Looking back at Coe’s 15-game win streak over Cornell

CEDAR RAPIDS - Coaches and players have come and gone, but there's still Larry Atwater and Dick Simmons.

If you're looking for guys directly involved in Coe's 15-year run of victories over Cornell, it's them. It might only be them.

The oldest college rivalry west of the Mississippi River continues Saturday when the schools meet for the 125th time. Kickoff at Coe's Clark Field is 1 p.m.

Atwater is the defensive coordinator for the Kohawks, someone who has been a player and coach in 28 prior meetings. Simmons is in his eighth year as Associate Athletics Director at Cornell and was head athletics trainer for 17 years prior to that.

They've been on the sidelines - or press box - as Coe has dominated its Linn County neighbor of late. The Kohawks won last season, 50-21, at Mount Vernon.

Cornell's last win came in 1999 by a score of 32-23. Coe has assumed a 69-51-4 series edge.

'Frustrating is the best way to put it,” Simmons said. 'We've had some opportunities ... It's strange because we won five in a row, now they've won 15 in a row.”

'I'm not complaining about that,” Atwater said. 'I've been on the other side of it, losing five in a row before we won 15. Those were definitely some painful losses.”

Atwater said it's interesting how the series pendulum swung after both schools decided to enter the Iowa Conference in 1997. The schools were Midwest Conference rivals up to that point, reguarly meeting in the final game of the season and with a league title on the line many years.

Cornell returned to the Midwest Conference in 2012.

'Both programs seemed to be on pretty even footing when we both got into the Iowa Conference,” Atwater said. 'They beat us those first two years, then we just started to win regularly. I don't know why.”

Without question the most memorable game in the last 15 years was Coe's 66-63 win in 2003. The teams combined for 1,300 yards of offense, with a Michael Herzberger field goal in the final minute the difference.

Other than that game, it's been primarily Coe blowouts. Cornell comes in here with a 1-0 record after knocking off Iowa Wesleyan last week, while Coe was beaten badly by NCAA Division III seventh-ranked Wheaton.

Could this finally be the year the streak ends? Simmons won't go quite that far, though he believes his beloved school will end it sometime soon.

'Personally, yes, I do,” he said. 'People will say ‘Oh, he's a homer' and everything, but I do believe that. (Coach) Vince (Brautigam) has a good team. I see the separation getting closer. I hope we win soon, especially for our alumni. But the proof is in the pudding, as they say.”

'No, they don't need to win again,” Atwater said with a laugh. 'This rivalry is fine where it's at.”

Simmons will never forget the 1999 game, but not just because it was Cornell's last win. His father, William, passed away that October morning after battling a long illness.

As it got closer and closer to kickoff, Simmons' immediate family - which had gathered - looked at him and told him he had to leave.

'They told me ‘What are you doing here? Get out of here? Go to the game,'” Simmons recalled. 'It turned out to be a neat day, an emotional day.

'I remember people like (AD) John Chandler and others at Coe coming up to me and extending their best wishes. You know what, there are good people there. There are good people here.”

That's what it's all about.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com