Head Coach: Steve Bell,
10th year Phone: 309-457-2175
E-mail: sbell@monm.edu
Steve
Bell
brought an impressive resume as an offensive
coordinator to Monmouth College when he took over the reins prior to the
2000 season, and in 2005 the Scots won their first outright conference
title since 1972. Monmouth repeated as conference champs in 2008,
advancing to the second round of the NCAA playoffs. In addition to his coaching duties, Bell
serves the college as a physical education instructor. He received his
degree in that field at Bemidji State.
Steve Bell
2008 MWC
Coach of the Year
New Field Turf Slideshow:
Off-season training video
Assistant Coaches: Chad Braun,
10th
Year
Dave Ragone,
10th year
Steve Elliott, 10th year
Derrick Johnston, 7th year
Lyle Pierce, 6th year
Nate Johnson, 4th year
Nate Palkovic, 2nd year
Josh
Kotecki named D3football.com Second Team All-American
Monmouth College offensive lineman
Seth Hill of Jacksonville, Ill., displays some of the letters he and
members of the Fighting Scots football team exchanged with
kindergarten students in the United School District. Hill, an
education major, organized a pen pal program for Carl Young’s
kindergarten class at the United North Campus. For four months this
spring, members of the Scots football team exchanged letters with
the nearly 20 kindergarteners.
More
Scenes from the Fighting Scots First Annual
Cleanup Day
Monmouth College football players volunteered one
Saturday morning in April to help residents in the city of Monmouth
with a variety of household chores. Nearly 20 households were
assisted on the team’s first annual Cleanup Day. Fighting Scots head
coach Steve Bell is hoping to see an increase in the number of
households requesting assistance next spring.”
Defensive
lineman Brett DiJoseph (left) and offensive linemen John Kerulis
(middle) and B.J. Weber (right) moved landscape blocks and helped
with landscape work.
Defensive
lineman Marc Wozniak (foreground) and offensive lineman Josh Kotecki
(background) raked leaves and planted flowers for one homeowner.
Linebacker
Adam Hoste was among one group of players asked to ‘Do windows’
during the Cleanup Day. The group also raked leaves and moved
furniture for the elderly couple.
Four named Division III Consensus Draft Services
pre-season All-Americans
May 1, 2009
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
The success of the 2008 football team has resulted in four players
being named Division III pre-season All-Americans by Consensus Draft
Services.
Quarterback Alex Tanney, offensive guard Josh Kotecki, offensive tackle Dan Schwindenhammer and defensive end Anthony Goranson were named to the second team. Tanney,
Kotecki and Schwindenhammer were named to the D3football.com
All-West Region first team last December. Kotecki was eventually
named second team All-American last fall by D3football.com.
The Scots recorded an unbeaten regular season
and finished 2008 with an 11-1 record while winning their second
Midwest Conference title since 2005. The offense’s 46.75 points per
game led the nation and they ranked second in turnover margin. This
marks the second time during head coach Steve Bell’s 10 years
at Monmouth that multiple Scots have been named as pre-season
All-Americans.
“This is obviously a great tribute to the
accomplishments of last year’s team for our guys to be recognized
before the season begins,” said Bell. “All of them are well
deserving of this honor and would tell you that it is a team
recognition.”
Tanney, one of only two juniors-to-be on the
second team’s offensive unit, shattered nearly every MC season
passing record. He leads in five categories, including yardage
(3,624) and touchdowns (50). He was ranked eighth nationally with a
166.97 efficiency rating. In just two years, Tanney has already set
the new career marks for completions (560) and games over 300 yards
(14). He is just nine TDs shy of the career mark of 83 touchdown
passes set by Rob Purlee from 2000-03.
As members of the offensive line, Kotecki
(left), a
6-foot-1, 245-pounder, and the 6-3, 260-pound Scwhindenhammer
(right),
helped Monmouth quarterbacks have enough time to pass for a
school-record 3,790 yards while the ground game picked up more than
2,000 yards. The team also scored a school-record 50 touchdowns via
the pass and added another 25 rushing TDs. The Scots set or tied 71
team and individual records during the 2008 campaign. The team also
had top 10 national rankings in three other offensive categories:
fifth in pass efficiency (166.98), seventh in total offense (460.58
ypg) and eighth in passing offense (315.83 ypg).
Goranson, a 6-5, 240-pound defensive end, was
ranked 11th nationally with 12 sacks and his 21 tackles for loss
ranked 19th. Monmouth’s defensive unit yielded just over 100 rushing
yards per game and held opponents to a mere 31 percent on third down
conversions. The Scots were ranked second in the nation in turnover
margin, averaging nearly two interceptions per game to go with 15
fumble recoveries.
Kotecki, Schwindenhammer and Goranson will be
seniors this fall. Monmouth opens the season Sept. 5 at home against
Loras College.
MWC PERFORMER
OF THE WEEK
MC’s Wright catches conference honor
November 4, 2008
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
Monmouth College’s Nick Wright (Canton, Ill./Canton) had arguably
the best day of his career in the Fighting Scots’ 78-17 win over
Illinois College was rewarded with the Midwest Conference Offensive
Performer of the Week award.
Wright pulled down seven passes for 177 yards, including an 89-yard
touchdown reception. The junior wide receiver’s touchdown catch was part
of a 50-point onslaught in the first half by the Fighting Scots, who led
50-17 at the break. He leads the Scots with 666 receiving yards,
averaging 74 yards per game.
Monmouth clinched an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III
playoffs and at least a share of the conference title.
MC’s Artozqui earns weekly conference honor
October 21, 2008
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
Monmouth College linebacker Marc Artozqui (Peoria,
Ill./Richwoods) helped the Fighting Scots grab sole possession of
first place in the Midwest Conference and was named the MWC’s
Defensive Performer of the Week.
Artozqui recorded 17 tackles in the Scots’ 38-35 come-from-behind
win over Ripon Saturday to keep Monmouth unbeaten on the year. The
senior’s performance was just three tackles shy of Tim Hinson’s
school record set in 1990. The Scots defense held Ripon’s
run-oriented option attack to just 170 rushing yards
– their
second lowest total of the season.
Averaging 10 tackles per game, Artozqui leads the Scots with 70
stops. He is third in the MWC.
Monmouth’s Reschke
honored by conference October 14, 2008
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
Monmouth College freshman punter Shane Reschke (Geneseo,
Ill./Geneseo) was rewarded with the Midwest Conference Special Teams
Performer of the Week honor after his role in the Fighting Scots’
31-22 win over defending league champion St. Norbert last Saturday.
Reschke averaged 41 yards on his five punts and landed four
inside the 20 as the Scots ended the Green Knights’ 29-game
conference win streak. His 62-yard punt near the end of the third
quarter pinned St. Norbert at their own five yard line as the Scots
maintained a share of first place in the MWC and remained unbeaten
on the year with a 6-0 record.
Monmouth’s Tanney earns
award with record performance
September 30, 2008
Monmouth College quarterback Alex Tanney (Lexington, Ill./Lexington)
tied the school record for touchdown passes last weekend and earned
the Midwest Conference Offensive Performer of the Week honor.
Tanney’s six touchdown passes in the Fighting Scots’ 41-20 win over
Carroll tied him with his older brother Mitch for the most TD tosses
in a single game. The sophomore signal-caller found a different
receiver for each of his scoring throws. Tanney, who leads the
conference with 16 touchdown passes in four games, completed 28 of
his 39 attempts for 317 yards and hit 10 different receivers en
route to the record-tying day as Monmouth stayed unbeaten and
improved to 4-0.
Mitch had set the standard for TD passes against arch-rival Knox in
2004.
Scots’ Shepherd returns
for Performer of the Week
September 24, 2008
Monmouth College return specialist Matt Shepherd (Leesburg,
Fla./Leesburg) nearly tied a school record Saturday and was rewarded
with the Midwest Conference Special Team’s Performer of the Week
honor.
Shepherd returned the opening kick 99 yards en route to the Fighting
Scots’ 51-3 win over Beloit last Saturday. The sophomore’s long
return is second in Monmouth history only to Ray Brooks’ 100-yard
scamper against Carleton in 1951. The talented returner/receiver
netted 140 return yards on three kickoff returns and added another
23 yards on four pass receptions.
Through three games Shepherd is averaging more than 32 yards on
kickoff returns and more than 15 yards on punt returns for the
Scots.
Tanney earns MWC Performer of the Week honor Sept. 15, 2008
The home opener for the Monmouth College football
team may have been soggy, but quarterback Alex Tanney (Lexington,
Ill./Lexington) found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and
earned the Midwest Conference Offensive Performer of the Week honor.
Tanney didn’t let a little thing like more than five inches of
rain in 24 hours deter him from passing for 244 yards and three
touchdowns in the Fighting Scots’ 47-2 win over Lawrence Saturday.
Playing on the rain-soaked grass field, the sophomore signal caller
completed 24-of-36 passes to nine different players, including a
24-yard scoring strike in the final minute of the first half to
propel the Scots to a 27-2 lead at intermission. His 195.5 passing
yards per game ranks him third in the conference.
Monmouth
College's first official football game was played in 1888 against Knox College. Monmouth was
crowned "college champions of Illinois" in 1905 and repeated in 1906 when the team recorded
its first perfect season at 8-0.
Hall of Famer Francis "Jug" Earp, who would go on to play 11
seasons of professional football with the Green Bay Packers, dominated the Fighting Scot
offensive line in the early 1920s and the Warren Taylor-Keith Molesworth passing combination
of the mid-'20s was one of the finest the college has ever produced. Molesworth would later
play eight NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears.
Robert
"Bobby" Woll, one of the best all-around athletes ever to wear a Monmouth jersey and the only
person to have his football number (29) retired at the college, was the star during the
1931-33 seasons.
In 1981 the new football field was dedicated and named Bobby Woll Athletic
Field in honor of Woll's years of competition and coaching service at Monmouth. Following his
death in August of 1999, the football field was rededicated Bobby Woll Memorial Field.
The 1952 and 1953 squads featured the
rushing prowess of All-American tailback Ray Brooks.
The late '60s through the mid '70s saw
some of the most prolific
teams in school history featuring two of the best running backs to ever play at Monmouth in
Charlie Corle (1967-69) and Ron Baker (1972-75), who ended his career as the team's all-time
leading rusher with 3,642 yards.
The 1972 squad posted the best record of any Monmouth team to
that season,
winning the MCAC championship with a perfect 9-0 record.
Following a heartbreaking 3-0 road loss to
Coe in the infamous 1986 "Mud Bowl", the Scots won a school-record 26 consecutive regular
season games between 1986 and 1989.
The Scots advanced to the MCAC league championship game in
1987 and enjoyed a three-year run as South Division champions. Mark Reed, who quarterbacked
the 1987 divisional champion team, established an NCAA Division III national record that year
with 17 rushing touchdowns. Monmouth's first overtime game was ironically against archrival
Knox. The Scots won a thrilling 13-7 victory over their rivals in a 1991 snowstorm.
In 2005 the Scots
finished the regular season with a 10-0 mark and in doing so
captured their first conference title since 1976 and advanced to the
NCAA Playoffs for the first time in school history.
