FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[ScreamingEagles]

Well, opinions will vary considerably. In 1998 uwrf hammered d2 bemidji state 45-14 in the metrodome game. Bemidji coach tesch said-I am paraphrasing from memory- something like this in the bemidji paper: uwrf is a legit d3 team in a legit d3 league. But there are no d2 teams in wis and many wis kids want to play close to home. As a result, the league has quite a few players who could play in d2. Lacrosse, for example, had considerable success against d2 Winona state until 1998. Then wsu won four straight and the series was dropped. The nsic has upgraded overall in the past 15 years or so. It seems to me that many more d2- type  wis players are playing in the nsic since they have upgraded and they apparently have more scholarship money now.  In my opinion, many of these players would have chosen uwec, uw stout, uwrf, or Uwl back in the day.  On the other hand, how many players in a Uww- mt union championship game could be playing somewhere in d2? Quite a few.
This is not the only factor, but I think it is an important one.

I think there's probably something to this.

When the North Central Conference had all of its power teams (UND, NDSU, SDSU) jump up to FCS it created a power vacuum in the D2 world, especially in the upper midwest. UMD, MSU, Winona and SCSU have all benefited from those teams jumping up a division (and not just in football). All of those schools are a good deal closer to Wisconsin than the old powers were. That, combined with the fact the 'old powers' now have more scholarship to offer and have also increased their own recruiting radius, might explain some of it.

I think coaching and/or institutional support, probably has a lot to do with it as well. You guys know the details better than I, but didn't Terry step down at Lax in some degree as a protest against dwindling budget, staff and support? The scuttlebutt I've heard about UWEC's coach isn't glowing, and that was from day one of the hire, not just after the slide into WIAC obscurity.

I wouldn't call it a protest, but there is some truth to him using his retirement to make a plea to the university and community for more resources.  His point was that without competitive resources (mainly to what UWW and others in conference have) UWL football would continue to suffer, regardless of the head coach.

In his final year, Coach Terry was the only full-time employee of the university on the football staff.  Former AD Josh Whitman did take Terry's calls for more resources seriously, and in 2015 the Eagles have four full-time coaches (some who also teach classes) in addition to a new strength center specifically for athletes among other improvements.  Results have not shown on the field however, as Coach Joel Dettwiler has gone 3-7 three times in four years with 2015 likely ending with a 3-7 record as well.

[bulk19]

Well, opinions will vary considerably. In 1998 uwrf hammered d2 bemidji state 45-14 in the metrodome game. Bemidji coach tesch said-I am paraphrasing from memory- something like this in the bemidji paper: uwrf is a legit d3 team in a legit d3 league. But there are no d2 teams in wis and many wis kids want to play close to home. As a result, the league has quite a few players who could play in d2. Lacrosse, for example, had considerable success against d2 Winona state until 1998. Then wsu won four straight and the series was dropped. The nsic has upgraded overall in the past 15 years or so. It seems to me that many more d2- type  wis players are playing in the nsic since they have upgraded and they apparently have more scholarship money now.  In my opinion, many of these players would have chosen uwec, uw stout, uwrf, or Uwl back in the day.  On the other hand, how many players in a Uww- mt union championship game could be playing somewhere in d2? Quite a few.
This is not the only factor, but I think it is an important one.

I think there's probably something to this.

When the North Central Conference had all of its power teams (UND, NDSU, SDSU) jump up to FCS it created a power vacuum in the D2 world, especially in the upper midwest. UMD, MSU, Winona and SCSU have all benefited from those teams jumping up a division (and not just in football). All of those schools are a good deal closer to Wisconsin than the old powers were. That, combined with the fact the 'old powers' now have more scholarship to offer and have also increased their own recruiting radius, might explain some of it.

I think coaching and/or institutional support, probably has a lot to do with it as well. You guys know the details better than I, but didn't Terry step down at Lax in some degree as a protest against dwindling budget, staff and support? The scuttlebutt I've heard about UWEC's coach isn't glowing, and that was from day one of the hire, not just after the slide into WIAC obscurity.

UWEC lost two pretty good head coaches to the NSIC, too - Todd Hoffner, who went to Mankato, and Bob Nielson, who won two NCAA D2 titles at UM-Duluth during his time there... During the 10 seasons they were at UWEC, from 1996-2005, the Blugolds had a cumulative record of 64-39...

[USee]

Regional Rankings are up:

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/d3/regional-rankings

[KitchenSink]

2nd for Oshkosh.  Thought Linfield and St Thomas had 1, 2 sewn up.  Interesting.

UWW 4th, Platteville 7th.  As good as could be expected, I think.

[desertcat1]

2nd for Oshkosh.  Thought Linfield and St Thomas had 1, 2 sewn up.  Interesting.

UWW 4th, Platteville 7th.  As good as could be expected, I think.

better than i expected 

[wsuc/wiac fan]

Hazzben makes excellent points. A quick count of the four nsic schools he names plus Concordia St. Paul shows a total of 166 Wisconsin players listed on their 2015 website rosters, ranging from from 41 at winona to 23 at Concordia. Even if my quick count is not exact, one has to wonder how many of them would have been playing in the wiac/ wsuc back in the day. Also- yes, institutional support is critical. I have been told that it is outstanding at whitewater, and one  can only speculate to what degree, if any, lack of it has hurt the four "western" schools, especially in football.

[ScreamingEagles]

Hazzben makes excellent points. A quick count of the four nsic schools he names plus Concordia St. Paul shows a total of 166 Wisconsin players listed on their 2015 website rosters, ranging from from 41 at winona to 23 at Concordia. Even if my quick count is not exact, one has to wonder how many of them would have been playing in the wiac/ wsuc back in the day. Also- yes, institutional support is critical. I have been told that it is outstanding at whitewater, and one  can only speculate to what degree, if any, lack of it has hurt the four "western" schools, especially in football.

No doubt.  I have seen kids take a $500 per year "scholarship" to a D2 school in Minnesota over opportunities at WIAC schools simply because they get to have a signing day ceremony and claim a scholarship.  This, of course, ignores the fact that it will cost them more out of pocket to go to Concordia St. Paul/Duluth/Moorehead/whichever D2 school than an in-state WIAC institution.

I agree that 20 years ago many of these kids would have become WIAC standouts rather than MN D2 players.

[badger1845]

2nd for Oshkosh.  Thought Linfield and St Thomas had 1, 2 sewn up.  Interesting.

UWW 4th, Platteville 7th.  As good as could be expected, I think.

These rankings are about as good as the D1 group.  I expected Thomas to jump the WIAC since they haven't lost, but Linfield too seems a bit much.  Top 25 must not really count for much in the overall of how they rank it. 

[02 Warhawk]

2nd for Oshkosh.  Thought Linfield and St Thomas had 1, 2 sewn up.  Interesting.

UWW 4th, Platteville 7th.  As good as could be expected, I think.

These rankings are about as good as the D1 group.  I expected Thomas to jump the WIAC since they haven't lost, but Linfield too seems a bit much.  Top 25 must not really count for much in the overall of how they rank it.

Exactly..it really doesn't mean much when it comes to the post season. Looks like UWO over UWW > Linfield over Whitworth. Can't argue with that.

UWW regional record should be 5-1, and UWO should be 7-0. Committee messed up there.

[cubs]

I agree that 20 years ago many of these kids would have become WIAC standouts rather than MN D2 players.

It's not just a football thing either....

There are kids now that are getting scholarships to D2's/Low D1's in both basketball and baseball that honestly would have struggled to start at some of the WIAC schools 15-20 years ago....  I think back to the year that UWO had five players taken in the MLB draft.  That will likely NEVER happen again, as all five of them likely end up with scholarship offers now.  That just wasn't the case back then.

A good friend of mine mentioned that the 6'8 guy ready to play basketball in year one in the WIAC are extremely rare now as well.  With all the showcase events and combines, those guys are going the scholarship route.  If you are able to land one or two of them, consider yourself lucky!!!  Guys like Rich Melzer, Tim Dworak and Brant Bailey likely never step foot in the WIAC if they were graduating from high school now.

[MonroviaCat]

2nd for Oshkosh.  Thought Linfield and St Thomas had 1, 2 sewn up.  Interesting.

UWW 4th, Platteville 7th.  As good as could be expected, I think.

These rankings are about as good as the D1 group.  I expected Thomas to jump the WIAC since they haven't lost, but Linfield too seems a bit much.  Top 25 must not really count for much in the overall of how they rank it.

Exactly..it really doesn't mean much when it comes to the post season. Looks like UWO over UWW > Linfield over Wartburg. Can't argue with that.

UWW regional record should be 5-1, and UWO should be 7-0. Committee messed up there.

Actually---it means absolutely nothing when it comes to post season.  Also--Linfield did not play Wartburg----I assume you meant Whitworth?

[02 Warhawk]

2nd for Oshkosh.  Thought Linfield and St Thomas had 1, 2 sewn up.  Interesting.

UWW 4th, Platteville 7th.  As good as could be expected, I think.

These rankings are about as good as the D1 group.  I expected Thomas to jump the WIAC since they haven't lost, but Linfield too seems a bit much.  Top 25 must not really count for much in the overall of how they rank it.

Exactly..it really doesn't mean much when it comes to the post season. Looks like UWO over UWW > Linfield over Wartburg. Can't argue with that.

UWW regional record should be 5-1, and UWO should be 7-0. Committee messed up there.

Actually---it means absolutely nothing when it comes to post season.  Also--Linfield did not play Wartburg----I assume you meant Whitworth?

yup...fixed

[ExTartanPlayer]

2nd for Oshkosh.  Thought Linfield and St Thomas had 1, 2 sewn up.  Interesting.

UWW 4th, Platteville 7th.  As good as could be expected, I think.

These rankings are about as good as the D1 group.  I expected Thomas to jump the WIAC since they haven't lost, but Linfield too seems a bit much.  Top 25 must not really count for much in the overall of how they rank it.

The Top 25 doesn't count at all in how they rank it. 

The D3football.com Top 25 is not voted on by the same people who do the regional rankings.  And there's a difference between a poll (where the voters have a little more leeway to give credit to teams they "think" are good) and the rankings, which have a specific set of criteria (even if it's somewhat inconsistently applied).

I think UWP has gotten a little screwed being behind Whitworth, but if North Central manages to creep into the North rankings by season's end (which is absolutely possible given that a few of the North teams hovering near the bottom could take another loss) that should work out.  UWP will have a very strong Pool C resume if they're 2-2 against RRO's.  And when you look around at the other regions, there are not many strong C candidates - I expect the West to get 4 Pool C's this year.  The only way UWP gets jammed is if Whitworth is sitting in front of them and a team like Albright or Moravian gets in while Whitworth lingers on the board for a round.  As long as UWP ends up in front of Whitworth, they should be in.

[02 Warhawk]

Pat just said it the best on the NWC board: Regional rankings will give you a good indication on who makes the playoffs. But the Top 25 gives you an indication on who will win once the playoffs begin.

No better way to put it.

[d-train]

Pat just said it the best on the NWC board: Regional rankings will give you a good indication on who makes the playoffs. But the Top 25 gives you an indication on who will win once the playoffs begin.

No better way to put it.

Well - kinda. There are two teams in the West that will make the playoffs and aren't even listed (the UMAC and SCIAC champs). So there probably is a better way to state it.

The RR's tell you how the at large hopefuls stack up - and the possible pecking order on 'seeds'/hosting.