FB: American Rivers Conference

[Klompen]

Pat, how about Purple Heys helping out with the "Around the West" column?  He needs something else to do now that jr's playing days are nearly over.

[footballdaddy]

By the way, I contacted the Coe SID and AD and provided an opp to post up their thoughts on the game.  No response.

Yawn. I would think they'd have more important things to do than respond to a fan site. At least I sure hope they do. Coe needs to spend every ounce of its energy getting ready for the mighty God's gift to college football. We don't stand a chance, of course, but maybe we can at least make a half of it. We bow to your greatness and are humbled by your superiority.  

Wow, so much for social media.  Guess it's tough for you iwegians to do more than one thing at a time.  That I will say bodes well for the J's. 

Enjoy the off season.

You enjoy it too. Will SJU turn in their pads on the 23rd or wait until after Thanksgiving?

[stanbob]

By the way, I contacted the Coe SID and AD and provided an opp to post up their thoughts on the game.  No response.

Yawn. I would think they'd have more important things to do than respond to a fan site. At least I sure hope they do. Coe needs to spend every ounce of its energy getting ready for the mighty God's gift to college football. We don't stand a chance, of course, but maybe we can at least make a half of it. We bow to your greatness and are humbled by your superiority.  

Wow, so much for social media.  Guess it's tough for you iwegians to do more than one thing at a time.  That I will say bodes well for the J's. 

Enjoy the off season.

You enjoy it too. Will SJU turn in their pads on the 23rd or wait until after Thanksgiving?

Right on both counts, 23rd of December which happens to fall after Thanksgiving this year.     On the bright side for you, you will be able to take consolation in the hawkeyes trouncing of the golden rodents.

[umhb2001]

I was just curious to know when
The Crusaders will be riding into Pella?

(for the record that is a male horse)

I understand the CRU to be leaving on a 10:00am flight to Iowa on Friday. After that, I am not sure.  I beleive they are planning on having an afternoon workout some time on Friday.

[desertgator]

I want to wish Coe and Central the best of luck this weekend!  I know they will represent the IIAC well.  I am excited for the change at Cornell.  I'm more excited that the AD was true to his words last year when he promised graduating seniors and those boys who would stick with the program that he would do his best to improve the program and put the right people in place to make that happen.  I hope that this breath of fresh air may help to improve the numbers and hopefully establish strong relationships with in state coaches to get more of the local talent.   I know that the grass is often greener on the other side but so far I'd have to say the AD is trying to get the ship righted and will make a solid decision on his new hire.   

[Fannosaurus Rex]

I was just curious to know when
The Crusaders will be riding into Pella?

(for the record that is a male horse)

I understand the CRU to be leaving on a 10:00am flight to Iowa on Friday. After that, I am not sure.  I beleive they are planning on having an afternoon workout some time on Friday.

They get to spend Friday night in Pella.  I really envy them.  They will never forget it.

[Klompen]

Ryan Tipps is a very intelligent man.  Has anyone else noticed?  

[Toby Taff]

I was just curious to know when
The Crusaders will be riding into Pella?

(for the record that is a male horse)

I understand the CRU to be leaving on a 10:00am flight to Iowa on Friday. After that, I am not sure.  I beleive they are planning on having an afternoon workout some time on Friday.

They get to spend Friday night in Pella.  I really envy them.  They will never forget it.

Probably not too different from a Friday night in Belton

[the_mayne_event]

I was just curious to know when
The Crusaders will be riding into Pella?

(for the record that is a male horse)

I understand the CRU to be leaving on a 10:00am flight to Iowa on Friday. After that, I am not sure.  I beleive they are planning on having an afternoon workout some time on Friday.

They get to spend Friday night in Pella.  I really envy them.  They will never forget it.

Probably not too different from a Friday night in Belton

Dont step on the tulips!

[crudbdad]

I was just curious to know when
The Crusaders will be riding into Pella?

(for the record that is a male horse)

I understand the CRU to be leaving on a 10:00am flight to Iowa on Friday. After that, I am not sure.  I beleive they are planning on having an afternoon workout some time on Friday.

They get to spend Friday night in Pella.  I really envy them.  They will never forget it.

Probably not too different from a Friday night in Belton

Dont step on the tulips!

Hate to dissapoint you but they are staying in Des Moines. Coach didn't want them eating too many DUTCH pastries

[dutchfan1]

I was just curious to know when
The Crusaders will be riding into Pella?

(for the record that is a male horse)

I understand the CRU to be leaving on a 10:00am flight to Iowa on Friday. After that, I am not sure.  I beleive they are planning on having an afternoon workout some time on Friday.

They get to spend Friday night in Pella.  I really envy them.  They will never forget it.

Probably not too different from a Friday night in Belton

Dont step on the tulips!

Silly rabbit -- tulips won't come out until May.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

I was just curious to know when
The Crusaders will be riding into Pella?

(for the record that is a male horse)

I understand the CRU to be leaving on a 10:00am flight to Iowa on Friday. After that, I am not sure.  I beleive they are planning on having an afternoon workout some time on Friday.

They get to spend Friday night in Pella.  I really envy them.  They will never forget it.

Probably not too different from a Friday night in Belton

Dont step on the tulips!

Hate to dissapoint you but they are staying in Des Moines. Coach didn't want them eating too many DUTCH pastries

I was afraid the Crusaders would be unpredicable.  I never expected anybody with the chance to spend a night in Pella would go to Des Moines instead.  These sound like the kind of whacky guys who would do an on-side kick to open the game.

[sportsknight]

I don't concur with your assessment.  With respect to the Small Multisports Center the money spent on "band-aids", resurfaced and refinished the indoor track and facility, created an expanded wrestling center, redid the gym floor and totally renovated and expanded the weight room.  There was no need to rip up and redo the whole facility.  I think you are confusing architectural aesthetics with function.  In those terms I would submit that Grinnell's is comparable step up from the W as the W is a similar step up to Cornell's current.

There is no doubt the football field is dated.  The plan is there, the money is not...yet.  But that all said...aesthetic architectural touchups are easy to marry the Small Multisport Center with the new Football Facility, and can come when the football field is done.

We could've done this faster than you can say Joe Chipotle...we just don't have a sugar daddy...so it will take time to build the $$.   

This all gets back to my larger point about the greater role of athletics as a recruiting tool in Division III.  The changes that Cornell is making to Small will make it marginally more useful to the average student-athlete.  Are Cornell's facilities good, or good enough?  But how do you think the reactions compare when a prospective student sees the gym at Small and hears "We just put in a new floor" versus when the same student sees Levick Arena.  There's no "wow factor" when it comes to Cornell's facilities, especially not like the "wow factor" at Wartburg, UW-Whitewater, Gustavus Adolphus, or any number of other Division III schools.  Until that changes, Cornell is going to keep missing out on the top athletic recruits.

Let's face it:  the education you get at Cornell is very similar to the education you'll get at Simpson, Loras, Wartburg, Saint Ambrose, Carleton, or nearly any other Division III school.  There's definitely a difference at the Grinnells and Washington Universities of the world, but as much as Cornell would like to think they are in that class, they aren't.  So when the overall educational experience at School A is pretty similar to School B, what makes prospective students decide?  There are a lot of factors, not the least of them being cost, but for many students it is an intangible factor that will sway them one way or another.  Whether that be a top-notch music program, a metropolitan campus setting, or world-class athletic facilities, the schools that have those "extras" and can market them are usually the schools that do the best in the recruiting game.

Other than the one class at a time schedule, what is it that sets Cornell apart?  I'm not that far removed from being a prospective student, and I considered many IIAC and D3 schoos, and to this day I can tell you something "extra" about many of those institutions.  Wartburg?  On-campus TV and radio stations (that's what sold me).  Loras?  Outstanding views of the Mississippi River and a laptop campus.  Simpson?  20 minutes from potential internships in a capital city.  Cornell?  One class at a time is all I can think of.

Look, I'm not looking to bag on Cornell.  I'm sure there are a bundle of reasons that Junior decided to go there, and has stayed at a school two time zones from home.  But in order for any institution to be successful, it has to know its own weaknesses.  And I'm trying to spell out what I think is Cornell's biggest drawback.

As far as the money not being there for a big-time renovation.  There are other ways of getting that money.  Did Cornell announce a multi-year, multi-million dollar campaign to raise the funds, as other IIAC schools have done in recent years?  Cornell isn't exactly a new school...why not contact each and every former Ram athlete and ask them to donate?  Surely there are some doctors, lawyers, bank presidents, etc. among the ranks of former Ram football, basketball, basketball players and wrestlers?  Why not ask them to foot the bill?

For that matter, why not create a private/public partnership with the city of Mount Vernon?  There's a lot of wealth in Mount Vernon right now.  A lot of CEOs and business leaders from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City have moved out of those cities to raise families.  They like the business climate in CR and IC, but would rather raise kids in a small town.  That's why towns like Mount Vernon, Solon, North Liberty, and Tiffin have been booming over the past decade.  If Wartburg can get Waverly to pony up a few million for The W, surely Mount Vernon could have put up some money for a new facility at Cornell.

[sportsknight]

Now that I've got that post out of the way, let the Cornell coaching speculation begin!  Let's hear some names, folks.

With the state of their program right now, I think Cornell has to go one of two ways: either bring in an up-and-coming assistant coach and give him the chance to be a head man for the first time, or go after a coach that has already "been there and done that."  Maybe even one that's been away from the profession for a year or two.  Let him completely mastermind the reclamation project, and get a good enough foundation built that whenever he retires, he has an heir apparent assistant that can take over and continue the program's rise.

What Cornell shouldn't have their heart set on is a guy that will be at the school for the next 20-30 years.  That's just not the way the coaching profession works anymore.  Just within the Iowa Conference, each program has turned over its head coach at least twice in the past decade.  There's very little reason to expect or hope that - win or lose- Cornell's new coach will be there 10 years from now.

[doolittledog]

I think Cornell might have the money and just chooses to put it to other uses outside athletics.  Cornell has more annual giving that Wartburg and has a higher endowment than Wartburg.  There has been money put into the campus at Cornell.  There just hasn't been as much put into the athletic department as other schools in the conference.