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| UW-La Crosse made a stop at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, as part of the long road trip from La Crosse, Wisconsin, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Provided photo |
By Joe Sager
D3sports.com
How do you make 12 hours on a bus seem fun?
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has the formula figured out.
The ninth-ranked Eagles completed another successful long-distance excursion over the weekend when they trekked across the Midwest to Pittsburgh and beat then-No. 17 Carnegie Mellon, 38-14.
Due to budget limitations, most teams rely on ground travel to get to games, which are usually in close geographic proximity. However, UW-L coach Matt Janus is not afraid to put his team through an extended voyage — he actually prefers it.
“I enjoy going on long trips, especially early in the year because I think that builds camaraderie. When you have to sit next to somebody and share close quarters and travel with somebody you build that,” he said. “My job, as a football coach, is to provide these guys with a wonderful experience. We’ve been fortunate enough to show our guys some different places. In the last couple years, we’ve gone to Rome as a team. We’ve seen Niagara Falls. We’ve seen Canton, Ohio, and Pittsburgh. They are going to go see Germany, if all goes according to plan this summer.
“I know, ultimately, people want wins, but I want to achieve two things as a football coach — wins and to give my guys the best experience that I can because the game of football can enrich their lives and offer some wonderful opportunities. We want to keep showing them the country and the world.”
Last year, the Eagles made the long trip to RPI in Troy, New York, to open the season and stopped to see Niagara Falls along the way. This fall, it was a trip to see Pittsburgh’s three rivers to start the campaign. Noticing those long hauls on the schedule may make some people wide-eyed, but the UW-L players embrace the opportunities.
“You have to look at it from a wide point of view. It seems like a long trip and you’d dread every moment of it,” Eagles tackle Dain Walter said. “Coach is really emphasizing making those memories. He is trying to help us build connections with each other.
“It’s just great. It’s kind of like a gift having a coach who sees a picture wider than just the game. We wanted to win at Carnegie Mellon and we got it. But, along the way, he wants us to make lifelong friends and memories. That’s huge for me.”
It wasn’t just a matter of loading everyone up on buses and grinding out a 750-mile trip. Janus and the Eagles had a detailed itinerary that broke up the trip into three days. The jaunt began Wednesday when the team got on the road early in the morning and was able to complete a majority of the trip before stopping in Ohio for the night. Breaking up the trip into different increments allowed the players to ease into the tight confines of a bus or vehicle for an extended period, especially for big bodies like the 6-7, 315-pound Walter.
“We put a bunch of the O-linemen in a van to start,” he said. “We drove nine hours on the road. We wanted to get as much done as possible. When we made it to our hotel, we all did some yoga and stretching at the end of the night.”
The next day, they went to Baldwin Wallace in Berea, Ohio, for a practice. Once that was done, they made the short jaunt to Canton to get a look at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium and tour the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“That was just incredible,” Eagles quarterback Kyle Haas said. “Most of the team had never been there before. It was great to see it.”
“It was a special moment walking into that stadium with the team. That’s where the national championship is going to be decided,” Walter said. “Then, taking some moments to see the achievements of all the great players, that’s going to be a lifelong memory for me. Being able to see it with all my guys just brought us closer.”
From Canton, the team made a two-hour bus ride to Pittsburgh. After settling into the hotel, the team had a chance to explore the city and venture to Point State Park, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers converge to form the Ohio River.
“Anytime you travel, it’s so cool to see different places,” Haas said. “I thought it was cool how, in Pittsburgh, the rivers run through everything. We stayed right across the river from where the Steelers play.”
“When we had some free time, a bunch of us walked around the city,” Walter said. “It was really beautifully lit at night. We were kind of lucky to get to experience that.”
On Friday, the team got to take a quick visit to Carnegie Mellon’s Gesling Stadium to get its bearings. The squad practiced at nearby Duquesne University, too, and had a team dinner in the evening.
“When we do long trips like this, I don’t want our team feeling rushed. I want the guys to put their bags down and not feel like the next thing they have to do is pick their bags up and go out the door,” Janus said. “We’ve done this and we have pretty good structure and know how to keep our guys fresh and hydrated and feel almost at home, at times. For our guys, the hotel was right across the river from Acrisure Stadium. Our guys walked around downtown Pittsburgh a bit on Thursday night and went to Point State Park and got to learn a little about Fort Pitt. So, it was nice for them to see a little bit of Pittsburgh, too, not just be stuck in a hotel room in meetings the whole time.”
The trip was far from a sightseeing tour, though. The players had to stay on top of their classwork.
“While they had fun, they did do some homework on the bus. They missed three days of school, so they had to get caught up,” Janus said. “We have good students on our football team. A lot of guys, on Wednesday, especially, were getting some stuff done. We had some guys doing quizzes on Friday night in the hotel.”
Haas can attest to that.
“On Friday, a bunch of us were sitting in our hotel rooms working on an Eco 301 assignment together,” he said. “I don’t have classes on Fridays, so the time away wasn’t as bad. But, we were definitely trying to keep caught up.”
Overall, the approach helped the team roll to the 38-14 triumph. That made the long drive home much better.
“On the way back, we all crammed into a bus. That was a little dreadful,” Walter said. “A lot of soreness set in the next day.”
“All the aches and pains don’t hurt as bad when you win,” Haas said. “It was definitely not comfortable. You do whatever you can to get through it.”
The players spent their time playing a variety of games and competing against each other however possible.
“We find different ways to pass the time,” Haas said. “A lot of guys are into iPhone games and we can play each other on those, so we’re talking crap to each other while playing these stupid little games.”
“Our O-line and a lot of other players are addicted to the game of Euchre (a card game). We had some side games going, but Euchre was definitely the fan favorite on the bus that day,” Walter said. “That kind of thing brings us together.”
Since the drive home is not as glamorous and goes straight through the night, the players have to get creative for sleeping arrangements.
“We just sprawled all over the bus,” Walter said with a laugh. “We were piling dudes on top of each other. Some guys laid on the floor, while some guys laid across the seats. It looked like Lincoln Logs on the bus.”
“That part’s brutal,” Janus added. “You go through the night and you’re sleeping on a bus and you hit your head against the window every couple of minutes; you wake up and go back to sleep. We stopped in Sandusky, Ohio, for dinner and got back home at about 5 a.m. They had Sunday off and went right back at it Monday. Getting a win makes the bus ride a lot more fun, especially when they can yell and sing.”
Despite the grind, the players loved the excursion.
“It was fun, overall, spending all that time together,” Haas said. “You think about school a little bit, but you’re mostly just thinking about football and hanging out with your buddies. It’s great.”
While the entire roster didn’t get to the make the trip, the remaining players had a chance to cheer on their teammates from afar.
“For our younger guys back home, they gathered together and watched the game together,” Walter said. “We are still a team even though some of the team was not there. It was not a bunch of people sitting around doing nothing. They were still there supporting us.”
Building the chemistry is a continual process for the Eagles.
“Now, you have to keep working on that connection. It doesn’t stop,” Janus said. “Unfortunately, the whole roster couldn’t come on the trip, so now we have to get those guys back into everything. The captains had us going to a volleyball game this week. They have to keep putting time into each other off the field. That was a good start, though.”
The journey will continue in the spring when the team hopes to visit Germany. The program went to Italy in 2023 and particpated in many different activities in Florence, Milan and Rome and played against an Italian team.
“It’s about more than the game of football here,” Walter said. “I think that’s what people overlook. You come here and, not only are we a very competitive team, but the coaches are shaping us as humans as well with all these experiences and all the people around us.”
