FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Interesting season opener here:
http://www.d3football.com/teams/Augustana/2017/index

Augie is clearly fixated with starting the season with as many games against schools that start with 'C' as possible.

[Neverwas]

And an alphabetical run through the conference slate

[Pat Coleman]

Wow! Good eye there.

[AndOne]

CCIW schedule:
http://www.d3football.com/teams/North_Central_(Ill.)/2017/index

I would hope the NCC staff is working to schedule a game for 9/9. 🏈 

[Pat Coleman]

CCIW schedule:
http://www.d3football.com/teams/North_Central_(Ill.)/2017/index

I would hope the NCC staff is working to schedule a game for 9/9. 🏈 

That would put them over the maximum number of possible games, so ...

[AndOne]

So, I guess not.
Now it's time to go continue learning how to count to ten.   

[CardinalAlum]

So, I guess not.
Now it's time to go continue learning how to count to ten. 

Let the record show that AO is NOT an NCC grad!!   

[USee]

So, I guess not.
Now it's time to go continue learning how to count to ten. 

Let the record show that AO is NOT an NCC grad!!   

No, but given his math skills he could be!

[Augie6]

So, I guess not.
Now it's time to go continue learning how to count to ten. 

Let the record show that AO is NOT an NCC grad!!   

No, but given his math skills he could be! :-

CardAlum,

You set yourself up for that one! 

Nice one, USee.

[CardinalAlum]

So, I guess not.
Now it's time to go continue learning how to count to ten. 

Let the record show that AO is NOT an NCC grad!!   

No, but given his math skills he could be! :-

CardAlum,

You set yourself up for that one! 

Nice one, USee.

That was a good one!  Sometimes you're the nail and sometimes you're the hammer!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Sewanee has just announced that six-year IWU DC Travis Rundle has been hired as their new HC.  IWU consistently had strong defenses throughout Coach Rundle's tenure - last year they ranked in the top 35 nationally in eight defensive categories.

Good luck to him, and here's hoping the Titans can find someone EVEN better to replace him!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Caltech just won a conference (SCIAC) baseball game for the first time in TWENTY-NINE YEARS!!  Rather dwarfs the slump that NPC(U) had in football.

And bear in mind that baseball teams play vastly more conference games per season than football teams.  I'm not about to try to calculate it, but I'm guessing that was roughly 500 consecutive conference losses!

EDIT: Just checked the recap of the game - Caltech got two runs in the bottom of the ninth to walk-off with a 4-3 win.  The recap didn't give the length of the losing streak in games, but I'm betting d3baseball.com will have a feature story at least by Monday.

[ncc_fan]

Caltech news release

[formerd3db]

Sewanee has just announced that six-year IWU DC Travis Rundle has been hired as their new HC.  IWU consistently had strong defenses throughout Coach Rundle's tenure - last year they ranked in the top 35 nationally in eight defensive categories.

Good luck to him, and here's hoping the Titans can find someone EVEN better to replace him!

Nice reward for Rundle in the coaching ladder.  Other than the IWU fans, some people might not know or recall that he was a four year letterman and ALL-MIAA player for his father at Albion College, then stayed on his father's staff for a year before going to Penn State for several years as an assistant (2004-2010; his connection there was former ALL-MIAA player Ron Vanderlinden, current Air Force assistant, who was Penn State's LB coach after his stint as HC at Maryland, DC at Northwestern and Colorado with Gary Barnett and assistant at Bowling Green to former Michigan State, San Diego State and Alma College HC/and QB at the latter himself, Denny Stolz), prior to joining the IWU staff.   I don't know that much about Sewanee, although it appears to be similar to Albion College in academics, athletics, campus buildings and football stadium at least on a surface observation.  Should be a good fit for him and Sewanee.

Does anyone know how many current father/son combinations are both HC's in DIII or for that matter all of college football?  Travis and his father Craig Rundle, are now in that category since his father is still HC at Albion.  Good luck to Travis Rundle in his new position.  I see on the website, he will apparently be naming his new staff-could be interesting to see who he might be able to get to come there?  And yes, Mr. Ypsi, IWU will have to get a good man to replace Rundle.

The other topic:
Nice to see that Caltech finally won a conference baseball game as you guys mention.  That is a big deal, although what I am going to mention here is not...seems Caltech is one of those several California schools (i.e. read Menlo, Pacific, Long Beach State, Cal State-Fullerton, etc.,) that does not have football and/or decided they didn't need it or could afford it and dropped it.  But at least they have the other sports.

Wishing all of you a blessed and enjoyable Easter holiday this weekend. 

[Gregory Sager]

Nice to see that Caltech finally won a conference baseball game as you guys mention.  That is a big deal, although what I am going to mention here is not...seems Caltech is one of those several California schools (i.e. read Menlo, Pacific, Long Beach State, Cal State-Fullerton, etc.,) that does not have football and/or decided they didn't need it or could afford it and dropped it.

Caltech has an endowment that's worth over two billion dollars. I don't think that cost is a reason for Caltech's disinterest in creating a football program.

As for needing a football program, Caltech bucks the national trend by having a female:male student ratio of 46:54. Given that Caltech is a STEM school, that's not a surprise. Bringing more males on campus seems to be the most oft-cited reason for starting a football program nowadays, and that's clearly not an issue at Caltech.

The more prosaic reason why Caltech doesn't have a football team is this: How in the world would Caltech ever be able to get enough football players enrolled to begin, much less maintain, a program? Caltech is one of the most academically exclusive schools in the nation, and the barrier to getting enrolled as a student-athlete there is even steeper than it usually is among high-powered academic institutions such as the UAA and NESCAC schools, because, unlike other institutions of higher learning, the admissions process at Caltech is controlled by a faculty panel that evaluates applicants. As if the steep academic requirements (basically, top three percent of your class in g.p.a., plus an SAT in the 1500s or ACT over 33) weren't enough, that faculty panel has presented an insurmountable barrier to Caltech being competitive in athletics. It's the biggest reason why Caltech flounders so badly in just about every sport and went for decades without winning conference games in basketball and baseball.

Can you imagine trying to build a football program under such circumstances?

Wishing all of you a blessed and enjoyable Easter holiday this weekend.

And to you as well!