Leipold: Proud of the men's basketball team and tells them to bring home a national championship

Photo courtesy of Josh Smith/Daily Jefferson County Union

UW-Whitewater and the city of Salem, Virginia have developed quite a relationship over the past several years. The Warhawk football team has made the trek to Salem each of the past seven seasons to play Mount Union in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl national championship game.

After coming up on the short end in 2005 and 2006 Whitewater has captured the national title in four of the past five years.

The UW-Whitewater men’s basketball team will have the opportunity to capture its own national championship this weekend. It will be the first time in 23 years that the Hawks have advanced to the Final Four.

Men’s head coach Pat Miller invited UWW football coach Lance Leipold to address his team prior to the postseason.

“I told them to take time to enjoy the tournament run,” Leipold indicated. “This is a special time – a time they will definitely remember later in life.”

The Warhawk football success at the national level has cast a shadow over many of the other UW-Whitewater athletic programs. Leipold was quick to defuse the competition aspect between sports.

“We don’t play against anyone in our own athletic department we play against our opponents during the season and the postseason,” Leipold told the team. “You aren’t competing against any other sport on campus or any of the teams from the past.”

The Warhawk football team quickly learned in its annual trip to the Stagg Bowl that it must be viewed as a “business trip” because there was still work to be done in order to bring a national championship trophy back to campus.

“You definitely want your team to enjoy the weekend in the national spotlight but the reason you are there to try to finish off the season with a championship,” Leipold indicated. “No matter how this weekend turns out it will be the final weekend together as a basketball team. Take time to enjoy the experience but never lose sight of the ultimate goal.

The Warhawks (27-4) will take on the once-beaten Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in national semifinal action on Friday evening. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. (Central time). The first semifinal game Friday evening will pit Cabrini (30-1) against Illinois Wesleyan (23-7) at 5 p.m. (Central time).

Warhawk fans not making the trip out to Salem will be able to listen to the Warhawks on the radio. Gary Douglas will have the call on your radio home for Warhawk basketball – KOOL 106.5