FB: American Rivers Conference

[DutchFan2004]

If you're going back ten years, the '97 Simpson team has to be mentioned. That team broke many school and conference records, had too many All-Americans to list, and played in the national semi-final game.

I guess it has been 11 seasons, so maybe they don't qualify.

Not to nit pick but if they had so many all americans is it a surprise then?  What was the surprise?  I haven't put together my list yet and reasons but team and why they made the list. 

[Klopenhiemer]

If you're going back ten years, the '97 Simpson team has to be mentioned. That team broke many school and conference records, had too many All-Americans to list, and played in the national semi-final game.

I guess it has been 11 seasons, so maybe they don't qualify.

Not to nit pick but if they had so many all americans is it a surprise then?  What was the surprise?  I haven't put together my list yet and reasons but team and why they made the list. 

I believe that stormchaser was nominating the 97 Simpson squad for a place on the on your top teams list, over the last 10 years. 

[footballdaddy]

There actually was mention of Wrtburg's national wrestling championshio last night on Sound Off. Amazing what a couple of e-mails can do. Let's keep up on the local media to mention IIAC schools when something noteworthy happens. The more we let them know we want coverage, the more coverage we'll get. Maybe this will help change the Metro athletes "D1 or nothing" attitudes.

[Walston Hoover]

Like I said earlier-I live next door to Andy Fales. Don't think anything that happens in Wartburg athletics doesn't get mentioned to him.

[doolittledog]

Like I said earlier-I live next door to Andy Fales. Don't think anything that happens in Wartburg athletics doesn't get mentioned to him.

You could offer to mow Mr. Fales yard in exchange for an IIAC mention at least once per week 

[dutchfan1]

Like I said earlier-I live next door to Andy Fales. Don't think anything that happens in Wartburg athletics doesn't get mentioned to him.

You could offer to mow Mr. Fales yard in exchange for an IIAC mention at least once per week 

Hmm, yeah, bribe a newscaster to report the news... good plan. 

Personally, I think the conference needs to get more involved and self-promote more frequently.

[footballdaddy]

I agree. The SIDs should keep a steady stream of conference releases to the central Iowa media. But we as fans need to keep clamoring for more coverage. Once they see there is a demand for coverage, we might actually get some. It may take less than we think. If each of us fires off one quick e-mail each week, they might believe there is a demand.

[dutchfan1]

I think the SIDs overall do a great job. I was actually referring to the IIAC conference taking a more active roll in the conference PR efforts. The Iowa Conference needs to pave the way for the SIDs to do their jobs by sending releases for each championship, making sure that the individual schools aren't missing opportunities, etc.

[DutchFan2004]

Now here are is my list of Surprise teams and why I thought they were surprises.  I know they are leaning to the last 5 years of the decade but it also reflects my knowledge and following IIAC teams in that time. 

10)  07 Cornell Rams.  Rams finished 0-16 in conference play for two years after going 2-0 both years for nonconference.

9) Coe and Wartburg in 02  First time I could find the IIAC went 2-0 in opening round games.

8  03 Wartburg 10-0 team first one in the 10 years.

7) 05 Central team ties for IIAC crown after going 5-5 and 6-4 and only the second year of a coaches tenure

6) 06 Central 10-0 season with so many OT wins

5)  04 Beavers win against a tough Wartburg squad and then suffer 3 losses in a row to end season. 

4) 03 Wartburg losing to Linfield after so many chances to win.

3)  01 Cornell 7-3 record and win over Wartburg

2) 07 Dutch 10-0 second straight year three playoff games and the IIAC getting a #1 seed

1) 03 Dutch 5-5 Record almost a losing record

[DutchFan2004]

The list was just some of the things I was surprised at.  You posters that have been around longer and followed things more closely I am sure have other teams and takes on some of the surprises. 

[footballdaddy]

Here's an idea. Each conference school has at least one representitive on this board. What if each time your particular school hase something noteworthy like a top 25 ranking, all american, conference championship, national record, or top NCAA finish in any sport, each representitive sends an e-mail to the Des Moines Register and a central Iowa TV station.It may take a while, but if we keep it up, there should be an increase in IIAC coverage. I believe the media away from central Iowa does a pretty good job covering it's local team, but if we get an increase in the Des Moines area it can olny be good for recruiting to all schools.

[dutchfan1]

http://www.iowaconference.com/

I don't know if you've ever spent any time on the website or not, but the conference already do a lot of the things you suggested. The individual schools do a lot as well. I personally think there are some things that the conference could do to further things a bit -- hosting media days at the beginning of the season, inviting the media from the major markets to the "big games" or marquee events, highlighting the athlete of the week in a bigger way, story pitching over the phone, etc. These are things the conference could to do enhance the media exposure in general.

This type of campaign takes a lot of man-hours. I don't know how much of this is limited by budget constraints or whatever, or if they already do this. All of these things would help...

[knightlife06]

Now here are is my list of Surprise teams and why I thought they were surprises.  I know they are leaning to the last 5 years of the decade but it also reflects my knowledge and following IIAC teams in that time. 

10)  07 Cornell Rams.  Rams finished 0-16 in conference play for two years after going 2-0 both years for nonconference.

9) Coe and Wartburg in 02  First time I could find the IIAC went 2-0 in opening round games.

8  03 Wartburg 10-0 team first one in the 10 years.

7) 05 Central team ties for IIAC crown after going 5-5 and 6-4 and only the second year of a coaches tenure

6) 06 Central 10-0 season with so many OT wins

5)  04 Beavers win against a tough Wartburg squad and then suffer 3 losses in a row to end season. 

4) 03 Wartburg losing to Linfield after so many chances to win.

3)  01 Cornell 7-3 record and win over Wartburg

2) 07 Dutch 10-0 second straight year three playoff games and the IIAC getting a #1 seed

1) 03 Dutch 5-5 Record almost a losing record

I guess the only one I don't agree with on your top ten is #4.  We were losing the whole game and were the underdogs that game.  Linfield had much of the same redzone scoring problems the Knights had in that game.   Maybe other Knight fans that were at the game will disagree with me but I'm going out on a limb and saying Linfield was probably the better team.

[wildcat11]

I guess the only one I don't agree with on your top ten is #4.  We were losing the whole game and were the underdogs that game.  Linfield had much of the same redzone scoring problems the Knights had in that game.   Maybe other Knight fans that were at the game will disagree with me but I'm going out on a limb and saying Linfield was probably the better team.

This is not the greatest recap I've done but it gives a decent feel for that game: 2003 Wartburg @ Linfield Playoff Game

[Klopenhiemer]

If I understood FBDaddy correctly, I understood him to have said that this person would email the Des Moines Register or a central IA media outlet.  I guess I did not realize that everytime the IIAC has a press release that they post this on their website, along with sending notification to the DM Register and a central IA media outlet. 

The IIAC website does a very nice job of updating the information of happenings around the conference.  That being said, I would assume that the DM Register receives many more hits per day than the IIAC website.  I will also step out on limb and say that if there is more attention placed on the IIAC by the central IA media/DM Reg, wouldn't one think that would direct many more people to the schools websites, which have links the IIAC website, which informs you of all the IIAC happenings, which in turn better educates IA kids/adults on the IIAC and how great it is.