Brett Dietz, a former Division III quarterback at Hanover, has a 9-1 record so far as head coach of the Tigers. DePauw athletics photo by Linda Striggo

By Brian Lester
D3sports.com

Evens Cribs had a lot of time on his hands last fall.

There was no NCAA Division III season in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And in order to preserve his eligibility for this year – DePauw doesn’t offer graduate classes – Cribs took an academic leave of absence. He was one of seven on the team to do it.

He found other ways to stay busy, including coaching, something he hopes to do as a career one day.

“I was helping coach at one of the schools on the outskirts of Indianapolis,” Cribs said. “Working there, I was still around the game and I continued to train. It felt great to do it and it was eye-opening to how much time I had on my hands. I found a lot of different ways to stay busy.”

Coaching proved to be an enjoyable way to pass some time.

“It was a great experience. I built up great relationships with the coaches and players on the team. It was one of those experience-building things and solidified what I wanted to do with my future,” Cribs said.

It appears the future is bright for Cribs, a cornerback and captain for the Tigers.

The present looks pretty good as well.

He and the other fifth-year seniors – quarterback Chase Andries, wide receiver Nick Canavan, defensive tackle Joe Zanca, defensive backs Liam Pooler and Dylan Hyatt, and offensive lineman Wyatt Jester – are all in with helping DePauw put together a season that has the chance to go down as one of the best in program history.

The Tigers (7-1) have won seven consecutive games and can clinch the NCAC championship outright with a win over Oberlin on Saturday afternoon at home.

It would be the first outright conference crown since 2010 when DePauw won the SCAC title.

The Tigers, who are 7-0 in league play, have been part of the NCAC since 2012.

“We knew what our goals were and what we expected during the season,” Cribs said. “To have this success feels like a fulfillment of all the hard work and dedication that we’ve put in. We have worked hard for this, and in our eyes, it was only a matter of time.”

What Cribs and the Tigers have done is made the first full season as a head coach for Brett Dietz all the more memorable.

A long-time assistant at the school, Dietz was hired as head coach in January 2020. The pandemic hit two months later and while the Tigers got two games in, it was for Deitz, in some ways, a blessing in disguise.

“Every program got knocked on its heels a little, and we were going to be on our heels already because we were trying to reload,” Dietz said. “It was actually really good timing that everything happened the way it did. I think it worked to our advantage.”

Dietz said the lead-up to the 2021 fall campaign has felt like one ‘really long preseason camp’ and he’s glad things have come together the way they have for the Tigers.

“The kids have worked very hard to put themselves in the situation we are in right now,” Dietz said. “This is a committed group and we’ve been through some adversity, but we’ve handled it well. For me, it’s been a pleasure to coach these guys and see their hard work pay off.”

Dietz said success has come much more easily having a great staff in place, as well as having players who have embraced their roles.

“The guys have responded and when you have good players and good leaders, this coaching thing isn’t that hard. It’s crazy how that works out,” Dietz said.

Having fifth-year seniors on the roster doesn’t hurt either.

“Those guys have been at this a long time, and they really help with the leadership aspect and the continuity of everything,” Dietz said.

Cribs agrees that the leadership he and his classmates have provided has played an integral role in DePauw’s success. He also credits Dietz for being a great coach.

“He’s a great coach and a great mentor, and having the senior leadership that we do, it helps him not have to do as much. I feel like we are a strong player-led team,” Cribs said.

DePauw opened the season with a 49-24 loss to Butler, a Division I FCS program which doesn’t give athletic scholarships for football. It wasn’t an easy defeat to digest, but the Tigers took lessons from that game that have set the tone for the success that has followed.

“We took it as a measuring stick kind of game,” Dietz said. “I was proud of our guys in how they competed and that they never gave up. If we make a couple of more plays here and there, maybe it’s a different game. But I told our guys after the game that all of our goals were still intact.”

And they have remained intact.

The Tigers have scored 40-plus four times while holding six teams to 14 points or less.

They are giving up just over 300 yards per game and have been solid stopping the run, holding teams to an average of 81.4 rushing yards per outing.

Ten players have 20 or tackles, led by Luke Marsh, who has come through with 46. Cribs has 25 tackles on the season.

“We have a lot of playmakers on our defense,” Cribs said. “And as a group, we just have so much passion and energy, and just a love for the game. We feed off one another and see every game as an opportunity that we want to make the most of.”

Dietz said this is a team that hasn’t set offensive or defensive goals. Instead, everything is about goals tied to the team as a whole.

“We pick each other up and talk about overcoming adversity, and we talk about having grit, and I think that’s really helped us win some of the tough games we might have lost in the past,” Dietz said.

One other thing Dietz believes has helped this team thrive in 2021 is that it has the right balance of younger players and veterans. It is a group that plays with no fear.

“We haven’t won a conference championship in 11 years, and the great thing is these younger players have no scar tissue,” Dietz said. “They have never played a full season and don’t know the history of some of these teams in the conference. They just go out and play hard football. And the seniors have enough belief that we are going to win each week.”

As DePauw prepares to take one more step forward, the thought isn’t on what might be ahead in terms of the Monon Bell rivalry with Wabash or the playoffs.

It's all about Oberlin.

“We’re not looking ahead. We want to take care of the task at hand,” Cribs said. “One of the most crucial parts of this team is that we never get too high or too low. We are always focused on the right now. Our motto is to go 1-0 every week.”

Dietz said he’s already received interview requests about the Monon Bell game, but he and his players will worry about that one when it comes time for it.

“Nothing is bigger right now than this week,” Dietz said. “Our motto isn’t unique, and it’s one the guys came up with when we talked before the season. But the motto doesn’t mean anything if we aren’t talking about it or living it. These players are doing that. I love the attitude of this team.”

Cribs returned for a fifth year for the opportunity to be successful. He dealt with the extra time on his hands last fall so that he could have the time of his life on the football field in 2021.

He said he and his fellow fifth-year seniors remind themselves of that every week.

“Whenever we are in pregame or we are at practice or watching film, we always say to each other this is why we came back,” Cribs said. “We had doubters and people that didn’t believe in us, but we’ve always stayed focused on our goals. We tell ourselves ‘let’s worry about who is in this locker room and what we can do to take care of business each week. It’s been an incredible ride.”