August 30 Cobber Volleyball Preview for 2004 Now Online! Since bowing out of the NCAA playoffs and capping a record-setting year in 2003, Tim Mosser and the Concordia volleyball team have been out shopping with their newly acquired R-E-S-P-E-C-T card. The Cobbers had four players earn all-region honors last fall and then had junior Jacki Barten placed on the All-American Third Team, becoming the first player in Concordia volleyball history to earn All-American honors. At the start of the 2004 season, the Cobbers used their R-E-S-P-E-C-T card to garner the top spot in the MIAC preseason coaches poll and a spot in the national preseason top 25 poll. Mosser, and his group of experienced  veterans, know that in order to keep getting respect they have to win games and titles the old fashioned way - they'll have to earn it. The 2004 campaign could be the season that Mosser has waited for since four long years ago when he sported a team of all freshmen. The players that have stayed with the program have formed the backbone for the Cobbers drive towards last season's MIAC tournament championship and, hopefully, this year's goal of an unprecedented conference regular season crown. Concordia returns three seniors who were all-region last year and a fourth that was a defense stalwart as they look for the program's first MIAC regular season championship.(More)

Now to reality. Weiler took a record-setting season in 2003 and turned it into the best recruiting class in women's soccer history. The preseason roster shows the squad has nine returning players and 16 newcomers. Most of the new faces were hand-picked by Weiler and his staff to ensure that 2003 will only be a starting point for the future, and that the 2004 season has a chance to shatter all the records that were set last fall.

The 2004 Concordia women's soccer team will be comprised of eight starters from last season, a solid reserve and 16 new players who will infuse much-needed depth as the team strives to push the program into the national spotlight. There are only two seniors listed on the roster, the other returning players are all sophomores, lending Weiler to believe that the best is yet to come for the maroon and gold.(More)
 

Cobber Men's Soccer Preview for 2004 Now Online! There is an old coaching adage that states you should never follow a legend when taking over a new position. If that is the case, then first year Cobber head coach Joe Larson is pretty safe as the shoes he has to fill are as big as the ones used by the Lollipop Guild in the Wizard of Oz. Larson replaces former head coach Jim Cella who amassed an indifferent 8-23-4 record over the past two seasons. He was the top assistant coach at Liberty University in Virginia last fall and has spent the better part of the last seven years traveling around the world gaining soccer knowledge and experiencing the game firsthand. He will need all that knowledge to help him in his first head coaching position as he tries to get the Cobbers back to the postseason playoffs. Larson's task will be made easier by the fact that the team will return six starters from last year's team that lost all six conference games by a single goal and lost to league champion Macalester in overtime after losing a 1-0 lead with less than seven minutes left in regulation. He will also have a solid group of new players to give him a strong supporting cast in his effort to push Concordia into the upper half of the MIAC.(More)

August 27
Clay Nagel Named Concordia-Moorhead Co-Head Wrestling Coach for the 2004 Season
(Moorhead, Minn.)-- The Concordia-Moorhead wrestling program took a huge step into the future by naming Clay Nagel as the team's co-head coach for the 2004-05 season. Nagel will join longtime Cobber head coach Doug Perry.

Concordia athletic director Dr. Larry Papenfuss expressed his excitement with the hire by stating, "Clay is one of the top wrestling coaches in the state and his ability to teach and mentor athletes is second to none. I think he will help Doug push the program even farther and the two will be able to offer the Concordia athletes a wonderful experience." 

Nagel is a well-traveled wrestling veteran that brings a wealth of top-level experience to the program. For the past 17 years he has been the head coach at Frazee High School. While under the tutelage of Nagel, the Hornets won three Minnesota state championships and 13 section titles. He was named the Minnesota State High School Class "A" Coach of the Year in 1999. He has also been named the Region Coach of the Year seven times and the Sub-Section Coach of the Year on six different occasions. In 1999 he was elected the President of the Minnesota Wrestling Coaches Association.(More) 
 

August 26 Football's In-Depth Season Outlook Now Online! You'll have to forgive Concordia head coach Terry Horan if he needs to take a moment to "be by himself" to get used to life without his security blanket of the past three years. Lost to graduation is three-time All-MIAC quarterback Ryan Hebrink ('04, Sacred Heart, Minn.). Hebrink has been the team's signal-caller and offensive leader since Horan took over control of the team in the 2001 season. Hebrink was the rock on which Horan built his option-style offense during his "baby" years as head of the Cobber football tradition. Hebrink rewarded his mentor by breaking the school record for total offensive yardage in a career, and helped the team finish in the top three of the league the past two seasons. If that weren't enough for Horan's fragile emotional state, he also lost the top two running backs on the squad - making him feel a little like Old Mother Hubbard when she went to the cupboard. For the Cobbers, the offensive backfield pantry is bare but the good news is that quality replacements are on the way. The key for this year's Concordia team will undoubtedly be the offense. "The quarterback position is going to be huge for us," lamented Horan. "I think offensively we might be just a little bit back from a year ago just because of our lack of experience in the backfield but I think we have the capabilities of being as good or even better than a year ago."(More)