FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[BoredatWork56]

maripp -

I think getting the playoff losing streak over with makes this season successful for the MIAA. You are correct in your assessment of the conferences expectations.  Each team and conference has a diffrent definition of what it means to have a successful season.  For example, if Mount Union and the OAC only made it to the second round of the playoffs, it would be considered somewhat of a failure.  On the other hand, the non power conferences who are looking to make the leap into the next layer of your conference "Layer Cake" would consider the same second round playoff game a big success.  This is the situation that the MIAA is in and this win is the first step in making that leap.

[maripp2002]

I agree, you have to get some playoff wins for respect. I think Trine is on the path, I just want to know what you think is best for the conference? Would you want Trine to keep going back, should they schedule the Franklin's etc., should the MIAA become a race for second like the OAC? Just throwing it out.

[Diezel1]

maripp,

First, if a team continously wins conference, gets to the playoffs, and gets experience with tougher competition that helps the team and carries over to the next year.  If that team continues to dominate in conference play then you do get the race for second, which forces the other teams to get better or not have a chance to win the league.  I think this situation has happened in many conferences making those conferences better.  For example, the OAC.  Every team in the OAC tries to make their team good enough to beat MUC.  If you are structuring your team to beat the best team in the country you have to be pretty darn good

[rome]

any truth to the rumor that Dom resigned this past weekend?  Saw it posted on footballscoop.com and was looking for confirmation

[sac]

I agree, you have to get some playoff wins for respect. I think Trine is on the path, I just want to know what you think is best for the conference? Would you want Trine to keep going back, should they schedule the Franklin's etc., should the MIAA become a race for second like the OAC? Just throwing it out.

Trine won the MIAA by beating Hope and Adrian by 3 and 5 points this year...........last year they won the MIAA by beating Hope by 1, Kzoo by 1 and Adrian 9-0.

I hardly think the MIAA is in any danger of being a race for 2nd.

[maripp2002]

I agree that right now the MIAA is balanced. What I was asking about is how does a conference earn national respect? Is it to have the same team coming back year after year in the playoffs, or is to have a new team every few years, which one is the path to respect? 

I think the obvious answer is you have to win playoff games, plain and simple and you have to do it year in and year out. Look at the HCAC and the MWC. Last year Franklin made a very good two win run into the playoffs a first in HCAC history. This year Mount St. Joe's got beat up by the PAC champs and the NCAC champs in back to back weeks, and no one batted an eyelash. Same pretty much goes for Monmouth. Just because you win a playoff game doesn't mean people start to think a leopard changed his spots.

I guess the point I am getting at is that, the MIAA doesn't get the respect it deserves, but also one playoff run doesn't earn insta-respect. So what is the "blue print" here? Keep seeing Trine back or hope another team can make a run into the playoffs? What is better for the conference's national rep? I don't think there is a right answer. IMO, it would be to see something like a "perennial champ" and hope for a pool-C team that can make a run.

[BOYA87]

As a Trine alumni and fan I would absolutely LOVE to see a Trine dominated MIAA, however this is simply a back to back conference winning season which is only 5 years removed from a winless season.  And just like sac posted "Trine won the MIAA by beating Hope and Adrian by 3 and 5 points this year...........last year they won the MIAA by beating Hope by 1, Kzoo by 1 and Adrian 9-0."  It is going to take much more than that to prove Trine is the an automatic #1 in the conference, however the defending champion is always the team to beat going into the next season so they definitely will come into next season at #1.

I think that this kind of competition during the conference season coupled with playoff success is the winning formula for the MIAA and the teams it is comprised of.  Lets think about it, if Trine continues having success in the playoffs maybe it makes the powers that be re-evaluate the conference...maybe that Adrian team and Hope team were stronger contenders than we thought.  If the MIAA can get to a point where 2 teams are getting national recognition in the top 25 or near it then I think that will do leagues for building the conferences strength of schedule and the competition will only grow greater inside of the conference, which will better prepare the team that will make a run in the playoffs.

2nd, I think that saying this season has been successful for Trine and the MIAA is a valid statement, but ONLY if the team does not become satisfied with their success.  I still think they will be in a battle next week and have a chance to get another win.  However, the season has already been successful as Trine has accomplished something that has NEVER been accomplished by the school.  They also accomplished something that the conference has not done in years!  This season will help the conference next year when the playoffs are "seeded" and even throughout the season with team rankings. 

This season has gained the conference a little respect, but unless it is delivered on a consistent basis it will go away very quickly.  Just like a football team, the program is not turned around in 1 year...it is a process.  Step by step the MIAA will keep competing with each other.  Several schools have already taken steps in hopes to improve themselves next season and ultimately the improvement of these teams is the absolute best thing that could happen to the conference.

[Diezel1]

Boya, that is exactly what I'm saying.  If you look at any conference with a perennial contender, every team in it is trying to beat the best.  By doing that, you make your team and your program better.  When more teams start becoming more competitive the conference will get better.  Then as you play non-conference and tournament games you see better competition.  As you begin to win those games national respect is given.  And ultimately, winning ball games is the only formula for gaining that respect.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Perhaps this post should wait until the MIAA is out of the play-offs, but I'm afraid I'd forget my question by then!

I really admire Hope's non-con schedule (3 CCIW contenders and an above average WIAC team - and they acquitted themselves well against all four), but I wonder if it might be TOO ambitious?

I haven't checked their schedules prior to 2008, but am assuming that the philosophy of ambitious scheduling was probably in place then too.  Prior to 2008, it seemed to work very well for preparing Hope for the conference schedule.  The last two years, it seems otherwise.

In 2008-09 has Hope been too beaten down (mentally) or too beaten up (physically) to continue their previous success, or were they just not as good as previous years?  (With other plausible conclusions obviously being that the MIAA competition was better or that it is just a two year statistical glitch.)

Has Hope taken "The Audacity of Hope" (pun intended) too far?  (And yes, I know that this year they came within a TD of all four non-con opponents, but was it too costly?)

[sac]

This was posted on the basketball board, thought I should post it here to.........

Hope Coaching Legend Russ DeVette Dies


Russ DeVette, teacher and coach at Hope College for four decades, died Monday, Nov. 23, at Hospice House in Holland, Mich. following a long illness. He was 86 years of age. DeVette taught and coached at Hope for nearly 40 years, from 1948 until retiring in 1988 as professor emeritus of physical education.

"Russ DeVette is a man I greatly respect and admire. For many of us who had the privilege of playing for him and coaching with him, he was a father figure of pervasive positive influence," said Hope College president James E. Bultman. "While his athletic and coaching achievements are legendary, I'll always remember him as a man who lived his life with extraordinary Christian convictions. I'll miss him."

An outstanding basketball player at Hope in the 1940s, he was the first recipient of the most valuable player award from the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA).

At times in his Hope career he coached three sports in the same school year. He coached the men's basketball team from 1948-51 and from 1956 to 1977. He was also the head football coach from 1955 to 1969. He remained on the football coaching staff as defensive coordinator through 1987. He also served as head coach in both baseball and women's track. The teams combined to win 14 MIAA championships.

In 2007 the Hope College Alumni H-Club presented him the "Hope for Humanity Award." A holiday men's basketball tournament is named in his honor. The main basketball gymnasium in the college's DeVos Fieldhouse honors him and his wife Doris who survives him.

[sac]

Perhaps this post should wait until the MIAA is out of the play-offs, but I'm afraid I'd forget my question by then!

I really admire Hope's non-con schedule (3 CCIW contenders and an above average WIAC team - and they acquitted themselves well against all four), but I wonder if it might be TOO ambitious?

I haven't checked their schedules prior to 2008, but am assuming that the philosophy of ambitious scheduling was probably in place then too.  Prior to 2008, it seemed to work very well for preparing Hope for the conference schedule.  The last two years, it seems otherwise.

In 2008-09 has Hope been too beaten down (mentally) or too beaten up (physically) to continue their previous success, or were they just not as good as previous years?  (With other plausible conclusions obviously being that the MIAA competition was better or that it is just a two year statistical glitch.)

Has Hope taken "The Audacity of Hope" (pun intended) too far?  (And yes, I know that this year they came within a TD of all four non-con opponents, but was it too costly?)

IMHO yes...........but Hope has pretty much always played an ambitious non-conf schedule with few exceptions.  In the 4 years I was at Hope, they played DePauw, Wabash every year and had Michigan Tech, Drake and Findley on the schedule.

Hope future football schedules are softened up a bit

2010 and 2011  flipping sites in 2011
Saturday, Sept. 4 - Illinois Wesleyan at Hope, 1:30 p.m. ET (Community Day)
Saturday, Sept. 11 - Hope at Wisconsin Lutheran, noon CT
Saturday, Sept. 18 - Hope at Millikin, Ill., 1 p.m. CT
Saturday, Sept. 25 - Lakeland at Hope, 1 p.m. ET

2012 and 2013  again flipping sites in 2013
Saturday, Sept. 1 - North Park at Hope, 1:30 p.m. ET (Community Day)
Saturday, Sept. 8 - Hope at Millikin, Ill., 1 p.m. CT
Saturday, Sept. 15 - MIAA/NAC Challenge (away, opponent tba)
Saturday, Sept. 22 - opponent/site to be determined

2014 and 2015
only games confirmed  MIAA/NAC Challenge


I'm sorry to see the Hope/Wheaton series ending, thats been tremendous competition for a number of years and is frankly a no brainer schedule wise for both schools.

Hope also had a long running series with DePauw that ended in 2006 and frequently played Wabash until they joined the NCAC.

[maripp2002]

IMO, I think Hope is doing the right thing scheduling tough non-conf. games. If you look at this last year's results Hope was not out of any single game they played, and that starts to add up. This weeks ATN podcast actually deals with this subject in some measure talking about teams like Monmouth that blow everyone out on their schedule and then have a tough time in close games. Hope's tough schedule and hard losses this year make for a better, tougher, team next year. If Trine keeps the momentum going into next year that could spell a Pool-C for the MIAA. I honestly love what many of the MIAA teams do schedule-wise. You can only win the games you play, but making those games as solid as possible usually pays off (this year's Pool-C excluded). 

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'd have to say that subbing WisLu, Millikin, and Lakeland for UWEC, Wheaton, and Carthage is softening more than a bit!  And IWU starts 15 seniors, so even the one continuity may be 'softened'!

And when you then replace IWU with NPU on your schedule, I think 'tough scheduling' is history!

Way too early to say for sure, but expect me in Holland on September 4th.

[maripp2002]

I have to say that with D3 football one of the things that makes it fun is the mercurial nature of winning and losing. There are MUCs and St. Johns out there, but with those few exceptions any year can be "the year". Look at Concordia Chicago. Last year 3-7 this year 8-2. Just two years ago St. Thomas had like 2 wins and this year they've got a playoff win, Franklin was a 5-5 team one year and then a 9-1 team the next. It's always hard to tell how good a team is going to be two or three years from now, so you just schedule teams and hope they have their A-game when you get to play them. Sometimes it works out in your favor and sometimes not so much. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

I have to say that with D3 football one of the things that makes it fun is the mercurial nature of winning and losing. There are MUCs and St. Johns out there, but with those few exceptions any year can be "the year". Look at Concordia Chicago. Last year 3-7 this year 8-2. Just two years ago St. Thomas had like 2 wins and this year they've got a playoff win, Franklin was a 5-5 team one year and then a 9-1 team the next. It's always hard to tell how good a team is going to be two or three years from now, so you just schedule teams and hope they have their A-game when you get to play them. Sometimes it works out in your favor and sometimes not so much. 

I'll agree with you to a point, but the reason we remember the CUCs and Tommies is because they are rare.  Past performance does not guarantee future results (required disclaimer by the SEC - sorry! ), but it has more often than not proven to be a good way to bet.   I somehow doubt that WisLu, Millikin, and Lakeland will be better than UWEC, Wheaton , and Carthage in 2010 (or any time soon!