FB: American Rivers Conference

[Gray Fox]

 

Speculation is Nebraska Wesleyan's addition is in large part a security blanket for the IIAC, so it will maintain automatic qualifier status for D-III regional and national tournaments.

Is someone expected to leave?

[doolittledog]

 

Speculation is Nebraska Wesleyan's addition is in large part a security blanket for the IIAC, so it will maintain automatic qualifier status for D-III regional and national tournaments.

Is someone expected to leave?

I don't know if anyone is expected to leave.  Insurance is always something nice to have.

Loras?  They have always relied heavily on Chicagoland recruiting.  There have been a number of Chicago area NAIA schools add football over the past few years...catholic schools at that.  St. Ambrose just joined a Chicago area based conference.  If Loras had an opportunity to join a catholic based all-sports conference with St. Ambrose and a bunch of chicagoland schools it wouldn't be crazy for the Duhawks to at least give that option a look see.

I can't see anyone else seriously looking to leave. 

Someone might be able to argue Coe would like to be in the same conference as Cornell...but I doubt that.

Luther wanting to join some sort of ACM driven conference?  Not likely.

BVU seeing Briar Cliff, Dordt, Morningside, Northwestern as closer options than the rest of the IIAC?  I don't see that either.   

[5 Words or Less]

Simpson to NAIA?  UD, D2?

[doolittledog]

Per the Nebraska Wesleyan twitter feed...

https://twitter.com/NWUSports/status/623152477727121408

The NWU Athletic Dept has called a 2pm press conf in Snyder Arena for announcement on athletic affiliation.


And from the IIAC twitter feed...

https://twitter.com/IIACathletics/status/623163172099223552

We'll have some exciting news to share later today regarding the future of the #IIAC. Stay tuned

Duhawks were the 1st retweet.  Maybe that is a good sign they are in the conference for the long haul!

[doolittledog]

Semi-official as both the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald and the Des Moines Register are reporting that Nebraska Wesleyan is in.  The IIAC and NWU have yet to make it officially official.

http://www.thonline.com/sports/local_sports/article_726d56e8-2f07-11e5-b765-6b69931acb17.html

[DBQ1965]

Simpson to NAIA?  UD, D2?

Living here in west Michigan in relatively close proximity to several very good football programs at the D2 level, there is no way my UD would be competitive at that level.  I am happy with their current IIAC-D3 affiliation.  Let's get to the point where we can beat consistently the IIAC "big dogs" plus WIAC and MIAC teams as well as going deep in the D3 playoffs.  Hope springs eternal if you are part of the Spartan Nation.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

I guess if the Big Ten can have thirteen teams, the IIAC can have a member in Nebraska.  We can always take up calling it West Iowa.

[DBQ1965]

Does the addition of NWU portend  East and West Divisions in the IIAC's far off future along with the addition of a few other like-minded institutions?  Are there any current D3 conference championship games between division winners in a conference?  Will the Mississippi and Misouri Rivers figure in coming up with a new conference name?  Stay tuned ...

[doolittledog]

Luther radio has a broadcast up with the IIAC commissioner and I think the NWU AD.

http://www.spreaker.com/user/7659970/iowa-conference-adds-nebraska-wesleyan

They mention a name change will be something they look at and could be a possibility. 

If that happens, would conference records start over???  Would Central go from 30 conference titles in football back down to 0?

[5 Words or Less]

They mention a name change will be something they look at and could be a possibility. 

Some famous Name Changes ...

• Google ... fka BackRub - The world's #1 search engine was created in 1996 under the name "BackRub". Larry Page and Serge Brin's technology went on to revolutionise the search industry, renaming their business and technology "Google" in 1998.


• LG ... fka Lucky Chemical Industrial Corp and Lucky Goldstar - Korean consumer electronics manufacturer Lucky Goldstar shortened its name to "LG" in 1995 to create a corporate identity more suitable for an international marketplace. Famous for developing the first radio in Korea, early innovations in plastics, even a toothpaste that out-sold the US giant Colgate.


• Pepsi ... fka Brad's Drink - In 1893, a young pharmacist from North Carolina called Caleb Bradham began experimenting with a variety of soft drink recipes. One of these, comprising carbonated water, sugar, vanilla, rare oils, and cola nuts, bore his name: "Brad's Drink". In 1898, Brad's Drink was renamed "Pepsi-Cola", and what would become the world's most recognised "number 2" brand was born.


• Yahoo ... fka Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web - Co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo were PhD students at Stanford when they created what would become the world's #2 search engine and web directory. "Jerry's Guide" was soon renamed to Yahoo, which was an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle".

[Fannosaurus Rex]

The Beatles started out as The Quarrymen.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Up till now the Central v Simpson game was for the IIAC South of Interstate 80 Division Championship.  This will complicate things.

[doolittledog]

Up till now the Central v Simpson game was for the IIAC South of Interstate 80 Division Championship.  This will complicate things.

NWU is already a hated rival then

[MediaGuy]

 

Speculation is Nebraska Wesleyan's addition is in large part a security blanket for the IIAC, so it will maintain automatic qualifier status for D-III regional and national tournaments.

Is someone expected to leave?

I don't know if anyone is expected to leave.  Insurance is always something nice to have.

Loras?  They have always relied heavily on Chicagoland recruiting.  There have been a number of Chicago area NAIA schools add football over the past few years...catholic schools at that.  St. Ambrose just joined a Chicago area based conference.  If Loras had an opportunity to join a catholic based all-sports conference with St. Ambrose and a bunch of chicagoland schools it wouldn't be crazy for the Duhawks to at least give that option a look see.

I can't see anyone else seriously looking to leave. 

Someone might be able to argue Coe would like to be in the same conference as Cornell...but I doubt that.

Luther wanting to join some sort of ACM driven conference?  Not likely.

BVU seeing Briar Cliff, Dordt, Morningside, Northwestern as closer options than the rest of the IIAC?  I don't see that either.

In the ever changing NCAA conference shuffle, I think this move is the first step of a long term plan the IIAC is looking to implement.
1. The IIAC is somewhat landlocked to the north, east and south not including St Ambrose, which would most likely join the CCIW with their Chicago based recruiting plan if they choose to leave NAIA. Leaving the IIAC looking West for possible expansion.
2. With the recent trend of increasing tuition rates, the NAIA business model, i.e. small schools awarding athletic scholarships, is becoming harder to justify in the accounting office, which would lead some to believe that if the trend continues, the NAIA model may not be financially viable in 10-15 years.
3. Should NAIA fold, the most likely destination for the "NAIA football powers" Morningside, Marien, and other large schools would be following Univ of Souix Falls to D2.
4. That would leave the other NAIA schools in western tri-state area Briar Cliff, Dordt, Northwestern, looking for a conference home.
5. NAIA folding would also leave Grand View, the most coveted target, open for possible IIAC expansion.

I know it seems far fetched, but as we have seen before, it only takes the defection of 2-3 big names to start the domino's falling...Big East, late 90's WAC, Conference USA.

In my opinion, this move, while a little hard to understand, adds the Lincoln media market to the IIAC, but also sets a president for adding the Souix City and Des Moines media markets, which would effectively double the eyes and ears who get exposed to the IIAC, which can only help student recruitment. Which is the primary goal for all college administration offices.

[Outside the Crate]

Without wishing to sound too stuffy, my hunch is that Nebraska Wesleyan's leaders sought to be associated in athletics with a stronger group of institutions.  That's not to say its current conference lacks for "good schools," but the stature of the Iowa Conference colleges is probably a step up.  Also, NWU's president, Fred Ohles, is Lutheran and has good relationships with Wartburg, Luther, Grand View, and the several Lutheran colleges in Minnesota.  He's a graduate of St. Olaf.