWC play.  That's remarkable.

There are others stats that leap out at you in terms of where Linfield has made their mark.  18 playoff victories (next closest is PLU with 3), 11 NWC titles (nearest team is Whitworth with 3), 164 1st team honors (Willamette is next with 85), Linfield's won 89.1% of their home games (Whitworth is next at 63.7%), and the 'Cats are the only team that are in the triple digit column with total wins (131).

The new area I took a look at was D3football.com All-Americans since 2000 and that numbers were shocking.   Linfield has 18 1st-Team All-Americans since 2000, the rest of the Northwest Conference has 5 combined.  Wow.

The data is staggering to me when you considered that the Northwest Conference is a darn good conference.  There's no secret why this has happened. It's been consistence that's the program reaches on a yearly basis on the back of hard work.  No shortcuts, no gimmicks.  Linfield will continue to be the team to beat year after year because of the commitment of this staff, players, administration, and support community that do things the right way....the Linfield way. 


Decade Records (2000-13) (I've excluded Pacific from record and honors data as they've only reinstated the program since 2010.)

Overall Record (Winning Percentage)
Linfield.............131-21  (86.2%)
Whitworth.........86-50   (63.2%)
PLU.................83-49    (62.9%)
Willamette........83-56    (59.7%)
L&C................32-89     (26.4%)
UPS................32-95    (25.2%)

NWC Record
Linfield............72-5     (93.5%)
PLU.................49-28   (63.6%)
Whitworth.........47-30   (61%) 
Willamette.......47-30  (61%)
L&C...............13-59   (16.9%)
UPS..............11-66   (14.3%)

Home Record
Linfield............74-9   (89.1%)
Whitworth......44-25  (63.7%)
Willamette......46-27  (63%)
PLU................38-24  (61.3%)
L&C................19-42  (31.1%)
UPS................17-47  (26.6%)

Road Record
Linfield..........57-12  (82.6%)
Whitworth.......45-25  (65.2%)
PLU...............45-25  (62.7%)
Willamette.....37-29  (56%)
UPS..............15-48 (23.8%)
L&C...............13-47  (21.7%)

Playoff Record
Linfield.........18-9
PLU.............3-3
Whitworth......1-2
Willamette.....1-2

NWC 1st Place Finishes
Linfield............11 (1 -tie)
Whitworth.......3 (1 -tie)
Willamette......1
PLU..............1 (1-tie)

Conference Honors (2000-13)

Coach Of The Year
Linfield..........11
Whitworth......3
Willamette......1

Offense Player of the Year
Linfield.........8
Whitworth.....4
Willamette....2
PLU..............2
Lewis & Clark...1

Defensive Player of the Year
Linfield........10
Whitworth....4
Willamette....4
PLU............ 2

NWC 1st Team Players
Linfield.......164
Willamette....85
Whitworth....64
PLU.............64
UPS.............20
L&C..............15

D3football.com All-American Players
Linfield.......31
PLU....11
Willamette....9
Whitworth.............8
L&C.............1
UPS..............0

D3football.com All-American 1st Team Players
Linfield.......18
Whitworth....2
PLU....2
L&C.............1
UPS.............0
Willamette..............0


Team Statistics (Averages) (2000-13)

(I excluded the 2005 stats from L&C since they only played 4 non-conference games and canceled their NWC games.  Their total numbers were divided against 13 season (rest of the teams total numbers are divided against the 14 previous seasons.  Also, I've now included Pacific's first 4 seasons (2010-13) into the avg totals.  Comparing 14 seasons worth of data against 4 may not be very fair but they had to join the party at some point.)

Points Per Game
Linfield..........39.0 PPG
Willamette...............30.8 PPG
PLU......29.8 PPG
Whitworth......28.3 PPG
Pacific...........25.0 PPG
L&C...............21.5 PPG
UPS...............21.3 PPG

Points Allowed Per Game
Linfield..........17.3 PPG
Whitworth....22.4 PPG
PLU...............22.9 PPG
Willamette....23.8 PPG
Pacific...............34.7 PPG
UPS...............35.4 PPG
L&C..............40.8 PPG

Pass Offense Per Game
Linfield.........275.6 YPG
Pacific........... 262.5 YPG
PLU..............242.0 YPG
L&C..............218.1 YPG
Whitworth.....209.2 YPG
UPS..............171.9 YPG
Willamette....149.6 YPG

Pass Defense Per Game
Linfield........194.4 YPG
PLU..............195.7 YPG
Whitworth.....198.1 YPG
Willamette....209.6 YPG
L&C..............219.0 YPG
UPS..............228.2 YPG
Pacific..........244.3 YPG

Rushing Offense Per Game
Willamette....242.9 YPG
Linfield.......163.3 YPG
Whitworth.............162.2 YPG
UPS........156.0 YPG
PLU.............145.5 YPG
L&C.............129.2 YPG
Pacific............86.1 YPG

Rushing Defense Per Game
Linfield........106.8 YPG
Willamette....137.3 YPG
PLU.............146.7 YPG
Whitworth....150.6 YPG
Pacific.........164.2  YPG
UPS.............183.0 YPG
L&C.............225.6 YPG

Total Offense Per Game
Linfield........438.9 YPG
Willamette...392.5 YPG
PLU............387.5 YPG
Whitworth..371.4 YPG
Pacific.............348.6 YPG 
L&C.........347.3 YPG
UPS.........327.9 YPG

Total Defense Per Game
Linfield........301.1 YPG
PLU.............342.3 YPG
Whitworth....348.7 YPG
Willamette....352.7 YPG
Pacific.........408.5 YPG
UPS.............411.5 YPG
L&C.............444.6 YPG

Avg. Sacks Per Season
Linfield........34.4
PLU.............24.9
Willamette....22.6
Pacific...........19.3
Whitworth......15.5
L&C.............13.4
UPS.............12.8

Avg. Turnover Margin Per Season
Linfield........+10.3
Whitworth...+8.8
Willamette...+5.5
PLU............0.0
Pacific...........-4.3
L&C..... -5.9
UPS............-6.7