Quote from: PurpleTide on June 06, 2019, 02:37:57 PMBackground on Dienhart and Fritz.Quote from: art76 on June 06, 2019, 11:28:28 AMQuote from: USTBench on June 06, 2019, 10:34:58 AMQuote from: art76 on June 05, 2019, 05:45:46 PMQuote from: USTBench on June 05, 2019, 05:39:48 PM
This decision has essentially doomed UST to a decade plus long purgatory that SJU will soon be cast into. Adversity can make strange bedfellows, but I think if SJU/CSB was smart, they'd start talking about making a transition with UST, so at least both (all) schools have something to look forward to for the next decade and change.
Bench, you seem to be pretty savvy concerning the different conferences in the area. I posited in an earlier post that perhaps the top 4 teams in the MIAC "simply" take their ball and form an entirely new Division 3 conference? From where you sit, is there any chance something like this could be done?
Personally, I don't see UST being able to convince enough schools to make a new conference a viable solution, at least at the Division III level.
However, if I was tasked with making such a conference a reality, here are the schools I would target, factoring in academic profile, endowment, what sports they currently sponsor, their ability to compete and geography:
UST (obviously)
SJU/CSB
Bethel
Gustavus
CSS
UNW
Concordia
University of Jamestown
University of Mary
Currently the University of Mary plays Division II and in the NSIC, but this was done out of necessity when the old NAIA DAC 10 split up into a thousand different directions. Minot State fits the Division II and NSIC profile much better than Mary, but it's been a very tough adjustment for both of them (Mary went 1-10 in football last year).
The DAC 10 members that continue to play in the NAIA are often geographically isolated, forced to play schools twice in a year, and schedule games against teams so far above or below their competition level it borders on absurd. For instance, Mayville State plays Trinity Bible one week this year, then travels to Merrimack College in Massachusetts the next week, a school that will be starting its transition into Division 1. Jamestown has it far better than Mayville State in terms of this arrangement, but I still believe the University of Jamestown would jump at the chance to play in a viable Division III conference with two schools nearby.
I would seek to arrange a consistent Thursday/Saturday travel schedule (for hoops, volleyball, wrestling, etc), where one school gets a bye week per season. Then you've got travel partners for games in Jamestown and Bismarck (Bismarck is a 7 hour drive from Duluth or St. Peter, and a 6 hour drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul). Concordia stands to gain the most from a conference like this as they are often the only school in the MIAC with a burdensome travel schedule and this would at least give them a few teams a bit more locally to play, as they would be smack dab in the middle of the 1-94/Highway 10 corridor.
The other nice thing is Mary and Jamestown both sponsor ACHA Division 1 (high level club) hockey so sponsoring Division III hockey would be an easy transition. I think Mary wouldn't mind unloading their athletic scholarships and Jamestown wouldn't mind shaving some time off their travel schedule and raising their profile a bit.
Of course, this is a pretty pie-in-the-sky hope. The same concerns remain: UST's endowment dwarfs that of the 4 new schools I suggested, their location gives them a significant recruiting advantage, and UST's ambitions while still undefined, are probably loftier than the conference I suggested.
Thanx for the input Bench! +K
Discounting those of us on this board, would anyone else in the "real world" be willing to take this on? My career is in the wrong field entirely, and wouldn't even know who's ear to bend to have them consider this. So, I ask everyone on this board again, who could/would be a person with enough clout to make something like this happen? Does anyone know a friend of a friend to send out some "feelers"?
I still am of the opinion that there is going to be some hard feelings played out on the field over the next couple of years, and probably longer, even after the Tommies leave the MIAC as things stand now. I'm thinking there are a lot of folks who would get behind "something new", provided it is done well.
I nominate Mark Dienhart and Steve Fritz to lead the effort to form a new conference. They would do it right.
https://www.tommiesports.com/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/20180411hseehw
https://www.miacathletics.com/general/2018-19/releases/20190508p0coiv
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